Abstract
The purpose of the RePOWERD project is to develop a probabilistic and a simulation based power
restoration forecasting model for tropical storms based on geographic utility service areas, impacts to
energy infrastructures and transportation networks, time-varying customer outage number, crew
information (i.e., crew size, crew staging requirements), and utility restoration plans. Energy infrastructure
is a critical lifeline essential for the United States’ national and economic security. Like other critical
infrastructures, this infrastructure is aging and is at a high risk of damages from extreme weather events.
Based on the number of reported outages in EAGLE-I during 2020 and 2021, it is evident that the current
energy infrastructure is not equipped to handle extreme event impacts and will contribute to significant
outages. From a resilience perspective, it is essential to forecast restoration time in the event of a severe
weather induced power outage to assist the US Department of Energy, emergency managers, and first
responders with resource planning. This project contributes to this crucial need. This report details the
models, that were developed in this pilot study, to determine the rate of restoration and estimated time of
restoration (ETR) during tropical storm events within counties and utility service areas based on damage to
energy infrastructures and total number of customers experiencing outages.
