The Grid Gets Smart: Resilience in a Warmer World

Extreme weather is no longer rare—and the power grid is on the front line. The Grid Gets Smart: Resilience in a Warmer World examines how electricity systems adapt when heatwaves, storms, fires, and floods become routine.
This book takes a resilience-first approach. It looks at how digital sensing, automation, forecasting, and decentralized resources help grids anticipate disruption, isolate faults, and recover faster. The emphasis is not on futuristic tech, but on operational intelligence—knowing what is happening now and what will happen next.
Rather than focusing only on outages, the book reframes resilience as continuity: keeping hospitals powered, cooling during heat extremes, and maintaining essential services when conditions degrade. Readers learn why smarter grids blend hardware upgrades with software, data, and new operating practices.
This book explores:
• Why climate risk reshapes grid design priorities
• How sensors and automation reduce outage impact
• Where microgrids and DERs strengthen resilience
• Why planning for extremes beats designing for averages
• How utilities measure resilience—not just reliability
This book is for utility leaders, regulators, engineers, and communities facing a hotter, less predictable future. If the grid must endure what’s coming—not what’s past—this book shows how smart resilience is built.