Tech Execs Look To Avert Power ProblemsTech Execs Look To Avert Power Problems

The nation's electricity transmission system is overextended and overburdened. IT executives at utility companies and businesses across the country are doing their best to avert--or at least prepare for--more power shortages.

But investment in new transmission facilities is lagging, according to a recent report by the Electricity Advisory Board, a policy council established by the Department of Energy. Citing studies done by the North American Electric Reliability Council, the report notes that construction of high-voltage transmission facilities will increase by only 6% in the next 10 years, versus a 20% increase in demand.

Each steep increase in consumption leads to "overloading and congestion," says Diane Bunch, senior VP of IS at the Tennessee Valley Authority. The TVA has developed real-time management technology to reroute traffic and steer customers to other utilities to ensure transmission reliability.

Online energy trading, which increases the flow of electricity among multiple parties, compared with point-to-point transactions, exacerbates the problem. Buyers and sellers use the grid in ways that weren't planned for, says Sue Tierney, a former assistant secretary for policy at the Department of Energy who's now senior VP at Lexecon Inc., a research firm specializing in electricity and financial services.

Some utilities are investing in transmission facilities; the Long Island Power Authority spent $113 million this year for new capacity. But Cox Communications, a broadband delivery network that operates in 24 states, isn't taking chances. Power outages are "a fact of life," says chief technology officer Chris Bowick, so Cox has backup supplies and generators for master data centers and calling centers. Says Bowick, "We've been doing it for years."