Recovery Plan for Electric Distribution Networks under Major Impacts

Abstract

Power distribution system recovery after typical failures which hardly result in long lasting outages is a common practice. However, network recovery after a major impact such as extreme weather or other natural hazards can be much more complicated and time-consuming. Such events can easily cause costumers to experience an extended power outage which is associated with huge financial and social costs. This paper explores the dynamics of major impacts in distribution networks and explains the inefficiency of common recovery plans which has evolved around typical outages. A recovery plan mainly consists of information collection, repair crew dispatching and resource allocation, site operations, information update and reconnection. This paper discusses a combination of factors that are required in a successful recovery from a major outage in modern distribution network.