Groups struggle to find the elusive ‘value of resilience’ as the electric grid reveals its fragility

By Elisa Wood, Microgrid Knowledge

During an extreme heat spell several years ago, my house lost power for a week. We were taking care of aging parents and had no power or water. By week’s end, I would have emptied my life’s savings for some working kilowatts.

After the power was restored, I quickly forgot the pain and, like most people, again took reliable electricity for granted.

That’s why it is so hard to put a value on electric resilience. It’s often subjective and changes based on the circumstance.?

But getting the number right — determining exactly what power outages cost society — is crucial, as two leading organizations for state regulators and policymakers show in a new report: “Valuing Resilience for Microgrids: Challenges, Innovative Approaches, and State Needs.”?

“Threats to the electricity grid are increasing in frequency, severity and impact. Without knowing how much a given resilience investment will benefit customers or society more broadly, investors, policymakers and regulators are less likely to make or approve such investments, and less able to prioritize those investments,” says the report by the?National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO).

Old grid fixes not working

2021 was a particularly tough year for the power grid...Continue reading on Microgrid Knowledge.