POWER June 2014 - 64

ELECTRIC POWER 2014 ROUNDUP
Lessons in Resiliency and Risk
Keynote presentations at ELECTRIC POWER 2014 focused on new threats to
power generators that range from climate change to a business environment
that includes increasing numbers of large customer-generators. The takeaway:
Traditional utilities can survive the new challenges, but only if they are
prepared and flexible.
Gail Reitenbach, PhD
C
limate change is changing the odds of
extreme weather events, Entergy's Rod
West told the audience at the opening
keynote session of ELECTRIC POWER
2014. West, who serves as Entergy's executive
vice president and chief administrative
officer, led the team responsible for the $250
million reconstruction of New Orleans' electrical
infrastructure after Hurricane Katrina.
Though this year's conference and exhibition
began on Apr. 1 in New Orleans, West's
comments were no April Fool's joke. Entergy,
which operates as a traditional utility
in the South and a merchant generator in the
North, owns and operates about 30 GW of
capacity, including 10 GW of nuclear power.
Though one might think its Gulf Coast assets'
vulnerability to hurricanes would be the
most significant weather-related threat, West
noted that Entergy assets in all areas have
been hit by extreme weather.
Prepare, Harden, and Engage
" We understand storms, " West (Figure 1) asserted
as he delivered his keynote on risk and
resiliency for power companies.
Not only is climate change increasing the
odds of extreme weather events, but the loss1.
Rod West. Entergy's executive vice
president and chief administrative officer delivered
the first of two keynote addresses
at ELECTRIC POWER 2014 in New Orleans.
Courtesy: POWER
es from those events are also increasing, he
explained. West acknowledged that, " often to
the chagrin of our colleagues, " Entergy has
been at the forefront of addressing the implications
of climate change. It also has moved
away from an all-or-nothing discussion of
climate change. Instead, " it's a conversation
about managing risk. "
To that end, in 2004 the company engaged
with a team of consultants and other
Gulf Coast entities to develop " a fact-based
assessment of risk " to the U.S. Gulf Coast.
One key finding: The Gulf Coast faces expected
cumulative losses over $350 billion
by 2030 as a result of environmental risks.
Even events not directly " caused " by climate
change are exacerbated by it.
If you are affected by climate change
impacts, he said, it's just loss, whether you
" believe " in climate change or not. The conversation
Entergy has is about resilience. But
it's not just about hardening infrastructure.
Though hurricanes are some of the most dramatic
and destructive weather events, the largest
cumulative destruction is caused by thunderstorms,
high wind, tornados, and winter storms,
which means all regions are vulnerable.
Resilience isn't just a concern for the Gulf
Coast, as the East Coast learned during Hurricane
Sandy. West suggested that after seeing
the devastation that Sandy wrought, it became
more obvious that planning, preventing, and
restoring service after extreme weather events
is a national priority that requires three actions:
prepare, harden, and engage.
West spent some time detailing the importance
of engaging utility customers in
these steps. Because restoration of electricity
service can take weeks after a major event,
customers-industrial, commercial, and residential-may
need to be prepared for long
outages or have backup plans.
The costs of inaction surpass those of investment
in preparation and hardening, West argued.
One of the approaches Entergy and the State of
Louisiana have taken is familiar to the nuclear
industry: defense in depth. The elements of that
strategy include, but are not limited to, building
and maintenance of levees and coastal wetlands.
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POWER | June 2014
Coastal wetlands are an important component
of that defense-in-depth strategy because,
as West underscored, it's not just a " tree-hugger "
issue. The loss of coastal wetlands affects
energy industries all along the Gulf and has
additional economic impact. Especially given
the importance of the energy and related industries
to the Gulf Coast region, the State of
Louisiana has developed a plan to reverse the
loss of coastal wetlands known as the " Gulf
Coast Adaptation Study. "
Entergy's approach appears to be paying off.
West noted that as a result of efforts the company
has made, outage restoration after Hurricane
Isaac was faster than for the previous several
storms: Ike, Gustav, Rita, and Katrina.
When Large Customers Become
Large Generators
Brian Janous (Figure 2), director of energy
strategy for Microsoft, made the second keynote
presentation. As is the case with many
other large technology companies, including
Google and Apple, Microsoft is committed to
providing much of its own power, including
carbon-free electricity.
To help explain why Microsoft has gone so
deeply into the business of developing generation,
Janous said that the company looks
2. Brian Janous. Microsoft's director of
energy strategy gave attendees insight into
the energy strategy of large nonutility generators
that have not traditionally been selfgenerators.
Courtesy: POWER
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POWER June 2014

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