Statewide Iowa — Iowa needs targeted investments to strengthen and expand its electrical grid to prepare for extreme weather events brought on by climate change. That’s the recommendation from the latest Iowa Climate Statement being released by a coalition of more than 200 researchers.
Iowa State University engineering professor Jim McCalley says the extensive power outages from last year’s derecho showed clear vulnerabilities in the state’s infrastructure.
Utility companies should be making investments now, he says, to bolster Iowa’s electric grid.
Fortifying the grid will also allow for more wind and solar development, which McCalley says is key to zeroing out emissions.
The authors of the Climate Statement are calling on residents and regulators to push utilities to make the investments.
https://iowaenvironmentalfocus.org/iowa-climate-statement/
