Pandemic

This is the homepage of the EPRI supplemental project - Pandemic-Resilient and Sustainable Transmission and Distribution Systems. For more details on the project please visit the website on EPRI.com HERE to download the supplemental project notice.

The project was developed by EPRI and funded by members with a focus on eight workstreams:

EPRI project managers will work on developing the research and will release deliverables associated with the tasks in each workstream in 2021 and 2022. EPRI project managers will regularly host meetings and calls with members to discuss findings and transfer knowledge and learnings.

WS1: Health and Disinfection

Ensuring safe and healthy work environments is of paramount importance. A number of existing and emerging technologies are available for both surface and air disinfection; these include ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI), other light-based technologies, photocatalytic oxidation, plasma-based technologies, and electrostatic sprays of disinfectant materials. Information on key aspects of these approaches, including anti-pathogen efficacy and materials impacts, is variable in availability and robustness. Additionally, appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) is critical for safe operations. Electric utility workers may have specific requirements for PPE, e.g., FR-rated masks, for which there is an inadequate knowledge base regarding effectiveness for prevention of pathogen exposure. Other approaches for reducing exposure include engineering controls such as modifications to ventilation systems. Finally, workforce testing and monitoring approaches need to be considered in overall pandemic preparedness and response. This task includes all health and safety-related activities for control center and field applications as well as disinfection approaches and biological testing of PPE. Additionally, this task will explore the impacts and opportunities associated with teleworking.

WS2 Control Center Design project

Transmission and Distribution Control Center physical building designs, backup facilities, technologies, processes and procedures were tested to the limit during the COVID-19 pandemic. While in most instances, the control center staff adapted and the facilities were resilient, many issues, inefficiencies and limitations were discovered throughout the pandemic event. Existing business continuity plans and control center characteristics have been optimized over decades for a range of normal and emergency operating conditions, however, the requirements for operating during a pandemic as serious as COVID-19 were not fully understood and thus not fully considered. This task focuses on evaluating the issues and gaps that manifested themselves during the pandemic. It will involve developing new designs, requirements, processes, technologies and practices, so that pandemic operations can be added as an operating scenario that control centers are comfortable with, without loss of resilience or impacts to the grid.

WS2 Project Deliverables

Task	Percent Complete	Scheduled Due Date	Product ID
2-11-Identify and document a summary of the leading practices, procedures, mitigations for pandemic response		Example	Example
2-12-Identify and document enhanced design requirements for primary and backup control centers for pandemic operations	Example	Example	Example
2-13-Identify and document key new automation algorithms and tools for system monitoring and control to streamline control center operations	Example	Example	Example
2-14-Evaluate and document results, risks to consider and recommended security and telecommunication architectures for the remote access use cases.	Example	Example	Example
2-15-Produce an evaluation framework to help utilities self-assess associated risks of their own specific situation related to remote access and use of cloud services including supporting information, communication and cyber security dependencies	Example	Example	Example
2-16-Identify functional requirements for virtual command and control centers	Example	Example	Example
2-17-Produce documentation of refined restoration plans and lessons learned from tabletop exercises	Example	Example	Example
2-18-Evaluate recommendations and strategies for Distribution Control Centers and Field Forces during a pandemic combined with a major restoration event.	Example	Example	Example

The most recent deliverable web pages are shown below. Please click to browse and interact with the content. If you would like some further information, or if there is an issue with the content, please contact the WS2 project manager Adrian Kelly (akelly@epri.com) or the overall project manager Paul Myrda (pmyrda@epri.com)

• 2-11 Identify and document a summary of the leading practices, procedures, mitigations for pandemic response
• 2-12 Identify and document enhanced design requirements for primary and backup control centers for pandemic operations

WS3: Field Crew Strategies

Field work involves crews working collaboratively, sometimes in close proximity. The goal of this task is to identify technologies and practices that can help field crews maintain good communications while using social distancing. Safety for workers from COVID-19 and from traditional hazards like arc flash must be considered. Specific tasks addressed are subdivided into two main topical areas, and include: Technology A focus of this task is technology to help workers perform tasks while maintaining social distancing. Specific tasks include: • Evaluate technologies to improve communications at a distance including headsets and FaceTime-like interfaces. • Assess technologies to track personnel and equipment to ensure separation. • Investigate alternative approaches, tools, and technologies that reduce people needing to be in close proximity such as a robotic splice assistant or an automated safety watcher. • Evaluate the feasibility of UAS technologies for remote inspections, including vaults. • Evaluate the safety of hand sanitizers for field operations. Priorities for each of these are to identify technologies that are readily available and can be applied now. Work Practices Work practice changes are also an important consideration in this task. Specific tasks include: • Identify efficiencies realized from remote staging of crews and staggered shifts. • Assess the impact of staggering field crews to the workload of operators. • Identify common tasks that normally require close interaction or a central location. For each of these, options to reduce close interaction will be identified.

WS4: Operator and Field Crew Training

Utility training for operators and field personnel is traditionally done in close proximity. In addition to traditional classroom instruction, skills are perfected through On the Job Training (OJT). Tasks performed during OJT have inherent risks that must be controlled by the mentor / instructor who is in close proximity to the student. The goal of this task is to identify ways to perform equivalent training while social distancing. It is important to maintain the features of effective training practices, including ways to provide training that is hands on and has immediate feedback.

WS5: Demand and Operations Impacts

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, EPRI has monitored and documented changes in load patterns at the transmission and distribution levels across the globe. This task will continue and expand these efforts. Specific tasks include:

WS6: Deferred Work and Resource Adequacy

Restrictions to travel, supply chain and certain work practices requiring prolonged periods of close proximity with other people meant that certain maintenance and construction tasks were postponed during the initial phases of the pandemic. Changing customer demand profiles have also altered the operating conditions for transmission and generation assets alike. The combination of changing demand, asset utilization, construction and maintenance regimens poses a challenge for grid operators to reschedule maintenance and capital projects in the coming months, given the uncertainty of expected operating conditions.

WS7: Long-Term Demand and Sustainability

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant negative economic impacts which have resonated through the energy system and electric sector globally. Critical questions requiring a comprehensive energy system analysis include: How long and how deep could the COV-19-induced recession last and what are the continued potential impacts on the electric sector in terms of demand, generation capacity, and CO2 emissions and air pollution? Will there be structural changes in economic activity that reduce demand or shift demand between sectors, for example from the commercial to the residential sector? Does the economic slowdown delay deployment of distributed energy; lower gas prices and less commuting to work? Could the pandemic accelerate or slow electrification in transport, buildings, or industry? Could a prolonged global economic slowdown impact the availability of critical materials and minerals for the electric sector?

WS8: Asset Management Strartegies

Pandemics can limit utility’s ability to mobilize maintenance personnel to take care of equipment problems. This poses a risk to the utility’s ability to maintain asset health and aid compliance. By deploying appropriate remote monitoring systems and analyzing monitoring data utilities would gain ability to make confident informed decisions based on advance warnings/insights. It would also provide them with the ability of dispatching personnel when absolutely required.