Extreme weather events and climate change are altering how energy companies think about planning and operations of the power system. The global response to climate change adds another dimension of ongoing change: our energy systems are decarbonizing, bringing a shift toward electrification for many end-use energy demands. As the move toward electrification increases society’s dependence on the power grid for meeting basic needs, the threats of climate change will require increased resilience.
In this report, which brings together a vast array of literature from researchers and industry stakeholders, we address climate risk, power system impacts, and current practices to address power system resilience against climate hazards. We also focus on what new research or guidance is needed to consistently integrate physical climate risk across multiple facets of decision-making within a company. These decisions span planning and operations across generation, transmission, distribution, and markets, and include customer-side considerations such as technology adoption, health impacts, and equity. Recognizing the need to account for costs of inaction and societal benefits associated with greater resilience, we include an overview of approaches for valuing and prioritizing resilience investments in a cost-benefit framework. In addition, we identify the importance of metrics across all of these spaces, as they will be needed to compare and evaluate options to justify adaptation and resilience-focused investments.
Authors Andrea Staid et al.