Developing Next-Generation Cal-Adapt Features to Support Natural Gas Sector Resilience

Energy sector operations, management, and planning all require quality-controlled, high-resolution information on projected climate and weather-related risks to maintain safe, reliable, and affordable energy for California’s current and future populations. California’s energy infrastructure, including facilities and pipelines that store, transmit, and distribute gas, is vulnerable to weather events that may differ significantly from historical records as a result of changes in the climate. Understanding projected climate-related risks is critical to energy sector resilience and planning.

This project developed next-generation enhancements to the Cal-Adapt web application (https://cal-adapt.org), which integrates research results from California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment and expands the capabilities of the web application to provide actionable information on energy infrastructure and climate-related vulnerabilities and resilience to gas sector stakeholders. Improved climate data visualizations, enhanced features, and guidance materials developed through this research support investor-owned utilities, public agencies, nonprofits, and others to more fully understand the local risks of climate change in California to both plan for and adapt to future conditions.