Earth, Wind, and Ice

An overview is provided of the damage to electric power grid infrastructure caused by three types of natural disasters that have taken place in the past few years in China: severe windstorms, ice and freezing rain, and earthquakes. Interruptions of electric service caused by these natural disasters have led to devastating economic losses in China and reduced the restoration and reconstruction speed of other related lifeline infrastructures, such as water supply systems and communication systems. The lessons learned from these disasters and their consequences for the Chinese power systems are described, as are actions taken to reduce the impact of such events in the future.