NSF R2I2: Maximizing resilience to winter weather in future electric power systems

Michigan Technological University, Houghton MI

Investigators

Abstract

Winter weather events pose increasing threats to America’s electric power infrastructure, with storms like Winter Storm Uri demonstrating catastrophic consequences. This project focuses on planning electric power systems in cooperative and municipal utilities in the Midwest for maximum reliability and resilience in the winter. Winter resilience in electric power requires understanding future winter weather (annual average snowfall, temperature, ice, and their extremes), as well as changes in electricity supply and demand during the winter (electric heat pump adoption, electric vehicle demand, and inverter-based resources). In regions like the Midwest, where the security of heating and power systems in winter is key to human health and welfare, it is especially important to use the best available Earth system science and engineering tools in planning. This project engages with electric utilities in the Midwest in order to understand the industry’s needs for science tools to plan for winter resilience in the future, designing tools that will benefit electric power resilience in all communities. The project uses stakeholder engagement tools to connect Earth system science with practitioners (municipal and cooperative utilities in the Midwest), to apply Earth system modeling and engineering tools to real systems, and to identify how investments in training, the standardization of toolkits, and customized resilience analysis can support these institutions. This project aims to establish community needs and develop a framework for translating regional Earth system science to maximize winter resilience of electric power systems for small utilities in the Midwest region. The intellectual merit of this project is to address combined uncertainties in future winter severity and future electricity operation at local-to-regional scales using Earth system modeling. The initial focus of this work is on municipal and cooperative electric utilities because smaller, resource-limited organizations may not have the staff, time, or tools to incorporate Earth system science into their resilience work. The project will conduct a series of workshops and surveys engaging a team of practitioners and professionals from industry, research institutions, and academic institutions to identify industry needs and disseminate results. The aim of the project is to use a generative, collaborative process to define the exact needs of small municipal and cooperative utilities for planning for winter electricity resilience such as identifying specific data gaps or requirements for new tools and models. The project will create a plan for future activities, resources, and personnel needed to close the identified gaps and create a sustainable plan to deliver cost-effective resilience solutions. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.