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Quantifying Grid Resilience Against Extreme Weather Using Large-Scale Customer Power Outage Data

Author

Listed:
  • Shixiang Zhu

    (Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213)

  • Rui Yao

    (Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois 60439)

  • Yao Xie

    (H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332)

  • Feng Qiu

    (Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois 60439)

  • Yueming (Lucy) Qiu

    (School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742)

  • Xuan Wu

    (Pedernales Electric Cooperative, Johnson City, Texas 78636)

Abstract

In recent years, extreme weather events frequently cause large-scale power outages. Resilience, the capability of withstanding, adapting to, and recovering from a large-scale disruption, has become a top priority for the power sector. However, a system-level understanding of power grid resilience remains limited, with most studies yielding conceptual insights or focusing on isolated technical issues. Using a spatio-temporal model, this study adopts a data-driven approach and analyzes quarter-hourly, customer-level power outage data and corresponding weather records from three major service territories on the U.S. East Coast. Our findings reveal that excessive weather stress and planning vulnerabilities at specific grid nodes are key drivers of prolonged local outages, which propagate system-wide. Simulations show that targeted interventions, such as isolating critical nodes and protecting vulnerable nodes from transient faults, can reduce customer outages by 45.5% and 49.5%, respectively. These insights inform actionable strategies for decision makers to enhance grid resilience and mitigate future disruptions.

Suggested Citation

  • Shixiang Zhu & Rui Yao & Yao Xie & Feng Qiu & Yueming (Lucy) Qiu & Xuan Wu, 2026. "Quantifying Grid Resilience Against Extreme Weather Using Large-Scale Customer Power Outage Data," INFORMS Joural on Data Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(2), pages 102-118, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orijds:v:5:y:2026:i:2:p:102-118
    DOI: 10.1287/ijds.2023.0017
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    References listed on IDEAS

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