Raissa D'Souza

Abstract:
When a tenth of humanity lost power over 2 days in India in July 2012, technical failure was not the only culprit. Like many recent blackouts, this outage resulted from couplings among systems, including extreme weather exacerbated by climate change, human operator errors, suboptimal policies, and market forces. Predictions that climate change intensifies droughts and tropical cyclones presage more weather-induced blackouts. Even without weather disasters, small disturbances can trigger cascading failures, and so can ill-designed electricity markets (1) and dependence on cyber infrastructure. Reliable electricity provides more than convenience; it fuels economies, governments, health care, education, and poverty reduction. As populations shift to cities and consume more energy, confronting the multifaceted challenges to reliable electricity becomes paramount. However, enhancing reliability is no easy task. Upgrades can provide safety buffers, yet economic pressures can quickly consume new capacity. The opposing objectives of reliability and cost balance such that massive blackouts, albeit rare, continue to plague electric power systems (2). Regulation is …