Managing Disaster Mutual Assistance Operations in Electricity Companies: Developing an ArcGIS Online Web Map Application

In the event of a large scale disaster, where the damage is apparent, electricity consumers tend to appreciate power outages will occur but their tolerance for the duration of an outage less predictable. As North America advances it technological and knowledge-based economies, its dependency on a safe, uninterrupted and reliable source of electricity reduces its patience for extended power outages. Electricity utilities simply do not have the day-to-day resources necessary to meet the disaster restoration expectations of a customer base dependent on uninterrupted power. Disaster mutual assistance in form of regional and national disaster mutual assistance groups has been used and developed by electricity utilities to support each other during major power outages. Effective management of disaster mutual assistance is a challenging task and requires significant preparedness, coordination, collaboration and resources. Electricity utilities impacted by disaster events need to quickly find other utilities able to provide the necessary assistance, determine their availability and for how long they can assist. Recent large-scale electricity disruptions experienced in Canada and the USA show that traditional methods of organizing disaster mutual assistance may be enhanced and by leveraging emerging technologies. This paper describes the background and motivations behind the development of a disaster mutual assistance coordination tool for Canadian electricity utilities.