Wind, solar operators urged to invest now to protect against extreme weather risks
As renewable power grows to make up a greater proportion of overall electricity generation, the industry will need to consider whether their infrastructure is prepared for a changing climate.
Wind and solar operators in Canada are being urged to reduce the likelihood of catastrophic grid outages by making their infrastructure more resilient to climate change.
Renewable energy operators from across the country gathered at a conference in Calgary this week to discuss the growing risk that climate change-related extreme weather poses to their industry.
Vittoria Bellissimo, president and CEO of the Canadian Renewable Energy Association, said all types of power generation, including those using fossil fuels, are vulnerable to damage or outages in the event of natural disasters such as wildfire, flooding and severe storms.
But she said as renewable power grows to make up a greater proportion of this country’s overall electricity generation, the industry will need to consider whether their infrastructure is prepared for a changing climate.
“There is a worst-case scenario, but we’d be speculating to guess at what it is, because we don’t know yet,” Bellissimo said in an interview on the sidelines of Wednesday’s conference.
“If you look back at the major events that we’ve seen in the past decade and a half, even just in Alberta, we had floods in 2013 — that was something people weren’t expecting. Fires in Slave Lake and Fort McMurray, people weren’t expecting those … So we are going to have to manage in uncertain conditions going forward.”
CP, The Canadian Press
Amanda Stephenson
Published Apr 10, 2024
