Assessments of wind related damage to electricity infrastructure
This project will make forecasts of the number and location of electricity faults, provided via heat maps, and the number of customers without power.
Project leader
Dr Sean Wilkinson
Project staff
Dr Sarah Dunn (Co-I)
Sponsors
UKRI
Partners
Energy Networks Association
Western Power Distribution
National Grid PLC
Description
Dealing with the consequences of weather related phenomena is an age-old problem. We have made great advances in predicting the weather. But we have made little progress in turning the outputs of these forecasts into actionable information. This information can help us manage their consequences.
The UK winter storms of 2013/14 and 2014/15 demonstrated that our electrical distribution networks are vulnerable to strong winds. Their failures create severe impacts on communities.
This project will develop and test a new form of weather forecasting, which we term "consequence forecasts". These forecasts are the same as traditional weather forecasts. But they give a probabilistic assessment of the likely impacts and consequences of weather. They do more than simply predict the intensity of a weather variable.