IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2014 - 39

✔ clP Power hong Kong conducts regular emergency

typhoon drills, particularly ahead of hong Kong's typhoon
season. The June 2013 drill simulated the collapse of a
transmission tower during a typhoon and the construction
of a temporary pylon, which could restore electricity ten
times faster than repairing the damaged pylon. clP Power
has introduced an emergency restoration system for the
rapid construction of temporary pylons and has identified
151 high-risk pylons and 74 slopes needing reinforcement.
✔ edRf created its Rapid intervention force (fiRe),
which currently has 2,500 intervention technicians
trained for crisis situations and deployable at any time all
over france. fiRe is provided with everything necessary
for its activities: it includes 11 storage platforms distributed across the country that enable the fast deployment
of 2,000 generators as well as emergency materials kits.
The major extreme weather events of 2011 (Joaquim) and
2013 (Kirk) proved the value of this system. The average
annual time without electricity per customer decreased
from 119 min in 2010 to 73 min in 2011.
✔ a public-private consortium in the united States has developed a "rapid recovery transformer" dubbed RecX that can
be up and running in less than a week, drastically reducing the recovery time after a transformer has been damaged. a RecX consortium-made up of aBB, centerPoint
energy, the electric Power Research institute, and the u.S.
department of homeland Security-designed a modular
transformer that is transportable and quick to install without diminishing performance and reliability. The first prototypes were installed in Texas in 2012 in just six days,
which included reassembling the cooling systems, conservers, and bushings and connecting to the grid.
✔ in the gulf of mexico, entergy has substantially
improved its response time in an emergency through
mutual aid from other utilities, strong planning, and preparedness. hurricane isaac in 2012 damaged 95 lines

and 144 substations, 13 of which were flooded. more
than 4,000 poles, nearly 900 mi of conductor, and 2,000
transformers were damaged beginning on the evening of
28 august. despite isaac's being the fourth-worst storm
entergy has ever suffered, recovery was speedier than
ever before. By 4 September, virtually every customer
had electricity again. assistance came from 21 other utilities and 138 contractors representing 25 states. Because
response teams were in place, more than 16,000 personnel were restoring service by 1 September, three days
after the hurricane hit the coast.

Progressive Climate Change
utilities are adapting to progressive changes in climate in
various ways:
✔ edf initiated a heat wave project in 2008 following
lost generation during heat waves in 2003 and 2006 of
5.5 TWh and 2.5 TWh, respectively. This project incorporates a review every five years of climate changes
(air and water temperatures) and their consequences
for structures, systems, and components. modifications
designed to strengthen plant robustness have been identified relating to both nuclear and conventional safety,
mainly to increase effective cooling.
✔ clP group began a program in 2009 to assess the cost
of damage from extreme weather and how to adapt. The
utility has made a gas-fired power station in india more
resilient with measures that included raising the floor
level of buildings housing critical infrastructure, building
flood levees around low-lying parts of the site, increasing
drainage capacity, and diverting cooling water pipes to
access fresh water in case of saline intrusion.
✔ in Southeast asia, clP has responded to damage to coal
storage domes and supply disruptions from increased
wind speeds during typhoons. high winds associated
with typhoons caused power outages on four occasions

table 2. Climate risks and responses.
Risks

Responses

Resilience

Extreme events will create storm surges, heavy
downpours, heat waves, and high winds. Storm
surges could be the greatest of these hazards for
power infrastructure, much of which is close to
the sea and faces increasing flood risks. Heat
waves represent a major risk for infrastructures,
water temperature and availability, and will
increase cooling demand as customers respond to
higher temperatures.

Crisis planning focusing on daily operations,
including maintenance, operating
parameters, damage limitation, and
operations management. It covers advance
preparation and rehearsal of emergency
plans, including lessons learned from
reviews of previous crises.

Long-term adaptation

Longer-term impacts. Gradual changes
in climate will raise sea levels and average
temperatures, and affect precipitation volumes,
with consequences for all links in the value chain.
Higher temperatures will be particularly significant
because they will reduce operating efficiency.

Long-tem planning to identify changing
system requirements resulting from potential
impacts and scenarios. Risk and cost
assessment to prioritize action. This includes
decisions about the remaining lifetime
for existing assets, whether retrofitting or
refurbishment is necessary, and locations for
new capacity.

september/october 2014

ieee power & energy magazine

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2014