Adapting the Energy Sector to Climate Change

This report analyses the various impacts of climate change on the energy sector, both those resulting from gradual climate change and those resulting from extreme weather events, and the adaptation options available to tackle such impacts. As most of the literature on climate change impacts on the energy sector focuses on the demand side in terms of impacts on heating and cooling needs, this report aims at filling the gaps on the supply side by looking at impacts on the different stages of the supply chain: resource base, extraction and transport of depletable energy sources, power generation, transmission, and distribution. It considers both direct impacts, such as the damages caused by icy rain on solar panels, wind turbines, and power transmission lines; and the possible cascading effects along the chain such as the impossibility to deliver fuel usually transported by barge to a coal plant because of the impact of water scarcity on rivers, or the impossibility to feed electric power into the grid when transmission lines are damaged by extreme weather events.

The report includes three case studies assessing the energy sector’s vulnerability in Argentina, Pakistan, and Slovenia. The Argentinian case study identifies hydropower shortage as the single major vulnerability for this country and puts forward adaptation options to tackle it. The Slovenian case study focuses on assessing the vulnerability of energy infrastructures at different sites across the country, provides guidance for the identification of the best sites for future infrastructures and provides an example in terms of the vulnerability of electric power lines to ice storms and damage caused by glaze ice. The Pakistan case study quantifies the extra electricity demand resulting from global warming or extreme weather events, and the ensuing expected increase in carbon emissions.