Powering Through: Energy Resilience Planning from Grid to Government

In contrast to the binary of energy independence, we use the concept of energy resilience to describe a spectrum. Each institution (whether utility, government, or consumer) occupies a particular spot on the energy resilience spectrum, based on that organization’s ability to maintain continued operations during a disruption to the energy system. Importantly, it need not be the goal of every institution to push themselves to the hyper-resilient extremity of the spectrum. Leadership must determine the right place for their institution on the spectrum based on their specific risk profile and the resources they have to invest in resilience projects. As we will describe in this book, there are energy resilience tactics that can be pursued cost effectively for just about any institution. However, at a certain point, the marginal return on investment, either financial or in terms of actual resilience, may not justify additional action.