When the Bough Breaks: Managing Extreme Weather Events Affecting Electrical Power Grids

Abi-Samra, N.; McConnach, J.; Mukhopadhyay, Subrata; Wojszczyk, Bartosz

doi:10.1109/mpe.2014.2331899

Cited by 40 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…This is essential to dispel ignorance over disaster tipping points in hitherto-unexposed regions (McCollum et al, 2020;Woo, 2021). Among pluvial floods of various synoptic origins, the ones associated with tropical cyclones may be most destructive to electricity infrastructures (Abi-Samra et al, 2014). The resulting mega-blackouts substantially enhance the vulnerability of local communities to the ensuing heat, as showcased by the spike of heat-related mortality in the Philippines after the 2013 Typhoon Haiyan and in Louisiana US after the 2020 Hurricane Laura.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Growing Threats From Unprecedented Sequential Flood‐Hot Extremes Across China

Liao

Chen

et al. 2021

Geophysical Research Letters

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Growing Threats From Unprecedented Sequential Flood‐Hot Extremes Across China

Liao

Chen

et al. 2021

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…The ice storm in 2013 mainly affected Toronto (largest city of Canada). The heavy weight ice accumulation collapsed the utility poles and tree branches (Abi-Samra et al, 2014). Around 300,000 people were left with the power outage for three days and approximately tens of thousands for a week or more.…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of the impacts of extreme weather events on Ontario’s electricity grid using agent-based modeling

Saeed¹

2021

Preprint

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Extreme weather events have increased and are causing severe impacts on the electricity grid. Heat waves and ice storms are becoming more intense and frequent in Ontario, Canada. During an extreme weather event, the electricity demand fluctuates and the reliability of the electrical grid decreases due to equipment failure and shortage of electricity supply, which leads to blackouts. An initial stage simulation model is developed using the computational technique agent-based model. This thesis analyzed the impact of extreme weather events based on severity and frequency levels on two sector of Ontario’s electricity grid which are generation plants and distribution network. The simulation output showed multiple grid failures in different regions during extreme severity levels and increased frequencies of weather events. The model also showed heat waves and ice storms resulting differently depending on the month, extreme temperature months were more prone to failures than average temperature months.

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“…First, severe weather is the most common cause of power interruptions [17] and the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season is just one example of the enormous impact severe weather can have on the electric power system. Abi-Samra et al [18] highlight a series of international extreme weather events and the significant impacts to the electric power grid. Santagata et al [19] explored the link between extreme temperatures and disastrous power outages in Buenos Aires over a period of four decades and found increased vulnerability of the power system to heat waves compared to cold waves.…”

Section: Motivation and Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Severe weather, utility spending, and the long-term reliability of the U.S. power system

Larsen

Lawson²,

LaCommare

et al. 2020

Energy

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There has been a limited amount of peer-reviewed literature on long-term trends in electricity reliability including the underlying factors that impact reliability across the United States. In this analysis, we considered up to 16 years of data from 203 U.S. utilities-representing about 70% of electricity sales. Annual frequency of interruptions for an average customer-at the regional and U.S. national-level-has generally decreased over this timeframe. But we do not find that there is a statistically significant trend in the annual duration of interruptions for an average customer. We find that more explicit measures of severe weather are correlated with reliability. We are able to explain 7% and 16% of past variation in the reliability metrics system average interruption duration and frequency indices, respectively, is due to severe weather-a significant improvement over earlier studies. We find that current year spending by utilities is correlated with worse reliability and that cumulative spending over the preceding three years is correlated with better reliability. Finally, we demonstrate that using a statistical instrument to represent the annual frequency of interruptions for an average customer can greatly improve analysis of trends in the annual duration of interruptions for an average customer. 1. Introduction Power interruptions are caused by a number of different factors including weather-related impacts, electrical equipment faults or failure, and, indirectly, spending strategies on power system infrastructure, operations, and maintenance. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reports that extreme weather is the most commonly-reported cause of power interruptions with the frequency of these extreme events increasing significantly over the last two decades [1]. Power interruptions significantly impact economic activity. A recent study estimates that sustained power interruptions cost an average of $44 billion annually in the U.S. alone [2]. The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season is just one example of recent extreme weather that has caused long duration, widespread power interruptions. During this season, six hurricanes were classified as "major" (i.e., Saffir-Simpson Category three storms or higher). For perspective, the long-term average number of major hurricanes since 1851 is six per decade [3]. In August 2017, Hurricane Harvey flooded many parts of Texas and Louisiana where some locations received as much as five feet of rain, resulting in power interruptions that impacted more than 330,000 customers [4]. During this storm, substations were flooded, utility poles were toppled, and there was extensive damage to other critical energy and electricity infrastructure [5, 6]. The following month, Hurricane Irma caused widespread damage to the Florida Keys and resulted in power interruptions for nearly two million customers [7]. Less than a week later, Hurricane Maria-the second category five storm of the season-caused widespread devastation across the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. This storm destroyed the is...

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When the Bough Breaks: Managing Extreme Weather Events Affecting Electrical Power Grids

Cited by 40 publications

References 0 publications

Growing Threats From Unprecedented Sequential Flood‐Hot Extremes Across China

Growing Threats From Unprecedented Sequential Flood‐Hot Extremes Across China

Analysis of the impacts of extreme weather events on Ontario’s electricity grid using agent-based modeling

Severe weather, utility spending, and the long-term reliability of the U.S. power system

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