As Hurricane Ida tore across the U.S. last week, it took out power from New Orleans to New York. The damage highlighted the need to upgrade the electricity grid so it better withstands extreme weather, or at least bounces back more quickly after failing.
In many places, the infrastructure that supplies power to homes, businesses and vital services is out-of-date. Meanwhile, scientists are concerned that climate change could make extreme weather more common and more damaging.
“The bottom line is that we are seeing more stress on the grid, whether it’s from stronger hurricanes, more rainfall, or more extended heatwaves… especially on older aspects of the grid that are operating beyond the assumptions that they were built with,” said Jeff Schlegelmilch, the director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University’s Earth Institute in New York.
Low-lying cities like New Orleans are especially vulnerable to weather that affects the grid because storms can push seawater inland, flooding power plants and making it difficult to reach and repair damaged infrastructure. But grid resilience is not just a concern on the coasts — almost everywhere can suffer power problems in extreme weather, as shown by the grid failures in Texas during a storm in February, and by the rolling blackouts in California during last summer’s heatwave.
Schlegelmilch identifies two main factors to improve grid resilience: updating the existing infrastructure, and implementing “microgrids” — small-scale networks within the larger grid. Microgrids are often linked to smaller power plants, that can operate independently during a disaster to supply electricity where it’s most needed.
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