Aging Energy Infrastructure, Plus Climate Change, Are a Growing Risk.
NPR reports that Texas investigators say that a power pole , "that appeared to be decayed at the base", was the cause of the worst wildfire in the state's history.
Xcel Energy, the state's electric
utility, said in a statement that , "its facilities appear to have been involved
in an ignition of the Smokehouse Creek fire.".
Rob Gramlich, president of consulting firm
Grid Strategies, warns that many of the U.S.'s
power lines were built 60 to 70 years ago. .
According to Gramlich, most electric utility providers
in the U.S. lack the technology to let them know
when power lines are overheating or sagging.
Combined with increased temperatures
and drier vegetation, this aging infrastructure
could spark larger, more intense wildfires.
There are some utilities
that are really leaders and
are getting ahead of the risk, Michael Wara, director of the Climate and Energy
Policy Program at the Woods Institute for
the Environment at Stanford University, via NPR.
And then there are others
that we look at and think are
walking into a catastrophe, Michael Wara, director of the Climate and Energy
Policy Program at the Woods Institute for
the Environment at Stanford University, via NPR.
According to experts, wildfire prevention
can not only impact safety, but also the
cost of energy bills across the nation.
We cannot afford – literally,
in terms of our pocketbooks –
to have utilities be perceived
by their investors as high risk, Michael Wara, director of the Climate and Energy
Policy Program at the Woods Institute for
the Environment at Stanford University, via NPR.
There is a set of practices
that utilities can take that
do not cost an arm and a leg
that can dramatically cut
the risk of outcomes
like we saw in Texas, Michael Wara, director of the Climate and Energy
Policy Program at the Woods Institute for
the Environment at Stanford University, via NPR