Toward self-healing energy infrastructure systems

Virtually every crucial economic and social function depends on the secure, reliable operation of energy, telecommunications, transportation, financial, and other infrastructures. However, with increased benefit has come increased risk. As they have grown more complex to handle a variety of demands, these infrastructures have become more interdependent. This strong interdependence means that an action in one part of one infrastructure network can rapidly create global effects by cascading throughout the same network and even into other networks. Moreover, interdependence is only one of several characteristics that challenge the control and reliable operation of these networks. These characteristics, in turn, present unique challenges in modeling, prediction, simulation, cause-and-effect relationships, analysis, optimization, and control. Deregulation and economic factors and policies and human performance also affect these networks. The Complex Interactive Networks/Systems Initiative (GIN/SI) is a joint program by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the US Department of Defense (DOD) that is addressing many of these issues. The goal of the 5-year, $30 million effort, which is part of the Government-Industry Collaborative University Research (GICUR) program, is to develop new tools and techniques that will enable large national infrastructures to self-heal in response to threats, material failures, and other destabilizers. Of particular interest is how to model enterprises at the appropriate level of complexity in critical infrastructure systems.