E.L.D. Cornerstone.  Life in words & pictures

April 21, 2015

The Obama administration released a report Tuesday calling for billions of dollars to “modernize” and “transform” the nation’s energy infrastructure to adapt to modern circumstances.

The plan comes from the key findings in the first installment of the Energy Department’s first“Quadrennial Energy Review,” which it hopes to write every four years.

The report describes a system of energy transportation, storage and distribution that is largely based on decades-old principles. Vice President Biden and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz are traveling to Philadelphia to speak at Peco Energy Co., a local utility, and promote the report and its recommendations.Federal officials complain in the 348-page report that the energy infrastructure system does not fit into current needs regarding domestic energy production, renewable energy, resilience needs, climate change and international security, among other concerns.

The report highlights domestic energy changes, the moving balance of imports and exports, renewable energy shifts and greenhouse gas reduction as some of the top changes that have happened in the last decade regarding energy.

“The United States has the most advanced energy systems in the world, supplying the reliable, affordable and increasingly clean power and fuels that underpin every facet of our nation’s economy,” the White House said in unveiling the report.

“But our energy landscape is changing dramatically. Solar electricity generation has increased 20-fold since 2008, and electricity generation from wind energy has more than tripled,” it said. “During that period, the United States has also become the world’s leading producer of oil and natural gas combined.”

The Obama administration is asking in the report for billions of dollars to upgrade the “resilience, reliability, safety and security” of energy infrastructure.

It says it would cost up to $3.5 billion over 10 years to replace natural gas pipelines and improve maintenance.

The Energy Department also wants to spend up to $5 billion to support state “energy assurance” pipeline programs, to help them protect their energy infrastructure from various threats.

The administration calls for nearly $4 billion to modernize the electrical grid, as well as $2 billion to promote carbon dioxide capture and sequestration, along with pipelines to move the gas.