Watchman: The US Power Grid Could Plunge The Country Into Darkness. Be Ready For Madness

HNewsWire: It's impossible to overstate the value of a reliable electrical grid. When a grid fails, it can have devastating consequences. The United States' electrical grid is among the most susceptible to disruption from outside forces.

The electrical transmission lines in the United States are in danger from state-sponsored hackers from countries like Iran, Russia, and, unexpectedly, China. However, electric vehicles pose a separate, less evident threat to the grid (EVs).

It is a top priority for the Biden administration to finally put the internal combustion engine in the junkyard of history. Americans are being urged to adopt EVs as part of a drastic move toward a new, zero-emission future. However, such an embrace demands an exceptionally reliable electrical system, which is precisely what the United States lacks.

The U.S. power grid (or electric grid) consists of a massive interconnected system of transmission lines, power plants, and distribution hubs. The Eastern Grid, the Western Grid, and the ERCOT Grid (sometimes known as the Texas Grid) are the three largest grids in the United States. The Eastern Grid is by far the biggest of the three.

The three grids have the ability to function separately, but they are also interconnected. If the grid goes down, millions of people will be left in the dark for hours on end. Think about what would happen if the electricity suddenly went out in a major city like Los Angeles or New York. The two cities have a high crime rate to begin with, and if the power grid were to go down, the situation would quickly become catastrophic.

Conflicts Since 2016
In 2018, DHS reported that Russian hackers had gained access to the control centers of several different power companies. Because of this, the hackers were able to cause power outages by disrupting electricity flows.

Disconcertingly, the DHS admitted that the attacks have been going on since 2016—the same year that Russia began assaulting Ukraine's power grid. Even while Russia has denied any involvement in the attack, this denial seems to run counter to the facts.

An increase in grid disruptions is to be expected as relations between Russia and the United States rise, as do tensions between the United States and China, another hacker-friendly country.

Americans, however, have more "benign" threats to worry about. The danger that electric cars pose to the electrical grid was the subject of a recent research in Applied Energy. There are currently 2.5 million EVs on U.S. roads, with 80% of their owners preferring to charge their vehicles while they sleep. The researchers claim that this choice places a heavy burden on existing electrical infrastructure.

More than 20 million electric vehicles (EVs) will be driven in the United States by 2025. More than half of all vehicle sales will be electric vehicles by 2030, according to Bloomberg. Power grids are struggling to keep up with the rising demand.

Bloomberg's prediction, if realized, would necessitate 5.4 gigawatts of energy storage to power EVs, as pointed out by the study's authors. To give you an idea of how much electricity 5.4 gigawatts represents, consider that a single nuclear power plant generates 1 gigawatt. As of right now, there are 55 power plants in operation across the United States.

The United States needs more of these vehicles in order to support the emerging EV revolution. The largest state in the country has already taken steps to outlaw the sale of gas-powered cars, and other states are considering proposing similar regulations, so the rest of the United States needs to get moving. Our time is of the utmost importance.

In EV-crazy California, what would happen if the power system suddenly went down, for example? We need just go back a few months to find the answer to that question. Due to extreme heat this past summer, the power grid in California came dangerously near to failing.

It held on for dear life and barely made it. There will be further testing of the grid. Given California's plans to increase demand for electric vehicles, the upcoming trial could be a total failure. So many proponents of electric vehicles appear oblivious to the notion that energy is a limited resource.

In this image from the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto on February 13, 2019, we see the charging port on a Mercedes Benz EQC 400 4Matic electric vehicle.

In reality, the United States' electricity grid is failing. For a long time now, indeed. Dr. Massoud Amin, a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at the University of Minnesota, recently wrote a frightening article for Smithsonian Magazine detailing the several ways in which the United States' electrical grid, "the most complicated" one ever created, could fail. According to his article, "the grid underlies our economy, our quality of life, and our civilization," and its loss would cause a complete collapse of these aspects of society. There will be a surge in criminal activity. Human lives will be lost. There will be complete anarchy.

The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that the failure to invest in the upkeep of the country's extensive electrical grid will cost the United States $130 billion by 2025. Despite being heralded as "the greatest thing since sliced bread," EVs have a number of significant drawbacks.

Author Ben Guess recently pointed out that there are already 21 EVs for every public charging connection in the United States. In order for the United States to keep up with the rising demand for electric vehicles, over 500 new charging outlets will need to be installed every day until 2030.

Do you think this is a reasonable assumption?

There just aren't enough outlets for battery-related usage on the grid, even if the United States manages to add enough ports. This needs to be said over and over without ever apologizing for its importance. Indeed, state-sponsored hacking poses a hazard, but neither are state-sponsored electric vehicle (EV) projects without their own risks. We must not lose sight of the forest for the trees in our enthusiastic embrace of everything environmentally friendly.

An Outage In The United States' Power Grid Could Leave The Country In The Dark; Prepare For Insanity

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