As we’ve seen with snow storms in Texas and heat waves in Oregon, the hardship from an environmental disaster can be destructive and long-term. Across the globe, extreme weather events cause hundreds of billions of dollars of damage and lost productivity to infrastructure systems, residences, and businesses. For vulnerable and disadvantaged communities, a loss of electricity, clean water, transportation, communications, and housing can be catastrophic. With climate change disruptions and challenges, incorporating resilience into our energy grid system is essential. Ensuring vulnerable communities are protected is especially important.
Recently, EPRI examined how resilience and energy equity – which refers to affordable and fair access to energy services and benefits, as well as involvement in related decision-making regardless of economic or social status – can be better integrated into our power systems. In a recent whitepaper, Equity and Resilience: Implications at the Intersection of Climate Change and Community, EPRI offers a detailed look at measures, opportunities, and strategies energy system planners can take when considering utility investments.
To equitably distribute investments to enhance grid resilience and related benefits, one of the first key steps is identifying vulnerable and disadvantaged communities to reveal areas of focus for resilience initiatives and highlight specific or unique needs to be addressed. Two federal agencies already have tools that provide this:
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) “Social Vulnerability Index’”, which identifies communities that may need support in a disaster.
- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s “EJSCREEN,” designed to support public health and the environment with screening and mapping features.
In addition, the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality has developed a new “Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool” to help identify communities that have faced historic injustices and have borne the brunt of pollution to ensure they’re some of the first to see the benefits of climate action.
Communities can have different vulnerabilities and needs, and resilience ultimately relies on collaboration across public, nonprofit, and private entities. One opportunity the whitepaper highlights is bringing in community members and town leaders to help build trust and illuminate overlooked needs. With all parties working together, it can become easier to evaluate and prioritize grid investments to provide the greatest benefit.
The whitepaper highlights opportunities for distributed energy resources (DER) and microgrid solutions within disadvantaged communities; and where community facilities used as shelters, microgrid installations would be an additional safeguard against service interruptions when communities need it most.
The actions to address resiliency will involve typical grid-hardening measures, such as new hardware and poles, undergrounding, advanced sensors, automated and advanced switching. Earlier this year, EPRI launched a new initiative, Climate READiTM (REsilience and ADaptation): Power, to bring the industry and its stakeholders together to assess risk in these areas to prioritize investments and improvements. In addition to utility-focused grid modernization efforts, there are opportunities for non-utility solutions, including nature-based measures such as planting trees to mitigate urban heat-island effects or installing gardens as a source for food.
The opportunities presented in EPRI’s whitepaper offer a chance to address the hardships vulnerable communities often face from interruptions of essential services during extreme weather. Addressing these challenges by advancing equity has the chance to positively impact society as energy providers and local governments engage with, invest in, and ultimately strengthen these communities.
As our power systems continue to modernize and decarbonize, all of us – regardless of age, race, or economic status – deserve a reliable and resilient energy grid.