Learning from Hurricane Ian
Andrew Trump is a senior principal in West Monroe’s Energy & Utilities Practice. He leads and supports practice development, business development, and client delivery in a wide range of electric and gas regulatory and strategy assessments and planning activities.
For many weeks and months, Hurricane Ian will remain a severe physical hardship for hundreds of thousands of Florida residents and thousands of businesses as they embark in a Herculean rebuilding task. No doubt they will proceed with equal measures of collective purpose, stoicism, and enterprise.
For electricity grid planners, the storm's magnitude and its aftermath provide a useful backdrop for considering the complexities of valuing electrical system resilience, particularly at the distribution level. Once lives are protected and basic services restored, what can the immediate aftermath of a storm reveal about the resiliency valuation challenges that inform the long-term deliberations?
Taking Stock
To do better long-term grid planning, it's worth noting what happens when the infrequent (if not rare), catastrophic event strikes, which is the main, risk-centric focal point of grid resiliency.
Ian's physical damages — and the directly tied economic losses — extend well beyond those attributable to the electricity grid; the grid is one of several infrastructures devastated by the storm. That's one aspect of electrical grid resiliency worth keeping sight on: Grid resiliency is deeply intertwined with the influences of other infrastructures, and this impacts how we value grid improvements.