REPAIR-UNIT LOCATION MODELS FOR POWER FAILURES

Extreme weather conditions such as ice storms often cause significant damage to electric power transmission and distribution systems and res ult in large-scale power failures, In such cases, electric utilities n eed to repair the transmission and distribution systems as expeditious ly and economically as possible, In this paper, for the electric utili ties, we present three mathematical goal programming models: 1) a tact ical model that provides the optimal repair-unit dispatch plan after a forecast of severe weather conditions, 2) a short-term strategic mode l that provides the optimal repair-unit location plan under normal wea ther conditions, and 3) a long-term strategic model that provides the optimal number of repair units. These models will assist the electric utilities to locate and dispatch repair units and to restore the trans mission and distribution failures efficiently. We illustrate some feat ures of these models with a numerical example, Last, a comparative stu dy shows how these models could be more efficient than a modified conv entional model.