By: Meghann Papsdorf, Policy Analyst
Released in August 2021, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report sent a “code red” to the world by highlighting the increasing intensity and frequency of future climate events. The message was hardly surprising as the U.S. experienced record-breaking storms, wildfires, and flooding across the country in just the past few years, all of which had profound impacts on the electricity system. With more climate events expected on the horizon, ‘resiliency’ has become a buzzword in the electricity sector.
This year is a prime example of how the resiliency of the electricity system will continue to be tested. In February, a winter storm left 70% of Texas residents in the dark. The category 4 Hurricane Ida hit in August, resulting in a widespread blackout for 1 million Louisiana residents and historic flooding in New York. After another devastating wildfire season last year, utilities in the West are currently announcing planned outages for millions of residents as part of a key strategy in the region’s wildfire mitigation plans. With the likelihood of increased climate events, utilities are projected to invest about $1 trillion in the power grid from 2020 to 2030. Indeed, in the past few years, record-breaking climate events like these have motivated states to increase the resiliency of their systems, as seen below.
Climate Risks and Resilience-Motivated Grid Modernization Investments
Note: Climate risk data represents the top disaster for each state, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Grid modernization investments include those currently under consideration or approved within the past three years.
How are state regulators responding to these increased threats?
Deployment
Many states are increasing investment in distributed energy resources (DERs), including combined heat and power systems, renewable sources, and storage, because of the reliability these resources provide grid operators. DERs help to diversify a state’s generation mix to reduce the grid’s dependency on a single fuel type, as well as provide key supply when larger generators go offline in the event of a severe storm. DERs can alleviate system congestion and avoid or delay the construction of costly infrastructure. Moreover, states are increasingly turning to energy storage as a key technology to counteract the risks of climate events, as storage can help offset risks to fuel supply and provide grid services. Because any risk to the system can threaten the reliability of electricity reaching end-users, some storage investments are directed to increasing behind-the-meter solar and storage deployment.
Integration & Monitoring
Alongside further deployment of DERs, states are also investing millions in advanced metering infrastructure, advanced distribution management systems, distributed energy resource management systems, and demand side management. These systems help utilities optimize the integration of DERs, detect and trace outages and voltage issues, and aid in reconfiguration during widespread outages. The most common grid modernization investment is smart meter installation. Smart meters can enable time-based pricing, improve control over consumption, and allow for high usage alerts, all of which can help prevent outages during high-demand events, such as heatwaves or ice storms.
There has also been an uptick in microgrid investments to further integrate DERs. Because microgrids are anchored by on-site generation, they can operate in “island mode” when the larger system is hit by extreme weather. From hurricanes to wildfires, climate events have spurred most of the microgrid legislation across states in the past few years. Many microgrid policies start with pilots to support critical facilities, like hospitals, fire departments, and police headquarters, and have moved into supporting residential and commercial/industrial customers.
Hardening
Grid hardening is also a common investment aimed to address the susceptibility of transmission and distribution infrastructure, such as lines, poles, towers, transformers, and switchgear, to climate events. Hardening includes tree-trimming, pole inspection and upgrades, and smart grid technology installation, helping to prevent the destruction of key infrastructure and ultimately to minimize the impact of an outage.
Laying the Groundwork
Some state regulators and utilities are incorporating further consideration of climate events in distribution planning or initiating studies to model future climate impacts and to address the concerns of vulnerable communities.
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To stay up to date on utility grid modernization investments and resiliency efforts, consider subscribing to the 50 States of Grid Modernization quarterly report series or DSIRE Insight’s Grid Modernization Single-Tech Subscription.