"R" as Resilience

An increase in the frequency of extreme weather events in recent years, both in Italy and globally, requires improvement in the electricity system's ability to react. Increasing system resilience represents one of the primary challenges of the energy transition. Resilience is a central issue in the new energy/climate scenario.

Growing intensity and severity of extreme weather events closely linked to global warming means greater probability of significant damage to Italy's infrastructure, including electricity transmission equipment.

The main factors triggering outages on the national grid are flooding, landslides, landslips, tornadoes and other extreme phenomena that may cause pylon collapse or other structural problems; the formation of sleeves of ice on lines due to “wet‑snow” generating excessive weight and overloading the lines, causing short-circuits or structural damage; and polluting deposits associated with extended dry periods (e.g. saline pollution) with increased probability of surface discharges.

Climatic events are changing in intensity and frequency and it is necessary to assess where these phenomena occur most often in relation to grid infrastructure across the country and take action with infrastructural investment targeted at preventing and mitigating impacts on service continuity. The electricity grid must be capable of resisting increasing stress and, in the event of outages caused by extreme events, measures must be put in place to manage emergencies and promptly recover normal service.