Grid Resilience and Offshore Wind Sighting-the NESDIS User Engagement Council’s Energy Campaign toward climate resilience.

The energy sector faces increasing challenges from natural hazards exacerbated by climate change, impacting grid resilience. Severe weather events such as hurricanes, wildfires, and floods pose risks to grid stability, causing infrastructure damage, power outages, and operational disruptions. To bolster resilience, the energy sector requires proactive measures including robust infrastructure design, strategic siting of facilities, and improved emergency response protocols. Additionally, advanced forecasting and risk modeling tools are essential for anticipating and mitigating impacts from extreme weather events

The NESDIS User Engagement Council (UEC) is an advisory body within NESDIS that helps provide guidance and support for user engagement efforts across NESDIS by connecting the dots to data, people inside and outside NOAA by helping optimize data products and services, trace uses to decisions and communicate awareness, access and availability in society through value chains and the NOAA Pathfinder Initiative. The UEC embarked on an Energy Campaign in 2024 to better understand and serve the needs of the Energy Sector by looking at two sub categories: off shore winds and impact from natural disasters on the grid. Through this effort the UEC identified effective climate-informed planning involving integrating meteorological data, climate projections, and adaptive management practices to anticipate future challenges with grid capacity and to optimize offshore wind's role in sustainable energy transitions. This abstract emphasizes the imperative for integrated approaches that align with the user community to address resilience-building efforts with climate adaptation strategies, ensuring the energy sector's preparedness in a dynamic and evolving climate landscape.