A recent article in GTI Energy’s
newsletter explores the idea of power system resilience and notes that
resilience can mean different things in different power systems and it is still
being defined. This article summarizes an interview by Johanna Schmidtke of Rev
Innovation of power expert Michael Webber. Webber notes:
“We tend to mash these words together,” Webber
said. “Reliability is how often things work. Resilience is how quickly you
bounce back when they don’t.”
“The problem isn’t that we don’t know the difference —
it’s that decision-makers haven’t settled on clear definitions, and those
differences shape investment decisions. Should a utility invest in preventing
failures or in recovering quickly from them? Ideally both, but the balance
varies dramatically based on geography, infrastructure age, and risk exposure.”
Reliability and resilience
are related. A system won’t need to “bounce back” when it doesn’t go down so
with enough reliability, the resilience needs will be less. There should be a
balance between investments to improve reliability and investments to improve
resilience, according to the particular needs. In places where gas and water
systems are more interdependent with power systems, those investment needs will
vary.
Resilience is Often Regional
He also notes that each
region has its own reliability and resilience concerns. The Pacific region is
affected by wildfires, the Deep South is affected by hurricanes, and some
regions depend on hydroelectric power being available. He notes that our
current power grids, built in the 1970s and 80s, are aging and in need of
upgrades. Underinvestment is one reason the upgrades are needed.
Power System Resilience Requires Coordination with Other
Systems
Webber emphasizes the
interdependence between electricity, gas, and water systems. This was shown
during 2021’s winter storm Uri in Texas when power outages led to gas system
problems, which led to more power outages in a cascading effect. He notes that
the Permian Basin in West Texas is the most electrified oil field in the world,
with:
“…electric pump jacks, electric pumps, downhole electric
submersible pumps, and electric hydraulic fracturing fleets to help extract the
oil and gas, as well as electric gas processing and water separation units, and
electric compressors helping to move the gas along the pipelines. As time goes
on so the whole gas supply chain is heavily electricity-dependent, so we need
to really think through these interdependencies. If something goes wrong, if
you have a cold snap and the gas system freezes up, that undermines the power
system.”
He also notes that water
system resilience is important and often interconnected with power systems
resilience. Thermal power plants use massive amounts of water for cooling. If
power to the water utility goes down it can’t deliver that water to the power
plant for cooling.
Recommendations
He recommends more storage
for gas, for electricity, and for water, in order to buffer the systems against
threats. Texas’s just-in-time system for delivering gas directly from wells
failed in the 2021 storm, but adequate gas storage in the state would have
helped. Since then, gas storage has increased in the state. Power storage in
the form of batteries is usually good for resilience, and as longer-duration
energy storage solutions are built, that will help. Even water storage in the
form of gravity-fed systems like water towers on a hill can be useful in saving
power. He also recommends a smarter power grid with more sensors to identify
threats, which, for example, could make outages to prevent sparking wildfires
shorter-lasting and more targeted. More sensors mean more data that can be used
to make better decisions. His third recommendation is to deploy more
distributed resources such as solar panels, microgrids (including gas
microgrids), and battery backups to keep more customers online during outages.
His final recommendation is to fix the rules. There are many layers of
regulation in the U.S., from local to federal. The fragmentation of agencies
and commissions tasked with providing power, gas, and water needs “better
coordination, smarter regulation, and the courage to invest in modern
infrastructure.”
2024 Pacific National Laboratory Resilience Report
In an August 2024 report - A
Review of Resilience and Long-Term Planning in Power and Water Systems in the
United States – published by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, many
planners and experts on water and power systems were interviewed in several
regions of the country to assess the variability of resilience needs. The map
and tables below show, respectively, the regions interviewed, data about each
region interviewed, and the metrics used to define resilience
References:
Strengthening
Resilience: What Utilities Can Learn From Each Other. Dr. Johanna Schmidtke,
Ph.D., Managing Partner at Rev Innovations, featuring Dr. Michael E. Webber,
Sid Richardson Chair of Public Affairs and John J. McKetta. Catalyst by GTI
Energy. May 6, 2025. Strengthening
Resilience: What Utilities Can Learn From Each Other | by Catalyst | Catalyst
by GTI Energy | May, 2025 | Medium
An
Interview on Resiliency and Reliability. Dr. Michael Webber, John J. McKetta,
and Dr. Johanna Schmidtke. Interview
with Dr. Michael Webber on Resiliency and Reliability
A
Review of Resilience and Long-Term Planning in Power and Water Systems in the United
States. August 2024. Sarah C Reynolds, Yael R Glazer, Konstantinos Oikonomou, Juliet
Homer, and Michael E Webber. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
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