Dive Brief:

• From regulatory hurdles to terrorism, the United States' transmission grid faces many threats, according to speakers at the Intermountain Energy Summit.
• Transmission resources will have to evolve quickly to keep pace new technologies and demand.
• Innovations in distributed generation, however, could insulate power consumers while simultaneously decreasing interest in transmission investment, speakers warned.

Dive Insight:

The Idaho Statesman reported that on the first day of the conference, which was held in Idaho Falls, attendees were alerted to a blackout threat. According to media reports, Idaho Falls Mayor Rebecca Casper warned that repair of a downed utility line could create problems because the city had been unable to site a redundant power line — highlighting one issue faced by the nation's transmission grid that attendees were there to discuss.

Secretary of Energy Dr. Ernest Moniz was the keynote speaker and the Statesman quoted him saying, "our electric grid has a bunch of threats." Moniz said the nation needs more advanced power lines to meet demand as well as to thwart threats of weather, terrorism and other attacks.

The conference ultimately went on as scheduled as Idaho Falls was able to keep the lights on because of low demand. But the point was made. A spokesperson for the utility told the Statesman that the threat of customers losing power remains high until the city can construct an alternate power line.