Page 21 - NBIZ October 2021

IT’S

BAKED

IN

Preparing for Extreme Weather Events
with Resilient Microgrid Planning

By Gavin Dillingham, PhD and Carlos Gamarra, PhD 1

ately, there has been a lot To date, a total of 18 billion dollars in week after the storm 750,000 custom-
of buzz around climate disasters have happened across the ers were still without power.
change and how carbon country; four of which were in Texas.. Overall, the increase in electric
emissions can and should Winter Storm Uri in February of this power outages across the United
Lbe reduced to mitigate year which wiped out much of the States is due to natural disasters. The
global environmental degradation. Texas grid is the costliest disaster in US Department of Energy’s (US DOE)
Many businesses are aligning their state history. Hurricane Ida, which Electric Emergency Incident and
activities in the fight against climate hit New Orleans, resulted in 50% of Disturbance Report shows a significant
change and are looking for ways Louisiana (1.1 million customers) being increase in the total power outages
to decarbonize their entire value without power for multiple days. A from 2002 to 2020 (see Figure 1).
chain. However, a business must also
consider near and mid-term extreme
weather risks and their impacts on Figure 1
business operations. US. Electric Emergencies and Disturbances per Year
Due to a rapidly changing climate,
regardless of how hard we work to
become carbon neutral by 2050, some
of the damage is already done. The
frequency and intensity of major
natural disasters is growing. In 2020,
22 natural disasters resulted in over
a billion dollars in damage each; 11
of those events happened in Texas. As
of printing, 2021 is continuing that
pace as the seventh consecutive year
where the United States experienced The: U.S. DOE’s Electric Emergency Incident and Disturbance Report shows an increasing trend in
10 or more billion-dollar-plus disasters. power disturbances between 2002 and 2020.

NBIZ ■ October 2021 21