Long-Term Emergency Planning Critical for Utilities

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I stumbled onto an article today that makes a lot of sense – for utilities across all sectors, long-term emergency planning is the best practice.  Although (in theory) all utility companies strive for this, in practice it is very difficult to maintain a long-term focus because there are so many short-term obligations that need to be handled.

Long-Term Emergency Planning 101

The article from T&D World makes the case that utilities are generally focused on rapid response to emergencies.  This makes sense, but the downside is that rapid response has inherent deficiencies that result in increased supply costs and reduced levels of efficiency.

Because of this, the article suggests that additional resources should be permanently allocated to looking at things through a longer-term lens.  Connecting the dots, I think the author is saying that doing this will help develop more efficient processes and technologies and help to ensure that the coordination of short-term logistics is more effective and efficient.

Part of what the author believes will facilitate these benefits is the breaking down of informational silos.  Lots of information is still gathered manually, and from multiple sources.  Part of the process of long-term emergency planning would involve enhancing the flow of information up, down, and all around.

And of course, we couldn’t talk about long-term planning without mentioning macro factors like the impacts of climate change and population growth.  It’s all about defining what the external landscape or environment will look like both today and 100 years from now, and then structuring processes in ways that maximize the odds of thriving in both scenarios.

I’d encourage you to take a look at the article (linked to above).  I think much of the content is more theoretical than practical, but nonetheless It’s definitely some good food for thought.  Bottom line: It’s tough to argue that long-term emergency planning should not be the goal for utilities.