A Framework to Assess and Analyze Enhancement Options for Microgrid Resiliency against Extreme Wind

Abstract

The objective of a power system is to provide electricity to its customers as economically as possible with an acceptable level of reliability while safeguarding the environment. Power system reliability assessments are routinely performed to ensure adequate system resources and reliable operation using well-established methods, quantitative metrics, regulatory standards and compliance incentives in the jurisdictions of responsibilities. The alarming increase in the occurrence of extreme events, which are not included in routine reliability evaluation, has raised growing concerns due to the catastrophic impacts of these events on distribution systems. The potential economic losses due to prolonged and large-scale outages have motivated utility planners, operators and policy makers to acknowledge the importance of system resiliency against such events. Power system resiliency, however, lacks widely accepted modeling frameworks, standards, assessment methods and metrics. This paper presents a resilience assessment framework, along with quantifiable metrics to assess the resiliency of a distribution system against extreme winds, which are among the most common form of natural disasters affecting the North American region. The paper assesses the effectiveness of infrastructural and operational resilience enhancement strategies. The effectiveness of preventive and corrective strategies is also analyzed on a test distribution system.

Keywords

• DERs
• resiliency
• infrastructural strategies
• pole hardening
• extreme wind