Power System Resilience: The Role of Electric Vehicles and Social Disparities in Mitigating the US Power Outages

Abstract

AbstractElectrical power systems with their components such as generation, network, control and transmission equipment, management systems, and electrical loads are the backbone of modern life. Historical power outages caused by natural disasters or human failures show huge losses to the economy, environment, healthcare, and people’s lives. This paper presents a systematic review on three interconnected dimensions of (1) electric power system resilience (2) the electricity supply for/through Electric Vehicles (EVs), and (3) social vulnerability to power outages. This paper contributes to the existing literature and research by highlighting the importance of considering social vulnerability in the context of power system resilience and EVs, providing insights into addressing inequities in access to backup power resources during power outages. This paper first reviews power system resilience focusing on qualitative and quantitative metrics, evaluation methods, and planning and operation-based enhancement strategies for electric power systems during prolonged outages through microgrids, energy storage systems (e.g., battery, power-to-gas, and hydrogen energy storage systems), renewable energy sources, and demand response schemes. In addition, this study contributes to in-depth examination of the evolving role of EVs, as a backup power supply, in enhancing power system resilience by exploring the EV applications such as vehicle-to-home/building, grid-to-vehicle, and vehicle-to-vehicle or the utilization of second life of EV batteries. Transportation electrification has escalated the interdependency of power and transportation sectors, posing challenges during prolonged power outages. Therefore, in the next part, the resilient strategies for providing electricity supply and charging services for EVs are discussed such as deployments of battery swapping technology and mobile battery trucks (MBTs), as well as designing sustainable off-grid charging stations. It offers insights into innovative solutions for ensuring continuous electricity supply for EVs during outages. In the section on social vulnerability to power outages, this paper first reviews the most socioeconomic and demographic indicators involved in the quantification of social vulnerability to power outages. Afterward, the association between energy equity on social vulnerability to power outages is discussed such as inequity in backup power resources and power recovery and restoration. The study examines the existing challenges and research gaps related to the power system resilience, the electric power supply for/through EVs, social vulnerability, and inequity access to resources during extended power outages and proposes potential research directions to address these gaps and build upon future studies.