The reality that US energy infrastructure is largely past retirement age is often lost in the ongoing clean energy debate. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave energy infrastructure a D+ in its 2017 report card, saying the majority of transmission and distribution lines are exceeding their 50-year life expectancy. Things haven’t improved dramatically since.
With the investment needed to maintain reliability alone estimated to reach $2 trillion by 2030, it’s certainly worth thinking about the role technology could play in reshaping the grid and reducing that investment burden.
