Timber power pole network management in a changing climate

Critical infrastructure is vital to the efficient operation of modern-day societies and economies. Almost all types of critical infrastructure are reliant on energy supply, making energy infrastructure perhaps the most important component of today’s critical infrastructure networks. This chapter explores the vulnerability of power infrastructure to climate change, and examines the feasibility of using climate adaptation engineering to reduce potential climate change risks. A single aspect of the power infrastructure is considered, namely, power distribution poles. Probabilistic modelling techniques are used to complete the three stages in the analysis framework: (1) establish existing vulnerability, (2) quantify climate change impacts, and (3) assess the feasibility of different climate adaptation techniques using cost-benefit analysis. A case study is presented for each of these three stages. The climate change impacts case study shows that future climatic effects on power infrastructure can be significant, but are highly regionally variable. The climate adaptation assessment illustrates that a risk-based decision support can be used to develop cost-effective climate adaptation strategies, reducing climate-related opportunity costs.