Disaster Preparedness Offers Big Payoffs for Utilities

Abstract

Achieving the right balance between resilience and the cost of electricity poses a challenge. Technical solutions are available to mitigate the risks posed by most hazards, but they affect the prices customers pay for power and may be difficult to justify to regulators. Because power system assets are long-lived, they cannot be easily replaced to take advantage of advances in technology. This is where good planning comes in: depreciated, obsolete, or damaged equipment can be replaced with hazardhardy components. Operators must plan to “build back better.”