Building a Resilient Power Sector

Faced with increasing extreme weather events and changing traditional weather patterns due to climate change, the power sector has become disturbingly vulnerable, making climate risks assessment, building resilience in electricity infrastructure and the development of new business models, a priority.

To help in this regard, the World Business Council For Sustainable Development (WBCSD) electric utilities project released Building a Resilient Power Sector, a comprehensive report that analyzes climate impacts on power systems, explores how to better forecast weather and long-term climate risk, and shares companies best practices from around the world.

The WBCSD report, which includes input from some of the world’s biggest power companies, comes on the heels of the new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) study that re-confirms the urgency of addressing climate change.

Some key recommendations for the industry:

• Build expertise in analyzing climate information to understand risks better, especially downscaling global climate models to a more local level.
• Use risk management and risk cost benefit analysis when developing adaptation strategies to determine which solutions are efficient and cost-effective.
• Engage with regulators about incentive structures to make adaption investments viable financially.
• Continue investing in R&D to develop effective upgrades to major infrastructure elements, broadening the range of options and reducing costs over time.
• Pool learning, exchange best practices and share resources to respond more effectively to extreme events.

Best practices of companies included in the report include:

EDF
DNV GL
Entergy
ABB
Hitachi
Eskom
CLP
Statkraft

WBCSD_Building a Resilient Power Sector-Interactive
Building a resilient power sector – Executive Summery