Is California＇s Aging Infrastructure the Principal Contributor to the Recent Trend of Power Outage？

Abstract

The United States electric power infrastructure is in an urgent need of renovation. The recent incidents of major power outages in the city of Long Beach, Los Angeles, Simi Valley, San Diego, and San Francisco have drawn attention to the unreliability of California’s electric power system. President Obama discusses America’s aging power infrastructure and California Public Utilities Commission calls for a comprehensive review of the causes of the recent power outages. This report explores GIS (geographic information systems) and their aim to identify a correlation between the power plants age and the power outages in the state of California. Utilizing ArcMap OLS (ordinary least squares) modeling tool, data analysis shows no correlation between the power outages and the infrastructure age.