Extreme Cold Events, Changing Climate Threats, and Power System Infrastructure Resiliency

What is the polar vortex? How does it affect power system infrastructure? And how might these effects be mitigated in the future?

KEY POINTS

■ Generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructures are impacted by extreme cold temperatures, with the potential to cause widespread, long-duration outages that negatively affect consumers and businesses.

■ The relationship between climate change and changing frequency and intensity of extreme cold events (ECEs) is not clear.

■ Weatherization, cold-weather vulnerability assessments, and resiliency planning and investments will be necessary to mitigate widespread outages caused by future ECEs.

CONTEXT

As a result of a temporary weakening of the polar vortex, the southern United States experienced an ECE in February 2021, which renewed concerns about reliability, resiliency, and resource adequacy in the face of extreme weather events. The large societal impacts of the 2021 ECE, and the possibility of its effects having been more profound, have reenergized a broader, energy sector-wide conversation about how best to manage extreme weather and changing climate threats.

Read the full insight report HERE

(August 13, 2021)