Strategy to Mitigate Risks of Catastrophic Events
Harjeet Johal is a senior manager with ICF International and an expert in energy economics and power system consulting. He has over ten years of experience in electrical engineering, energy planning, economic evaluation, and policy research.
Ken Collison is a vice president at ICF. He is in his fifteenth year with the company. And an expert in power system planning, economic analysis, and reliability assessments. Ken also serves as an expert witness in electric transmission and distribution cases.
Elliot Roseman is a vice president with ICF. And a senior policy and regulatory expert who specializes in electric transmission and energy infrastructure issues. He is in his fifteenth year with the company, and in the energy industry for a good deal longer.
Dan Rogier is a veteran of thirty-six years in the utility industry, and is an executive of American Electric Power. He has served in a number of transmission engineering and operations roles, with additional leadership experience in distribution, generation, customer service and information technology. Mr. Rogier is currently serving as chief operating officer of Grid Assurance.
Maintaining the security of the electric grid today is far from business as usual. The grid is under increasing threats to its very viability from cyber-attacks, natural disasters, and physical assault. Moreover, the severity of each of these threats is on the rise.
It is not possible to protect or harden the grid across the tens of thousands of miles of high-voltage lines and tens of thousands of substations. And while utilities maintain some operational spares to replace large power equipment that fails due to normal wear and tear, it is economically prohibitive for a utility to stockpile multiple million dollar pieces of equipment to prepare for the worst.
This reality puts the grid and the reliable supply of power to customers at risk for extended periods. Many key pieces of equipment have long lead times and are difficult to replace. This could cripple the grid and severely extend the interruption of power supply.
With the threats rising, utilities must develop plans on how they will mitigate the risks of such events. In fact, federal regulations now require this.1 Grid Assurance is a coalition of six major U.S. utilities2 dedicated to providing a cost-effective solution to address the increasing threats to the security of power supplies. And to provide the right level of inventory in the right locations to expedite recovery following an event.