PPL Joins Climate READi Initiative Focusing On Strengthening Grid Resilience Against Extreme Weather Events

On June 1, PPL Corporation announced it has joined Climate READi, a three-year initiative launched by the Electric Power Research Institute to address energy system climate resilience and adaptation as extreme weather events continue to increase.

"As we strive to address climate change and achieve a net-zero future, we've made significant progress in hardening our systems and deploying smart grid technology to make our energy networks more resilient to severe weather that may become more frequent with climate change," said Gregory Dudkin, chief operating officer of PPL Corporation.

"Joining EPRI's Climate READi Initiative will help us build on these efforts in Pennsylvania, Kentucky and now Rhode Island by providing valuable insights into future climate impacts, rather than relying on historical data. This climate modeling will help inform our adaptation, hardening and resilience investments to deliver long-term reliability for our customers."

Across its Pennsylvania and Kentucky operating companies, PPL has invested more than $20 billion over the past decade on infrastructure improvements, much of that focused on incorporating new technology and hardening transmission and distribution systems. 

These improvements have reduced the number of outages our customers experience by an average of 35% over the past decade despite recent increases in storm activity and severity. 

As PPL expands its operations to Rhode Island with the recent acquisition of The Narragansett Electric Company, now Rhode Island Energy, the corporation is focused on replicating this success.

Climate READi will enable global energy companies, climate scientists, regulators and other stakeholders to proactively analyze and apply climate data, allowing for the planning, design and operation of resilient energy systems of the future. 

EPRI's collaborative model will convene the global thought leaders and scientific researchers necessary to build an informed and consistent approach. PPL is one of 13 anchor companies that have joined the initiative.

To learn more about this program, visit EPRI’s Climate READi webpage.

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[Posted: June 1, 2022]  PA Environment Digest