LVXXU

Chapter I: Introduction
Rising Investment in Electric Transmission
According to EIA, between 1997 and 2012 electric transmission investments by private companies and
investors increased fivefold in real terms (2012 dollars), growing from $2.7 billion in 1997 to $14.1 billion in
2012—reversing a three-decade decline (see Figure 1-4). 61 Reasons for increased investment include reliability
enhancement, connecting to renewables, demand shifts, cost increases, and market reforms that created more
options for independent generators.
Figure 1-4 Investment in Transmission Infrastructure by Investor-Owned Utilities, 1997–2012 62
Billions of 2012 Dollars
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
1997
2000 2003
2006
2009 2012
Underground Lines and Devices
Station Equipment
Other
Towers and Fixtures Overhead Lines and Devices Poles and Fixtures
Spending on transmission Infrastructure has increased fivefold since the late 1990s.
Climate Change
Energy TS&D infrastructure has always been shaped not only by the mix of energy supply technologies
and end-use patterns, but also by the characteristics of the environment where the infrastructure must
operate, including, for example, terrain, vegetation, soil and seismic conditions, and climate. It has long been
true, as well, that choices about TS&D infrastructure have had to take into account the need to limit that
infrastructure’s adverse impacts on the environment.
By far the most important environmental factor affecting TS&D infrastructure needs now and going forward is global
climate change. Sea-level rise, thawing permafrost, and increases in weather extremes are already affecting TS&D
infrastructure in many regions. The need to mitigate global climate change by reducing GHG emissions, moreover, is
accelerating changes in the mix of energy supply options and end-use patterns, and over time, it is likely to become the
dominant such influence. Reducing GHG emissions from TS&D infrastructure, including methane emissions from
the transmission and distribution of natural gas, will be increasingly important in this context.
Some key aspects of the climate change picture are summarized here as a prelude to the discussion in later chapters
of how decisions about TS&D infrastructure will likely be influenced by this and other environmental issues.
1-10 QER Report: Energy Transmission, Storage, and Distribution Infrastructure | April 2015