Electricity system planners encounter many uncertainties when developing future generation and transmission infrastructure portfolios that are robust to potential future hazards. Among these, weather and climate are fundamental – impacting all aspects of system operation. While traditional bulk electric system planning practices consider historical weather and climate, changing average and extreme conditions place new risks on assets and challenge existing and future system reliability. To respond to these challenges, planners may first identify how changes to weather-normal conditions and extreme events could impact system operations, and subsequently use these relationships to identify adaptations to maintain reliability and ensure resilience.
While climate risks are system- and hazard-specific, a common planning framework that incorporates climate impacts and conveys system needs during critical periods can help navigate the uncertainties present. Through the Climate Resilience and Adaptation initiative (Climate READi), EPRI has developed a climate-informed integrated electric system planning framework to identify cost-effective adaptation and resilience investments. This report guides planners through the integration of climate data and asset impacts across models to support integrated bulk electric system planning.
Authors Andrea Staid and Ryan Fulleman