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Under Strain: International Insights into Electricity Grid Outages

Author

Listed:
  • Jacqueline Adelowo
  • Francesco Pietro Colelli
  • Norwin Lang
  • Filippo Pavanello

Abstract

Key MessagesMajor recent blackouts underline the severe economic, health, and social costs of outages on households and firmsUnplanned outages show strong seasonality linked to weather, hinting at climate-related risks for electricity gridsPoorer municipalities tend to face systematically higher outage rates, revealing possible inequities in grid resilienceClimate change amplifies outage risk through both extreme weather damage and heat-driven grid overloadFrequent, detailed, and harmonized outage reporting is essential for evidence-based grid resilience policy

Suggested Citation

  • Jacqueline Adelowo & Francesco Pietro Colelli & Norwin Lang & Filippo Pavanello, 2026. "Under Strain: International Insights into Electricity Grid Outages," EconPol Forum, CESifo, vol. 27(02), pages 60-70, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:ces:epofor:v:27:y:2026:i:02:p:60-70
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    References listed on IDEAS

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