After power outages from storms, expert says it’s time to upgrade our systems

Utilities across the Twin Cities metro area worked to restore power to some 150,000 homes and businesses after severe storms earlier this week.

With power outages continuing to be a threat, University of Minnesota professor Gabriel Chan said it’s time we upgraded our systems to address aging power lines, intensifying climate change that could lead to more severe weather and new demands on power grids from technology like solar panels.

“There’s a lot of things, though, that utilities are doing and could be doing to help make the electricity grid more reliable,” he said.

One idea is moving power lines underground, which would be a costly but effective solution, Chan said. Other proposals include local energy storage options and resilience hubs, which are places people can go to during outages to access electricity.

As these new solutions are considered and implemented, Chan emphasized that it will be important to keep equity in mind.

“We need to make sure that everyone is receiving an equivalent level of electricity service. That we’re not seeing outages hitting certain communities more than others regularly. That we’re improving the grid everywhere.” he said.

To hear the full conversation with Professor Gabriel Chan, click the play button on the player above.

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