Impacts of Severe Storms on Electric Grids
In this report EURELECTRIC examines four different events: freezing rain covering
everything up to 90 mm thickness in Canada in January 1998, a windstorm up to 220 km/h in
France in December 1999, a heavy snowstorm in Poland in November 2004, and the storm
Gudrun with 150 km/h wind in Sweden, Latvia et al in January 2005. While the regulatory
and political reactions to these events differ from case to case, certain common patterns can
be recognised, perhaps the most conspicuous one being the demand for burying more
distribution networks underground. Another consequence is the emergence of different
functional demands for distribution networks accompanied by compensation schemes for
customers in some countries.