看看美国人自己是怎么说的吧
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/01/americas-third-world-energy-grid-101868_Page2.html#.Us2QbJ5dV8E

Bill Richardson is a former secretary of energy and governor of New Mexico.

America’s Third World Energy Grid

By BILL RICHARDSON January 07, 2014

Other countries are finding ways to address these problems. China, for example, is looking beyond its heavy dependence on coal and fossil fuels and is now aggressively pursuing renewable energy. The effort has made China a global leader in wind and solar technology and a major exporter of solar panels and wind turbines to many developed countries. But China is also upgrading its grid to enable a far more cost-efficient means of distributing power, covering vast regions throughout the country.
China’s State Grid Corporation has invested a breathtaking $100 billion in ultra-high voltage (UHV) technology that promises to remedy many of the power problems that have plagued China and other advanced countries for decades. China’s biggest challenge is similar to ours: linking the country’s new renewable installations, located in areas far away from the urbanized east coast, where energy demand is soaring. Without some form of UHV technology, energy from renewables simply cannot reach its destination markets efficiently. UHV transmission can also help optimize coal consumption by improving efficiency, both generation and transmission, to minimize load losses over long distances and reduce the intensity of greenhouse-gas emissions, a persistent challenge facing most industrialized countries.

If this new and promising transmission technology can deliver on its potential, improving the environment while increasing efficiency, can it possibly hold promise for America’s aging grid system?
I certainly appreciate that the costs associated with upgrading America’s electric grid will be a tough call for those involved. Some studies estimate that a business-as-usual approach will require investment of $18.5 billion over two decades, while a system designed to integrate renewables like wind energy on a large scale would cost more than $100 billion. And that’s to say nothing of the difficulty of finding and negotiating suitable sites for transmission lines – or any facility – today.

But we cannot afford to continually ignore or put off finding a solution to our energy woes. Despite the cost, the political hurdles and certain effectiveness that are to be gained with the piecemeal implementation of today’s “smart grid” technology, there is no getting around the fact that America’s power grid system needs to be upgraded on national scale.
Just as America found a way to achieve President Dwight Eisenhower’s ambitious vision of an interstate highway system, we can and must now construct a national transmission superhighway if we are to get the most from renewables and bring our crumbling grid into the First World.

美联社相关中文报道

针对美国极端天气导致中西部数以万计居民遭遇停电考验的状况，美国前能源部长表示，美国需要采取国家层面的电网改造措施，以最大限度地利用美国多元化的电能，强化抗灾能力，而在这方面中国是美国学习的榜样。
美国前能源部长、新墨西哥州州长理查德森（Bill Richardson）1月7日在《Politico》时政新闻网站上发表题为“美国的第三世界电网”（America’s Third World Energy Grid）的文章。文章指出，美国的电力系统还停留在第三世界国家的水平，近十年来鲜有进步。各地电网各自为政是导致效率低下、抗灾能力差的重要原因。

理查德森说，作为克林顿（Bill Clinton）任内的能源部长，他常常认定美国的能源传输系统处在“第三世界”的水平。而他的目标则是提高克服供电网络的缺点，使其能够为全美的企业和家庭供电。而遗憾的是，电网近十年来鲜有改观。

尽管美国如今的可再生能源发电已取得长足进步，但目前的系统并不能将这些荒无人烟的地方产生的电能有效输送至别处。

理查德森称，美国电网的一大问题就是各地的电网并没有连在一起，就像一团乱麻，9000多座发电站和大约30万英里的输电线维持着运作。数百个地方电网只管自己运营，就像诸侯各自为政，未能建立一个完整的、协调一致的国家电网系统。

理查德森强调，美国的电网建设需要向中国学习，只有这样才能满足经济发展的需求。他说，中国正努力摆脱对化石能源的依赖，大力发展可再生能源。这使中国在风能和太阳能科技上领跑全球，中国还是太阳能电池板和风力发电机的主要出口国。同时，中国还在升级自己的电网，以获得更有效率的电能分配方式。

理查德森指出，中国的国家电网公司投入高达1,000亿美元的巨资开发特高压输电（UHV）技术令人惊叹。该技术有望解决困扰中国以及其他发达国家几十年的输电难题。中国面临的最大挑战跟美国类似：连接本国最

新的可再生能源电站。这些电站往往离高度城市化的东部地区很远。没有特高压输电，这一愿景将难以实现。通过提高发电和输电效率，特高压输电还能优化煤炭的利用、减少温室气体排放。

美国中部、东部大面积地区日前遭受40年不遇的寒潮袭击，局地出现了-40℃的极端天气，中西部数以万计居民遭遇停电考验。据美媒报道，印第安纳州1.5万户、伊利诺伊州6,800户、密苏里州2,200户居民5日晚至6日因恶劣天气而停电。此前，2012年10月底的飓风“桑迪”更是造成美国740万户大停电。