MIT researchers have created a way to make more climate-informed energy siting choices and shown how it can be used to make energy systems more resilient and reduce blackouts. The researchers’ framework, described in Nature Energy, combines fine-scale meteorology with detailed simulations of energy infrastructure. The researchers applied their framework to decarbonized energy systems in New England and Texas, finding that energy systems designed for historic climate conditions could face up to a fivefold increase in energy shortfalls, potentially leading to blackouts, by 2050. Taking climate change into account when designing the system, conversely, improved the resilience of both regions’ energy systems at no or very little additional costs. The research was supported by the MIT Climate Grand Challenges, the MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium, and the MIT Energy Initiative Future Energy Systems Center.
Read more via MIT News.
