LVXXU

Chapter II: Increasing the Resilience, Reliability, Safety, and Asset Security of TS&D Infrastructure
Natural disasters, equipment and maintenance failures, and physical attacks come at a significant cost. A
National Research Council study looking at the 2003 blackout that affected the Midwest, the Northeast,
and Canada concluded that “the economic cost of the 2003 blackout came to approximately $5 per forgone
kilowatt-hour, a figure that is roughly 50 times greater than the average retail cost of a kilowatt-hour in
the United States.” 6 Data suggest that electricity system outages attributable to weather-related events are
increasing, costing the U.S. economy an estimated $20 billion to $55 billion annually. 7
In the United States, there were 11 individual weather disasters costing $1 billion in 2012, second only to 2011
for the most on record. 8 Insurance data identifies almost $22 billion in total losses from a range of weather
events in 2013, excluding self-insured losses. 9
Extreme weather events resulting in more than $1 billion in damages are increasing, as seen in Figure 2-2.
The damages represented in this figure are broader than energy infrastructure; these trends, however, must be
considered in future energy infrastructure policy.
Figure 2-2. Billion-Dollar Disaster Event Types by Year 10, c
Number of Events
20
15
10
5
0
1980
1985 1990 1995
2000
2005 2010 2014
Drought Flooding Freeze Severe Storm Tropical Cyclone Wildfire Winter Storm
Costly weather-related disasters have been increasing in frequency over the past decade.
Extreme weather has a range of impacts on TS&D infrastructure. The severity of hurricane impacts on
all energy infrastructure is highlighted in Table 2-1. Heat waves—also extreme weather events—affect
electric TS&D infrastructure in several ways, including reducing the efficiency of electric transmission and
distrubution circuits; increasing the load on the grid associated with additional demand for air conditioning;
and reducing the efficiency of cooling at thermal power plants that can result in lower power plant output. 11
Drought and extreme cold pose challenges to TS&D infrastructure by, for example, impeding barge transport
of energy products. Drought also decreases the water available for natural gas processing. 12
c
Data from all original events were adjusted for inflation (using the Consumer Price Index, to 2014 dollars), prior to identifying events
that exceeded $1 billion in damages. Caution should be used when interpreting long-term trends; data quality improves over time.
2-6 QER Report: Energy Transmission, Storage, and Distribution Infrastructure | April 2015