A Grid Modernization Approach for Community Resilience: Application to New Orleans, LA

Technical Report · Sun Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1510648· OSTI ID:1510648

Jeffers, Robert Fredric ^[1]; Hightower, Marion Michael ^[1]; Brodsky, Nancy S. ^[1]; Baca, Michael J. ^[1]; Wachtel, Amanda ^[1]; Walsh, Sarah ^[1]; Aamir, Munaf Syed ^[1]; Gibson, Jessica ^[1]; Fogleman, William Ernest ^[1]; Peplinski, William John ^[1]; Vugrin, Eric D. ^[1]; Ewers, Mary ^[2]; Pasqualini, Donatella ^[2]; Ambrosiano, John ^[2]

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1. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
2. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

This report describes the application of an approach for determining grid modernization investments that can best improve the resilience of communities. Under the direction of the US Department of Energy's Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium, Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (Los Alamos) collaborated with community stakeholders in New Orleans, Louisiana on grid modernization strategies for resilience. Past disruptions to the electric grid in New Orleans have contributed to an inability to provide citizens with adequate access to a wide range of infrastructure services. Using a performance-based resilience metric, Sandia and Los Alamos performed analysis on how to improve access to infrastructure services across New Orleans after a major disruption using a system of resilience nodes. Resilience nodes rely on a combination of urban planning with grid investment planning for resilience in order to design clustered infrastructure assets with highly resilient electrical supply. Results of the analysis led to suggestion of 22 draft resilience node locations that can provide a wide range of infrastructure services equitably to New Orleans citizens. This report serves as a proof-of-concept for the Urban Resilience Planning Process, and describes several gaps that should be overcome in order to integrate resilience planning between electric utilities and local governments.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000; NA0003525
• OSTI ID: 1510648
• Report Number(s): SAND-2017-11959; 658447
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY