Lesson from Texas: Extreme weather and power grid resilience
By Putra Adhiguna and Elrika Hamdi
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The story of a system failure resulting from the lack of "winterization equipment" actually goes far beyond the headlines focused on reduced gas supplied, coal and nuclear power plant shutdowns, and frozen wind turbines. The Texas grid failure is a stark reminder of how extreme weather events are becoming more destructive, testing power infrastructure resilience to their limits and highlights the way that outdated power system management conversations are no longer a fit for our interconnected lives.
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These are outcomes that have obvious resonance in Southeast Asia. Late last year, Super Typhoon Rolly in the Philippines left hundreds of thousands of people without power, damaging infrastructure and lifeline crops with costs estminated at US$367 million or higher.
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Indonesia started the new year with multiple severe floods on the islands of Kalimantan and Java. The intense floods caused a disruption to state electricity company PLN's coal supply chain, which left around 12 GW of PLN's coal fleet with less than 10 days of supply.
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However, the trend shows that extreme weather is here to stay, and policymakers should heed the warning signs and adopt new planning disciplines to ensure that Indonesia is better prepared to make cost-effective investments before these high-risk events threaten long-term growth goals.
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