Keeping the power on in times of climate change

Overhead power lines are some of the first to bear the brunt during extreme weather events, and with climate change making them more frequent, the lines need to be ever more resilient. As world leaders gather at COP 29 this week to negotiate new climate targets, IEC standards experts are continually working on solutions to challenges such as this to keep the world safely connected.

The last decade was the warmest on record and extreme weather events are continuing to cause huge economic and human losses, according to the World Meteorological Organization's State of the Climate 2024 Update issued at COP 29 this week

Increasing the safety, reliability and performance of overhead power lines is, therefore, essential to continue bringing electricity to hundreds of millions of people around the world. Doing so safely and effectively is what this year's IEC Lord Kelvin Award winner Elias Ghannoum has spent more than 50 years of his life working on. Extreme climate events are no longer a rarity, he says, so electricity lines need to be more climate proof than ever before.

"We are moving to a world where lines that were designed for extreme weather that might cause a line failure once every 50 years are being redesigned to withstand the types of failures we used to expect to see once every 500 years," he said.

A recognized world expert and leader in overhead line design and overhead conductors, Mr. Ghannoum is known as the "father of IEC 60826", the international standard for design criteria of overhead transmission lines. His long-term contribution to global electrotechnical standardization is what earned him the award, which is the highest reward for electrotechnical expertise in the IEC.

Mr. Ghannoum was instrumental in the worldwide shift in design criteria for overhead lines to a more robust method known as 'reliability-based design', helping to make power lines better equipped to withstand unexpected events and reduce the occurrence of power failures. It also provides requirements on how to mitigate the consequences should the lines fail.

In order for the lines to be resilient against extreme weather, the weather needs to be identified and quantified.

"Extreme winds, ice accretion (freezing rain, wet snow) on conductors and structures and any other weather event that is more than the current strength of existing lines needs to be measured so that we can either increase line strength to cope with the weather loads or to build additional lines."

He said the challenge we have now is that building new lines is not always an option, so increasing the reliability of existing lines is essential. The design requirements in IEC 60826 such as reliability and security to prevent cascading failures address that challenge.

"It's about knowing your weather and knowing your lines. You need to understand possible weather variations and the probability of dangerous events occurring, as well as the components of the line and what elements are likely to fail first."

During his long career, Mr. Ghannoum has provided engineering services for more than 60 transmission system operators and utilities including those in Canada, France, Greece, India, South Africa, the USA, and Brazil. His involvement in standards development spans more than 45 years.

He was presented with the 2024 Lord Kelvin award at the IEC General Meeting in Edinburgh by IEC president Jo Cops and was congratulated by Her Highness, Royal Princess, who gave a speech during the event. Watch his acceptance speech below.

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