Fortifying the Grid Against Extreme Winter Weather Challenges

Image courtesy of Roozbeh Rokni under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic License, resized to 700 x 391 pixels.

Although hurricanes and summer storms tend to cause the greatest number of power outages, extreme winter weather brings its own set of unique challenges.  The Feb. 2021 winter storm in Texas (Winter Storm Elliott) that caused multi-day power outages for over 4 million people was a wakeup call.  Here is an updated list of methods that utilities can employ to prevent a repeat performance in the future.

Steps to Maintain Reliability in the Face of Extreme Winter Weather

Recent research has shown that winter storm-related outages are getting more frequent and severe.  Here is a list of potential mitigation tactics to explore:

• Improve insulation and sealing to prevent leaks, drafts, and moisture from entering the system and causing equipment or components to freeze over.
• Strengthen power lines by installing more resilient wires and replacing aged and/or worn-out poles with stronger ones.
• Replace aging equipment and components – critical when you consider that at least 70% of the U.S. power grid is over 25 years old.  Inspections should commence in early spring each year to identify the most vulnerable links in the proverbial chain.
• Improve cybersecurity measures (i.e., advanced antivirus programs, identity and access control, extensive security training, etc.), as bad actors could theoretically target cold weather days to maximize the impact of their efforts.
• Consider migrating certain equipment and components indoors – in other words, expand shelter at power plants to help keep equipment warm and dry.
• Diversity power sources by deploying microgrids, virtual power plants, and clean energy sources to supplement conventional sources of supply.
• Review emergency response plans, collaborating with local leaders and communities, to ensure they are optimized.

The bottom line is that we can no longer rely on winter months being more reliable than summer months.  Like extreme heat, extreme winter weather has become an increasing threat in the wake of climate change.  Simply put, the call to action for utility companies is now.