Electric Power Grids Under High-Absenteeism Pandemics: History, Context, Response, and Opportunities

IEEE Access

Mohammad Heidari Kapourchali¹  Payman Dehghanian²  Benjamin Wormuth²  Shiyuan Wang²  Miguel A. Lejeune²  Masoud Barati³  Tiago Pascoal Filomena⁴  Abouzar Estebsari⁵ 

[1] Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK, USA;Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA;Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA;Operations Research and Finance, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil;School of the Built Environment and Architecture, London South Bank University, London, U.K.;

关键词: Absenteeism;    COVID-19;    electric power grid;    lock-down;    pandemic;    resilience;   

DOI  :  10.1109/ACCESS.2020.3041247

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Widespread outbreaks of infectious disease, i.e., the so-called pandemics that may travel quickly and silently beyond boundaries, can significantly upsurge the morbidity and mortality over large-scale geographical areas. They commonly result in enormous economic losses, political disruptions, social unrest, and quickly evolve to a national security concern. Societies have been shaped by pandemics and outbreaks for as long as we have had societies. While differing in nature and in realizations, they all place the normal life of modern societies on hold. Common interruptions include job loss, infrastructure failure, and political ramifications. The electric power systems, upon which our modern society relies, is driving a myriad of interdependent services, such as water systems, communication networks, transportation systems, health services, etc. With the sudden shifts in electric power generation and demand portfolios and the need to sustain quality electricity supply to end customers (particularly mission-critical services) during pandemics, safeguarding the nation's electric power grid in the face of such rapidly evolving outbreaks is among the top priorities. This paper explores the various mechanisms through which the electric power grids around the globe are influenced by pandemics in general and COVID-19 in particular, shares the lessons learned and best practices taken in different sectors of the electric industry in responding to the dramatic shifts enforced by such threats, and provides visions for a pandemic-resilient electric grid of the future.

【 授权许可】

Unknown