Enhancing power sector resilience against disaster risks

The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan

Outline

In recent weather disasters, it is difficult to completely prevent damage to electric power transmission and distribution equipment through preliminary measures such as equipment (hardware) reinforcement. For this reason, there is an increasing demand from national and local governments for specific explanations associated with the concrete restoration measures of electric power system considering the effect of preliminary measures in view of the concept of fail-safety and cost-effectiveness. There is an urgent need to develop appropriate disaster countermeasures, in other words, to improve power resilience, for the entire power system and the entire region, that take into account the balance between preliminary and restoration countermeasures[1].
To deal with multiple hazards caused by climate change, the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan and partners have been developing systems and technologies to more accurately and timely provide hazards and predicted equipment damage information based on sequential disaster and equipment information on broader-based area.

Description

[Development of Multi-Meteorological Hazard Assessment Methods]
We will develop a nationwide meteorological database to visualize meteorological hazard condition in Japan using regional climate models for the risk assessment of electric power transmission and distribution equipment. At the same time, we will construct a future weather database from now to 20 to 30 years later, taking into account the service life of electric power transmission and distribution equipment, and the effects of climate change. In addition, we will advance data assimilation methods that reflect meteorological radar and observation values in meteorological models, ensemble methods, and meteorological analysis methods to quantitatively understand the weather conditions at the time of an accident.

[Development of Damage Prediction Models for Multi-Meteorological Hazards]
We will build a platform to sequentially receive the scrutinized meteorological hazard information that cause damage to electric power equipment. This platform plays an important role to improve power resilience, which will enable us to immediately predict damage to electric power equipment. In addition, in order to improve the accuracy of damage prediction of electric power equipment, we precisely investigate the damage records such as river flooding and landslides caused by complex meteorological hazards.

[Sophistication of damage prediction using sensing technology and its application to actual disaster scene]
We will develop technologies to sequentially utilize information from inspection, forecasting, satellites, helicopters, and MEMS sensors. In this way, we will propose practical preliminary and restoration measures, including advanced damage estimation and detection technologies considering local natural hazard condition and installed electric power system characteristics. The goal of this study is to put practical and cost-effective natural disaster mitigation methods with their verification models into concrete shape.

Partner(s)

Hokkaido Electric Power Co., Inc., Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc., Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc., Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc., Hokuriku Electric Power Co., Inc., The Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc., The Chugoku Electric Power Co., Inc., Shikoku Electric Power Co., Inc., Kyushu Electric Power Co., Inc., The Okinawa Electric Power Co., Inc., Electric Power Development Co., Inc., Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry

Supplementary information

[1] Advisory Committee on Natural Resources and Energy, Electricity and Gas Business Subcommittee, Electricity and Gas Basic Policy Subcommittee /Industrial Structure Council, Safety and Consumer Product Safety Subcommittee, Power Safety Subcommittee Joint Electricity Resilience Working Group
https://www.meti.go.jp/shingikai/enecho/denryoku_gas/denryoku_gas/resilience_wg/index.html