Extreme heat has already arrived, is projected to worsen, and is one of the several challenges that the Indian power sector must urgently take cognizance of, plan for and initiate coping measures. While the reliability of electricity supply has been slowly but surely increasing over the years through a variety of measures, planning for resilience, especially to various forms of extreme weather events is still only beginning. There are many direct and indirect impacts of extreme heat on the entire spectrum of the power sector (namely: demand, generation, transmission, distribution and system operation). If not handled in a planned fashion, this could result in reduced reliability/resilience and loss of load, all of which have direct and indirect economic and social impacts. Hence, it is critical to study and understand the complex interaction of impacts of extreme heat across various components of the power sector and start working towards a framework which will identify effective technical, planning and governance solutions to navigate the power sector in the face of extreme heat. This brief scoping note has identified the major impacts of extreme heat on the entire value chain (demand, generation, transmission, distribution and system operation) of the power sector and has also compiled possible action ideas, along with the current status and areas of improvement for existing and potential responses to such impacts of heat. However, the note has not looked at the technical design and operational aspects (related to heat and temperature) of various electrical equipment. 

This scoping note was developed at the request of Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) and can also be found on their publications page here.