Technical assistance to the Vermont Department of Public Service to develop an electric utility resilience planning framework

LBNL and the University of Texas, Austin, supported Vermont Department of Public Service (DPS) in developing a resilience planning proceeding. This technical assistance effort involved (i) support in preparing a petition to open a resilience investigation, filed before the Public Utility Commission, (ii) organizing topics and developing materials for workshops related to resilience metrics, planning processes, and evaluation, (iii) supporting the development of a straw resilience planning proposal for the Commission, and (iv) developing complementary research on Vermont’s reliability planning and cost benefit analysis approaches. This technical assistance effort aimed to scrutinize and develop existing work on resilience metrics, planning, and valuation, and bridge the gap with distribution system reliability.

The technical assistance supported the VT DPS in crafting and filing before the Commission a report with its findings and recommendations for resilience planning framework. 

Deliverables

• Workshops
  • Resilience proceeding kickoff
  • Resilience metrics
  • Resilience planning
  • Resilience valuation
    • Workshop 1
    • Workshop 2
  • Straw proposal presentation
• Technical Briefs
  • The concept of resilience and its relationship with reliability in Vermont
    • This technical brief discusses the concept of resilience and its current implementation in Vermont
  • Cost-Benefit Analysis of Electricity Resilience Projects: State of the Art and Gap Analysis
    • In this paper we review the literature on CBA of electricity resilience projects and analyze gaps in the available methods and tools.
    • Preprint and journal article
  • Reviewing Benefit-Cost Analyses of Electricity Resilience Projects: A Guide for Regulators with Key Elements to Scrutinize
    • This guide offers guidance to help the regulators examine and interpret the BCAs that utilities produce as part of resilience valuation frameworks. In particular, the guide identifies some of the key methodological choices and assumptions that utilities will likely have to make, and which the PSD and PUC should scrutinize to evaluate the overall quality of the BCA
  • Electric distribution resilience and reliability: definitions, metrics, planning, and regulation
    • This brief argues that existing utility frameworks inappropriately conflate reliability and resilience by using statistical, impact-based criteria—such as "Major Event Days" definition—which focus on the resulting power interruptions rather than their underlying causes. This brief advocates for a proactive, risk-based planning approach to implement resilience frameworks based on existing reliability concepts.