Growing demand coupled with inefficiencies in our electric grid have impacted the reliability our nation’s electric power. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that the demand for electricity is projected to increase by 31 percent by 2035.

Experts on the nation's electricity system point to a frighteningly steep increase in non-disaster-related outages affecting at least 50,000 consumers per incident. During the past two decades, such blackouts have increased 124 percent – up from 41 blackouts between 1991 and 1995, to 92 between 2001 and 2005, according to research at the University of Minnesota.  In 2003 the blackout, which struck the Northeast and parts of the Midwest, impacted 50 million people and cost billions of dollars.

Rolling blackouts and inefficiencies in the U.S. electrical grid cost an estimated $80 billion a year (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2005). And with 160,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines we know the challenge ahead is great.

Embracing smart grid technologies will result in more efficient transmission of electricity, quicker restoration of electricity after power outages, reduced peak demand that would help lower rates and improved security. To maintain our economic prosperity, our nation must rely on 21st Century smart grid innovations and technologies.