Demand Response to Help Mitigate Cascading Outages: A Case Study on the 2011 Tornado Super Outbreak

This study investigates the role of demand response with the participations of utility customers in mitigating cascading outages triggered by extreme events. A strategy of demand response is proposed and simulated for a real cascading outage case on the 2011 Tornado Super Outbreak. By responsive reduction of electricity usage of end user in the early stage of cascading outages, outage propagation can be mitigated significantly in terms of the number of line outages and amount of load loss. The practicality of the proposed demand response strategy is verified by analysis on household HVACs. With the participations of HVACs by adjusting their temperature settings within an acceptable range, the system load can be reduced for effective mitigation of cascading outages. Results provide useful suggestions for utilities and policy makers in implementing demand response programs for cascading outage issue.