While the scale and nature of the recent Texas storm has been called a “once in a decade event,” it was not unprecedented, and, as client scientists have warned, such severe weather events are occurring more often. In 2020 alone, the US witnessed 22 weather and climate disaster events, with losses exceeding $1 billion each, points out West Monroe, a consulting firm that recently published its 2021 Energy and Utilities Outlook.
It is difficult and costly to try and “engineer” a way out of increasingly extreme and damaging weather scenarios, Paul DeCotis, a senior director in the energies and utilities practice at West Monroe, told Environment + Energy Leader. For Texas utilities, generators, and ERCOT, for example, no amount of preparation could have prevented the level of disruption seen across the state. Instead, a handful of long-term resiliency strategies can be used to help prepare for future events, he said. Such strategies include:
—Leveraging predictive analytics and smart grid technology to make more strategic asset decisions;
—Reassessing critical components of the system and carefully planning their grid-hardening investments;
—Reconsideration of asset management strategies to focus on risk-based decision-making.
A recent report from Deloitte underscores DeCotis’s call for utilities to take a keen look at their asset management plans. As organizations call for cleaner and more reliable energy, electricity providers will likely need to shift away from traditional asset management strategies and develop comprehensive digital strategies, the report states. Digitally transforming their assets means providers can make data-driven, risk-informed decisions, rather than basing decisions on subjective information.
“We really need to change our paradigm, particularly utilities, because they are becoming much more vulnerable to disaster,” Najmedin Meshkati, an engineering professor at the University of Southern California, told the New York Times, referring to the blackouts in Texas and California. “They need to always think about literally the worst-case scenario because the worst case scenario is going to happen.”
