A new white paper on climate change penned by So Cal Edison paints a grim picture for the future of the Golden State. Here are the bullet points:
• Extreme Heat – 7X more likely, on average, for SCE service area to experience temperatures as hot as or hotter than the historical 99th percentile temperature. Extreme temperature events such as heat waves are projected to become more frequent, more prolonged and more intense – particularly in inland regions where the population is growing.
• Precipitation – 40% projected decline in snowpack and more variable year-to-year precipitation with more intense drought and fewer, more intense precipitation events.
• Wildfire — 23% more land projected to burn during summer fuel-driven wildfires and wildfire season is expected to become longer. Fire exposure is projected to increase in and around high fire risk areas (HFRAs).
Adapting for Tomorrow: Powering a Resilient Future shares important findings from SCE’s Climate Adaptation Vulnerability Assessment (CAVA) on assets, operations and services throughout its 50,000-square-mile service area. The CAVA concludes that by 2050, wildfires could leave large swaths of customers without necessary services for long periods of time, rising sea levels could inundate electrical facilities and extreme temperatures could reduce electrical capacity. Energy companies will need to modernize planning for the grid now to continue to safely provide reliable, clean and affordable energy to customers.
“There are many ways we must act with more urgency to incorporate projected climate conditions into our electric system planning to ensure a resilient decarbonized grid,” said Erica Bowman, director of the Edison International CEO’s Office and principal author of Adapting for Tomorrow and last year’s Edison policy paper, Mind the Gap. “Just one example among many, is planning for increased extreme temperatures and heat waves. During these events, electric loads will increase due to customer cooling needs and transmission line capacity may need to be derated 10%-20% due to operating limits. We need to anticipate these types of compounding impacts and design our system accordingly.”