Changing weather and climate patterns including sustained wind, heat, flooding and icing are set to test the limits of today’s utility infrastructure.
For the study, Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) is partnering with the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory’s Center for Climate Resilience and Decision Science and the Electric Power Research Institute’s (EPRI) Climate READi initiative, a recently announced, three-year global programme on climate change resilience and adaptation.
Changing climatic patterns are expected to bring operational challenges, while electrification for decarbonisation will result in more reliance on the grid as electricity demand increases in sectors such as transport and industry.
The study, the first in ComEd’s region and believed to be the first that will incorporate the impact of increased electrification into the climate risk planning process, will build upon established climate science and industry best practices to help ComEd plan and build infrastructure that is more resilient to the climate changes that pose growing risks to the grid.
Have you read?
Oracles and blockchains – managing climate change in the energy sector
Climate innovation: Wins, challenges and gaps
In particular, it should further inform ComEd’s multi-year integrated grid plan, which will be filed with the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) in January 2023.
“Families and businesses in northern Illinois have a front-row seat to the increasingly severe weather caused by climate change, which has brought record-breaking temperature swings, historic tornadoes and hurricane-strength winds that continue to test the resiliency of the power grid and the reliable energy our customers have come to expect,” said ComEd CEO Gil Quiniones.
“As we plan the future grid investments required to enable the state’s clean energy transition, it is essential that we fully understand future grid challenges – including the impact of climate change and electrification – to ensure our grid can adapt to changing conditions and maintain our outstanding system reliability and resiliency.”
Argonne will provide an analysis of future climate conditions for Northern Illinois, with researchers using two climate risk pathways to identify scenarios that would exceed current design standards. Today’s best practices in grid planning look at historical weather, but climate change forces the utilities to look into the future and anticipate unprecedented weather conditions
Climate READi, launched in late April, will convene global thought leaders and industry stakeholders to develop a common framework to address power system climate resilience and adaptation. The Climate READi framework produced from this effort is expected to embody one of the most comprehensive, integrated approaches to physical climate risk assessment.
ComEd’s parent company, Exelon Corporation, is one of the 13 members of the Climate READi initiative. ComEd expects the final report of the study to be released no later than the filing of the new grid plan.
