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Providing Limited Local Electric Service During a Major Grid Outage: A First Assessment Based on Customer Willingness to Pay
Author(s) -
Baik Sunhee,
Morgan M. Granger,
Davis Alexander L.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
risk analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1539-6924
pISSN - 0272-4332
DOI - 10.1111/risa.12838
Subject(s) - backup , grid , electricity , service (business) , business , electric power distribution , liberian dollar , smart grid , risk analysis (engineering) , telecommunications , computer security , reliability engineering , computer science , electrical engineering , finance , marketing , engineering , voltage , geometry , mathematics , database
While they are rare, widespread blackouts of the bulk power system can result in large costs to individuals and society. If local distribution circuits remain intact, it is possible to use new technologies including smart meters, intelligent switches that can change the topology of distribution circuits, and distributed generation owned by customers and the power company, to provide limited local electric power service. Many utilities are already making investments that would make this possible. We use customers' measured willingness to pay to explore when the incremental investments needed to implement these capabilities would be justified. Under many circumstances, upgrades in advanced distribution systems could be justified for a customer charge of less than a dollar a month (plus the cost of electricity used during outages), and would be less expensive and safer than the proliferation of small portable backup generators. We also discuss issues of social equity, extreme events, and various sources of underlying uncertainty.