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Unequal resilience: The duration of electricity outages

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  • Liévanos, Raoul S.
  • Horne, Christine

Abstract

The resilience of social, biophysical, and technological systems is of increasing scholarly and practical import. Guided by scholarship on disaster resilience, environmental inequality, and urban service inequality, we advance the study of “unequal resilience” in a critical infrastructure – the electric grid. We analyze inequality in electricity outage duration at the census block group level using data from the U.S. Census, the U.S. Geological Survey, and a U.S. electrical utility's database of power outages from 2002 to 2004. Our intersectional approach identifies a factor variable of American Indian disadvantage as a correlate of average outage duration – suggesting possible support for an institutional bias hypothesis. However, spatial error regression models demonstrate that unequal resilience within our study area is most consistently explained by proximity to priority assets (i.e., hospitals), average downstream customers affected by outages, and environmental conditions (i.e., the seasonality of outages). These results are consistent with existing research on utilities' response to power outages, and more broadly with the bureaucratic decision rules perspective on service inequalities. We discuss the implications of our findings for future research and energy policy.

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  • Liévanos, Raoul S. & Horne, Christine, 2017. "Unequal resilience: The duration of electricity outages," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 201-211.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:108:y:2017:i:c:p:201-211
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2017.05.058
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    4. Elizabeth L. Budd & Raoul S. Liévanos & Brigette Amidon, 2020. "Open Campus Policies: How Built, Food, Social, and Organizational Environments Matter for Oregon’s Public High School Students’ Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-19, January.
    5. Csereklyei, Zsuzsanna & Qu, Songze & Ancev, Tihomir, 2021. "Are electricity system outages and the generation mix related? Evidence from NSW, Australia," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    6. Katerina Vichova & Martin Hromada & Martin Dzermansky & Lukas Snopek & Robert Pekaj, 2022. "Solving Power Outages in Healthcare Facilities: Algorithmisation and Assessment of Preparedness," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-14, December.
    7. Dmitry Borisoglebsky & Liz Varga, 2019. "A Resilience Toolbox and Research Design for Black Sky Hazards to Power Grids," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2019, pages 1-15, June.
    8. Diana Mitsova & Ann-Margaret Esnard & Alka Sapat & Betty S. Lai, 2018. "Socioeconomic vulnerability and electric power restoration timelines in Florida: the case of Hurricane Irma," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 94(2), pages 689-709, November.
    9. Chalaye, Pierrick & Sturmberg, Bjorn & Ransan-Cooper, Hedda & Lucas-Healey, Kathryn & Russell, A. Wendy & Hendriks, Johannes & Hansen, Paula & O'Neill, Matthew & Crowfoot, Warwick & Shorten, Phil, 2023. "Does site selection need to be democratized? A case study of grid-tied microgrids in Australia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    10. Farhad Billimoria & Filiberto Fele & Iacopo Savelli & Thomas Morstyn & Malcolm McCulloch, 2023. "An Insurance Paradigm for Improving Power System Resilience via Distributed Investment," Papers 2302.01456, arXiv.org.

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