Environmental Hazards

Climate related hazards pose significant risk to the electricity industry.

Overview

Natural hazards are conditions that will create loss for the industry. These losses come in the form of financial, service, and/or capital asset losses. Utilities manage these risks accordingly and apply mitigation techniques to help prevent them.

Utilities face these hazards on a regular basis. Floods, windstorms, hail, ice storms, wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, lightning storms, and significant precipitation days are all examples of events that utilities must prepare for through staff training and mitigation techniques, such as storm hardening.

Earthquakes, volcanoes, and solar storms may not be considered climate related events, however, they are seen as potential hazards and can cause significant loss to utilities.

History

  • In September 2021, scientists published in the Science Journal that a person born in 2020 will experience 3 times as many climate events/hazards compared to a person born in 1960. They will experience 7.5 times as many heat waves, 2.8 times as many floods and twice as many wildfires.
  • In the Fall of 2018, the National Capital Region saw six tornadoes touchdown, three in Ottawa and three on the Gatineau area. One of those tornadoes destroyed a substation that result in half the city losing power.
  • Hurricane season officially starts June 1st of each year. However due to changing climates, hurricanes are starting earlier. The year 2021 marks the 7th consecutive year hurricanes started prior to the designated season in the Atlantic. These continued hurricanes continue to be hazards for utilities in Atlantic Canada.
  • In March 1989, a solar storm impacted the Hydro-Québec grid resulting in a 9-hour outage. Hydro-Québec has since implemented various mitigation strategies, from raising the trip threshold, installing series compensation on ultra-high voltage lines, and introducing solar monitoring technologies.

Key Message

  • Preparing for Climate Change events and hazards will be a critical factor in sustaining service in face of a growing trends of natural disasters.

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