The Healing Touch: Tools and Challenges for Smart Grid Restoration

Abstract

Major electric power disturbances can be triggered by storms, heat waves, solar flares, and many other sources, but all have their roots in the mechanical, cyber, and human vulnerabilities of existing power grids. As shown in ?Figure 1, 2012 was a particularly bad year for extreme weather in the United States. An aging grid infrastructure only exacerbates this problem by creating new concerns over energy reliability and grid resiliency. A single storm can cost billions of U.S. dollars in terms of direct damage to the grid, and it can cause significant power outage-related costs, including lost productivity.