Resilience Assessment in TDE’s Distribution Grid: Risk Model for Tree Falls

Climate change due to global warming implies an increased frequency of critical events, such as snowstorms, windstorms, floods, water bomb and heat waves, even in areas not usually affected by these events. These extreme weather events can have a significant impact on the operation of electricity distribution and transmission grids, with potentially disastrous effects that can affect a significant number of customers. In this context, Terni Distribuzione Elettrica (TDE, which is the Distribution System Operator, DSO, of Terni, a city placed in the center of Italy), according to the prompt of the Italian Regulatory Authority, is working to plan improvements in resilience of its grid against extreme weather events. In this paper, authors discuss the resilience management of the TDE’s grid with respect to tree falls, according to previously developed methodologies, which have been already applied to evaluate the resilience of the electrical grid versus several critical threats, such as forming of ice sleeves, heat waves and floods.