IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2014 - 96

in my view

Craig Ivey

a utility's perspective
the impacts of climate change

New York CitY is where
thomas A. edison, Con edison's
founder and namesake, established the
world's first central power plant to light
people's homes and shops.
some 130 years later, Con edison is
still using its ability to innovate, utilizing the latest technologies to achieve
another goal: protecting New Yorkers
from the impacts to climate change.
Climate change threatens our environment, our health, our safety, and our
economy. temperatures and sea levels
are rising. in the last several years, Con
edison customers have had to withstand tropical systems, nor'easters, tornados, fierce rain and windstorms, and
major heat waves.
Consider that our company never
experienced a storm that caused 200,000
customer outages until hurricane irene
struck in 2011. Just a year later, superstorm sandy rampaged through our area
and caused more than 1 million customer outages. the four largest stormrelated outages in our long history have
all occurred since 2010.
Con edison's commitment to understanding climate change and reducing
our impact on the environment is longstanding. we are committed to shrinking our carbon footprint and have
reduced our greenhouse gas emissions
43% since 2005.
As we make our operations cleaner
and greener, we are also strengthening our systems against future climate
change. Con edison is in the second
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPE.2014.2330524
Date of publication: 18 August 2014

ieee power & energy magazine

year of a four-year Us$1 billion plan
to fortify our energy-delivery systems.
such a complex and ambitious plan
requires all the talents and dedication
of our 14,000 men and women.
the improvements include hundreds
of remote "smart" switches to isolate
damaged equipment to help reduce
the number of homes
that lose power when
a tree knocks down a
power cable and stronger, tree-branch resistant aerial cable.
we are installing utility poles in storm-prone
areas that are much
stronger and able to withstand wind gusts up to
110 mi/h. we are deploying thousands of overhead isolation devices
to reduce customer outages and facilitate faster
restoration.
our plan also includes
measures to protect customers who rely on our
underground electricaldelivery system. we are redesigning two
underground electrical networks in lower
Manhattan and one serving coastal communities in Brooklyn. the new smart grid
designs will allow us to preemptively deenergize customers in flood-prone areas
and restore power faster when floodwaters recede, while keeping customers in
the surrounding areas in service.
we have built over 1 mi of concrete
flood barriers around critical equipment
and higher perimeter walls and flood

gates around substations. we are installing additional submersible equipment in
flood-prone areas of our system.
Con edison has taken another step
to protect against rising sea levels by
designing for the long term and incorporating climate change into those
designs. that standard uses the FeMA
100-year floodplain and
adds 3 ft of "freeboard"
to account for future
rises in the sea level.
this design standard
will be examined at
least every five years or
as real-time conditions
or advancements in climate science provide
new information.
we expect our system
protections to evolve over
many years. we have
begun a climate vulnerability study to determine
the types and severity of
extreme weather events
most likely to strike New
York. we will use that
information to plan the
additional upgrades we will need to protect our critical equipment and customers.
significant changes in temperature and humidity over time could
change the way our equipment performs. we would have to respond by
designing our networks to remain
reliable during such intense heat
and humidity.

Now our
industry
faces a new
challenge,
which is
protecting
our
customers
against
climate
change.

(continued on p. 94)
september/october 2014

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