Resilience assessment and planning in power distribution systems:Past and future considerations

TL;DR

This paper reviews current methods for assessing and enhancing resilience in power distribution systems amid increasing extreme weather events, emphasizing interdependencies and planning strategies for improved robustness.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive review of resilience metrics, discusses challenges in their development, and analyzes planning solutions to improve system resilience against weather-related disruptions.

Findings

Resilience metrics are diverse and face formulation challenges.

Interdependencies significantly affect power system resilience.

Planning strategies can mitigate weather-related impacts.

Abstract

Over the past decade, extreme weather events have significantly increased worldwide, leading to widespread power outages and blackouts. As these threats continue to challenge power distribution systems, the importance of mitigating the impacts of extreme weather events has become paramount. Consequently, resilience has become crucial for designing and operating power distribution systems. This work comprehensively explores the current landscape of resilience evaluation and metrics within the power distribution system domain, reviewing existing methods and identifying key attributes that define effective resilience metrics. The challenges encountered during the formulation, development, and calculation of these metrics are also addressed. Additionally, this review acknowledges the intricate interdependencies between power distribution systems and critical infrastructures, including information and communication technology, transportation, water distribution, and natural gas networks. It is important to understand these interdependencies and their impact on power distribution system resilience. Moreover, this work provides an in-depth analysis of existing research on planning solutions to enhance distribution system resilience and support power distribution system operators and planners in developing effective mitigation strategies. These strategies are crucial for minimizing the adverse impacts of extreme weather events and fostering overall resilience within power distribution systems.