Obama wants to modernize power grid

The Obama administration is calling on the United States Congress to approve billions of dollars in new spending to modernize the power grid, as part of a first-ever Quadrennial Energy Review released Tuesday that highlights the major reliability, security and renewable energy integration challenges facing the country’s electricity infrastructure. Many of the review’s spending recommendations are built into the White House's broader Department of Energy 2016 budget request, which seeks to increase support for renewables and carbon reductions called for in the proposed Clean Power Plan and reduce subsidies for fossil fuels. That request is already facing strong opposition from Republican lawmakers, leaving it uncertain whether these recommendations will find their way into law. But Tuesday’s report, the result of an effort launched in January 2014, states that major investment over the next 10 years will be needed to replace aging power lines, improve the grid’s capacity for renewable energy, and protect against threats ranging from climate change-induced superstorms to the threats of terrorist cyber and physical attacks. It also covers natural gas and oil pipeline systems, and the threats to the transportation infrastructure that move these energy supplies across, into and out of the country. On the electricity system side, the QER recommends spending $356 million next year and $3.5 billion over the next 10 years to support the creation of "new tools and technologies," such as modeling tools, system control and power flow to optimize new grid capabilities, and grid sensing and measurements for determining changes in variable generation markets and infrastructure conditions. Read the full story on Greentech Media.