TOWARDS A COMPREHENSIVE IMPACT ASSESSMENT MODEL -POWER OUTAGE

摘要

The electricity grid is one of sixteen critical infrastructure systems designated by the United States Department of Homeland Security. Grid reliability and resilience are vital to security. However, the impact of failures in grid reliability, such as large scale power outages is often limited to short term economic impact assessments. There is little identification, or synthesis of factors that determine impact severity, which prevents the true conceptualization of resilience in power systems. There is a need for a more complete impact assessment model that allows assessment of economic and social impacts of power outages beyond the initial failure event. The purpose of this paper is to identify and synthesize relevant information for the development of a preliminary power outage impact assessment model. A comprehensive impact assessment model can provide decision support information for prevention of, or impact reduction during power system failures. This may help policy makers understand the importance of investment in different areas of power systems and help in the diffusion of innovation that supports grid reliability and resilience.