Extreme weather making it harder to keep the lights on
We need to invest in clean energy — and the existing infrastructure
Across the country, electric utilities like Eversource are asking a central question with increasing urgency: How do we keep the power on while facing more frequent and extreme weather and supporting the transition to a clean energy future at the same time?
Hurricane Ida and severe storms in Texas, California and the Midwest make it seem as if the wheels of climate change are already too fast in motion. But there’s still time to turn the tide.
It’s not if, but when: Here in New England, we know all too well the devastating effects that weather can have, and it’s only a matter of time before the next storm, heat wave or cold snap.
As the largest utility in the region, Eversource has one foot in the present — investing in system “hardening” to better withstand severe weather impacts — and one foot in the future — advancing clean energy projects that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help combat climate change. Both challenges must be tackled on multiple levels, and we must prioritize our customers’ desire for reliable, affordable and cleaner energy.
Transmission investment is not optional:
The transmission system, as the backbone of the electric grid that moves power over long distances, plays an essential role. The electrification of heating and transportation will increase electric demand, which will need to be met by a dramatic growth of clean energy resources like offshore wind, utility-scale and distributed solar, and battery storage.
Damage to the transmission system can cause safety issues and power outages for thousands of customers, which we saw firsthand when Hurricane Ida took down all eight transmission lines feeding power into New Orleans.
An integrated approach can lower costs, save time and minimize impacts:
Our success hinges on addressing these two challenges in tandem — hardening the grid and supporting a clean energy future — and doing so in a way that is as cost-effective as possible.
As we continually upgrade our infrastructure with equipment to enhance reliability and resiliency, many of these improvements will enable clean energy resources to connect more easily to the grid. For example, installing new steel structures to replace aging wooden poles supports new higher-capacity conductors, which allow us to reliably interconnect new clean energy generation as it comes online.
Other measures we are taking at Eversource to support a holistic, co-optimized approach include:
■ Proactively trimming trees and maintaining vegetation as damaged trees cause up to 90% of outages during storms.
■ Ensuring redundancy in our electric system, so that if one part of the system fails, we can redirect power flows through alternate pathways. This long-adopted approach to building our system becomes even more important as new renewable resources are connected to the grid that have high variability in their output depending on weather, like wind and solar. A diverse mix of resources — and the use of energy storage — will help to provide balance on the grid. In New England, we also have interregional ties to neighboring grids, including New York and Canada, and we’re also looking for ways to strengthen those ties.
■ Undertaking detailed analyses of what the grid of the future will look like over the next 30 years — from generation mix to customer demand — using scenario planning to implement a strategic, proactive planning approach to develop transmission solutions that are efficient and cost-effective.
■ Carefully considering whether to place new, critical transmission infrastructure underground, which protects it from high winds and can reduce impacts to the surrounding environment. Our decisions on where to locate transmission infrastructure are complex and take into consideration many factors. While undergrounding infrastructure might sound ideal, it can also be susceptible to flooding and can be costly.
There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, and we need a combination of approaches to fit the unique needs of every region.
We expect a lot from a transmission system that has been around since the early 20th century. As our lifestyles have grown ever more dependent on electricity, it is essential that we make the investments today to modernize and strengthen the electrical grid while we also build the clean energy future we all desire. We cannot afford to do one and not the other — future generations need us to do both.