Strategies for coordinated post-outage recovery

After a power interruption, grid restoration is complicated by the Cold Load Pickup (CLPU) phenomenon: a temporary surge in demand as many appliances restart simultaneously. In Quebec, where electric heating is widespread, cold periods intensify this effect; simultaneous EV charging can amplify the peak, while Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technologies can instead support the grid.

This doctoral project models the behaviour of residential loads and electric vehicles to propose coordinated post-outage recovery strategies that leverage the flexibility of available resources according to their controllability and operating cost, strengthening grid resilience.

Main objective

Propose coordinated post-outage recovery strategies that exploit the flexibility of available resources according to their controllability and operating cost, to strengthen grid resilience.

Methodology

Four stages: analysis of factors driving Cold Load Pickup; stochastic models of thermal loads and electric vehicles during outage and recovery; design of a restoration controller and market mechanism; validation by simulation (peak reduction, stability, economic efficiency).