This white paper provides insights on practical applications of key resiliency concepts in power systems, addressing issues of resiliency quantification, robustness, redundancy, response and recovery, reliability, and the relevant challenges and opportunities in integrating these with national resiliency goals, climate change policy, and regulatory frameworks. It also highlights and investigates some key barriers to achieving resilient power systems and, more specifically, resilient transmission line systems.

This research project aims to develop a “user-friendly software,” based on numerical models, to study the transient response of the conductor and its effect on the tower after a break. The transient response will be simulated with and without the load reduction and load control devices. Several of these devices, including sliding clamps, will be considered in developing the model and response evaluations. The numerical model will be validated by using the available published test data. It is expected that the final model will be able to predict the cascade potential based on load redistribution and hence the cascade length (zone). This project is an extension of an earlier CEATI project aimed at understanding the impact of various load control devices on dynamic loads and response sensitivities.

This report provides a high-level summary of practical guidelines to address corrosion issues in steel structures of electric power transmission and distribution (T&D) lines. The topics within this guide were selected to meet the needs of utility personnel and contractors working on the inspection and maintenance of transmission line structures. The report includes a full-range approach that covers all relevant subjects, including corrosion inspection and corrosion risk mitigation methods specific to both above-ground and below-ground T&D structures.

The increased frequency and severity of climatic extremes over the past few decades have been partly attributed to climate change. However, engineering practices and standards for transmission infrastructure assume weather and climate extremes will remain stationary over the long term. This assumption may not be valid under a changing climate. In this context, this report aims to: 1) Analyze the current state-of-the-art in science and practice with regard to strategies for determining future loads under the assumptions of a stationary environment, as well as under nonstationary climate change effects. 2) Develop methods and provide guidelines for projecting extreme wind and ice loads, associated uncertainties, and the subsequent impacts on load estimates for transmission lines in the industry codes/standards for different return periods. 3) Examine recent frameworks developed for infrastructure design under climate change effects and provide guidelines specifically for the application of adaptive frameworks for the design of overhead transmission lines. This guidance will be helpful to utilities in determining climatic loads under changing conditions with acceptable degrees of confidence, assisting them with the cost-effective design of new and upgrade of existing overhead lines.

This report presents a systematic methodology for determining not only the containment loads on the surviving structure after a cascade, but also the optimum location of an anti-cascade structure that will be able to resist these loads after a cascade event. In addition, the report presents information on cascade and failure mode identification, current industry practices, and a review of various design standards and specific case studies on cascade failures. Finally, the report presents a literature review on various mitigation strategies that use anti-cascade devices to reduce the likelihood of a cascade.