Climate resilient assets and infrastructure

Extreme weather incidents including storms, prolonged extreme heat, and drought are on the rise as climate change takes hold. But in spite of the challenges these pose, utilities must keep essential services running and respond to changing demands on their networks. It is therefore essential that infrastructure owners keep their strategies for asset resilience under review and maintain an accurate picture of the vulnerability of their networks at all times.

Extreme weather incidents including storms, prolonged extreme heat, and drought are on the rise as climate change takes hold. But in spite of the challenges these pose, utilities must keep essential services running and respond to changing demands on their networks. It is therefore essential that infrastructure owners keep their strategies for asset resilience under review and maintain an accurate picture of the vulnerability of their networks at all times. In this session we will explore: 

• What lessons have been learnt from recent extreme weather incidents?  

• How can we ensure resilience whilst keeping costs down? 

• How can technology support better approaches to resilience? 

• How do we predict, understand, and plan for future strains on resilience arising from climate change? 

Chair: Tom Grimwood, Utility Week Editorial Team 

CReDo phase 2: A connected digital twin for climate-resilient infrastructure  
Elliot Christou, Connected Places Catapult 

Ofwat Innovation Fund’s ‘Smart Safe Systems’ operational resilience in the face of climate change 
Fionn Boyle, Strategic innovation and shop window lead, Anglian Water

Learning from recent storms and implementing innovations to improve future resilience 
Paul Morris, Innovation manager, National Grid Electricity Distribution

Approaching utility networks holistically: from isolated assets to integrated capability 
Phil Thomlinson, Commercial director EMEA, Metasphere