Climate Change Resilience

29 August 2018

Advisian has been supporting Wales & West Utility over the last year on its Climate Change Impact Mapping project. Wales & West Utility has been proactively looking at adaptation to climate change in the form of asset interventions to deliver whole life cost value for investment and consumers.

With funding from Office of Gas & Electricity Markets’ Network Innovation Allowance, Wales & West Utility undertook a technically innovative solution to link climate change forecast data to actual physical impacts on the ground. The resulting project was to map some of the principal physical impacts of climate change using the UK Climate Projections 2009 (UKCIP09) forecasts.  The outcome was a tool that allows queries on interaction of live gas infrastructure, of varying degrees of criticality, and potential imminent and future impacts from climate change.

Advisian's experts in the Water Group have been providing technical advice to Wales & West Utility on the potential climate change impacts, verifying outputs, and developing case studies around five climate change risk themes: 

  • River erosion
  • Fluvial and pluvial flooding
  • Bridge flood height
  • Tidal flooding and sea level rise
  • Transport infrastructure

The project allows Wales & West Utility to develop risk management and maintenance strategies for different asset groups and plan appropriate intervention over different time frames. The work will feed into the Energy Networks Association’s ‘Smarter Networks Portal’ for sharing among utility providers.

For further information please contact Nick Bray or James Assem.