Defining and Quantifying the Resilience of electric Power Systems to Natural Hazards

Abstract

Motivation Power systems, as the backbone of modern industry, have been equipped with sophisticated analytical tools such as power flow, state estimation, and transient stability analysis to ensure reliable and economic operation. However, none of these tools consider natural hazards, which can pose a significant threat to reliable and efficient operations of power systems, despite their low probability of occurrence. Infrastructure networks are also increasingly reliant on each other for their functionality, as presented in Figure 1. In a New Zealand context, simulation of network disruption showed that approximately 53% of user disruption was due to direct disruption to an infrastructure network (Figure 2). However, indirect disruption due to infrastructure dependencies was dominated by dependence on the electric power systems. This project aims to define and quantify resilience of electric power distribution infrastructure to natural hazards in terms of degradation of system function.