EPRI study highlights ways for stakeholders to prioritize resilience focused investments

A collaborative study helmed by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and joined by a mix of government, lab, and utility insights has stressed the importance of grid resilience to minimize the impacts of power outages and reduce the risk of various threats.

A year in the making, the Value of Resilience White Paper breaks these threats down into two categories: chronic and acute. Chronic threats refer to ongoing threats such as climate change, whereas acute threats include storms, natural disasters, or cyberattacks. All require enhancements to the existing system, from energy supply to substations and communications infrastructure.

“A resilient energy system is critical to the entire economy, to all Americans,” Katie Jereza, EPRI vice president of corporate affairs, said. “Building that resilient grid requires clarity about what investments to the grid actually mean for continuity of operations and reliability. By looking beyond the kilowatt-hour, we can better target investments to withstand and recover from future threats.”

This past year presented an easy reference point, given that it set records for hurricanes and saw its devastating share of wildfires and extreme winter weather. Millions were left without power, and the growing prominence of cybersecurity threats is only worsening the situation. Transportation, industry, healthcare — all are at risk without proper resilience in place, according to the EPRI. But to do it right, the electric industry needs to consider customer, business, and community impacts of service disruptions as it quantifies the societal costs.

The white paper is merely meant as a starting point for such discussions, however. In creating it, the nonprofit was joined by organizations such as the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Electricity and Reliability, various national laboratories, the Edison Electric Institute, and utilities.