SwissRe and AER focus on space weather, grid infrastructure risk and the amount of exposure in today’s electricity-dependent society. For example, a very strong geomagnetic storm in 1989, caused a nine-hour power outage over the whole province of Quebec.
Strong space weather events can impair electricity delivery by affecting high voltage power lines and transformers on the ground. They can also disrupt business communications and logistics that rely on satellites in space. Even with the fragility of the North American power grid infrastructure, there is a lot of technical potential available in reducing the risk of such an impact. AER pioneered the first technology to fully assess the likelihood of power outage, from advanced space physics to the complex and interdependent electrical grid infrastructure.
Speaking at the National Insurance Conference of Canada on Monday, Oct 1st are:
- Kyle Beatty, Vice President, Business Solutions, Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER)
- Iordanis Chatziprodromou, Senior Emerging Risk Manager, Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd.