November 17, 2021, via Zoom In February 2021, multiple severe winter storms swept the United States, bringing extreme cold temperatures that pushed our power grid to its limit. These icy conditions created electricity shortages that resulted in rolling blackouts in an effort to conserve energy in the region. Most notably was the Texas power crisis that left citizens without electricity and heat for days and resulted in at least 210 deaths. This event left people wondering, “How could something like this happen? And just how vulnerable is our electric grid?” In this talk, Kayla Messamore, Senior Director of Long Term Planning and Grid Modernization for Evergy, discusses how our electric grid works, the interdependence of the system, and its resiliency. The speaker: Kayla Messamore is the Senior Director of Long Term Planning and Grid Modernization for Evergy and is responsible for generation resource planning, transmission and distribution planning, operations compliance, and operations technology for Evergy’s operations across Missouri and Kansas. Through these responsibilities, Kayla leads the creation of Evergy’s Integrated Resource Plans (which include the company’s long-term plans for its generating fleet), transmission and distribution investment plans, operations compliance processes, grid automation deployments (including both software and hardware), distribution standards, and unmanned aircraft system (UAS) programs. Prior to this position, Kayla was responsible for Operations Strategy at Evergy and has worked as a strategy consultant in the power and utilities sector. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in business administration and a concentration in mechanical engineering.

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