A Bottom-Up Spatial (Frontier) Model with an Application to a Spanish Electricity Network

In December 2013 a new electricity law was approved in Spain as part of an electricity market reform including a new remuneration scheme for distribution companies. This remuneration scheme was updated in December 2019 and the new regulatory framework introduced a series of relevant modifications that aim to encourage the regulated firms to reduce their power supply interruptions using a benchmarking approach. While some managerial decisions can prevent electricity power supply interruptions, other managerial decisions are more oriented to mitigate the consequences of these interruptions. This paper examines the second type of decisions using a unique dataset on the power supply interruptions of a Spanish distribution company network between 2013 and 2019. We focus on the effect of grid automatization on the restoration times, the relative efficiency of the maintenance staff, and the importance of its location. We combine a bottom-up spatial model and a stochastic frontier model to examine respectively external and internal power supply interruptions at municipal level. This model resembles the conventional spatial autoregressive models but differs from them in several important aspects

Using stochastic frontier analysis to measure the impact of weather on the efficiency of electricity distribution businesses in developing economies

This paper analyses the influence of weather variables on the efficiency of electricity distribution companies in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru, covering 82 firms which represent more than 90 per cent of the distribution market of energy delivered for the period 1998-2008. Stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) is applied using a translog input distance function. Two different approaches are evaluated: weather in the production function and weather in the inefficiency term. The efficacy of one over the other is determined using nested models. Weather data are collected from meteorological stations (429) and NASA (3,423 coordinates). A geographic information system (GIS) is used for locating the firms’ service areas and their weather conditions. A combination of cost only and cost-quality models is proposed. For cost only models, the results suggest that on average there is a significant increase in measured efficiency when weather is incorporated in the production function. Under the cost-quality models, on average the effect of weather is much lower. This suggests that firms have internalised the effects of weather and have adapted their networks to the environment in which they operate. A company-level analysis indicates that across models a significant number of companies are affected by weather. Regulators are advised to make proper adjustments of efficiency scores when specific firms face important efficiency changes due to weather.This research was supported by RCUK ESRC (Grant Number: RES-152-25-1002). The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not reflect the views of EPRG

Teaching reliability analysis of HV/MV substations and distribution feeders using educational software

In this paper, educational software for the reliability assessment of high/medium-voltage (HV/MV) substations and distribution feeders is presented. It is a useful tool for learning the utility of reliability indices of the HV/MV substations and their distribution feeders, and their influence on the electrical power system operation. By means of an interactive graphical interface, multiple configurations of HV/MV substation layouts can be selected. The Monte Carlo method and the equipment outages have been used to calculate the expected reliability performance of substations and primary distribution feeders. The proposed educational tool has been evaluated to measure students’ satisfaction, and questionnaire and results of this evaluation are presented and discussed.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (España) ENE2007-63306Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (Spain) ENE2007-66072Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (Spain) ENE2010-1886

Review of California Wildfire Evacuations from 2017 to 2019

Between 2017 and 2019, California experienced a series of devastating wildfires that together led over one million people to be ordered to evacuate. Due to the speed of many of these wildfires, residents across California found themselves in challenging evacuation situations, often at night and with little time to escape. These evacuations placed considerable stress on public resources and infrastructure for both transportation and sheltering. In the face of these clear challenges, transportation and emergency management agencies across California have widely varying levels of preparedness for major disasters, and nearly all agencies do not have the public resources to adequately and swiftly evacuate all populations in danger. To holistically address these challenges and bolster current disaster and evacuation planning, preparedness, and response in California, we summarize the evacuations of eleven major wildfires in California between 2017 and 2019 and offer a cross-comparison to highlight key similarities and differences. We present results of new empirical data we collected via an online survey of individuals impacted by: 1) the 2017 October Northern California Wildfires (n=79), 2) the 2017 December Southern California Wildfires (n=226), and 3) the 2018 Carr Wildfire (n=284). These data reveal the decision-making of individuals in these wildfires including choices related to evacuating or staying, departure timing, route, sheltering, destination, transportation mode, and reentry timing. We also present results related to communication and messaging, non-evacuee behavior, and opinion of government response. Using the summarized case studies and empirical evidence, we present a series of recommendations for agencies to prepare for, respond to, and recover from wildfires

Portuguese transmission grid incidents risk assessment

Documento confidencial. Não pode ser disponibilizado para consultaTese de doutoramento. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 201

European Gas Markets, Trading Hubs, and Price Formation: A Network Perspective

We apply network theory to analyse the interactions of trading hub prices, and to assess the harmonisation of the European gas market. We construct dynamic networks, where the nodes correspond to the twelve EU trading hubs, and where the edges weight the causality between the variations of the respective gas prices. Network density dynamically calculates the aggregate quantity of causal interactions recorded within the system, which provides information pertaining to the integration of the European gas network. We document a number of spikes in network density, suggesting short periods of improved connectivity of European gas markets. We argue that these results appear to be driven by exogenous factors, such as unseasonal weather patterns, seismic activity and pipeline capacity reductions or outages. The findings elucidate the time varying nature of European gas market dynamics, and the importance of continual monitoring of market evolution

Disconnected, yet in the spotlight: Emergency research on extreme energy poverty in the Cañada Real informal settlement, Spain

Cañada Real is a 15-km informal settlement located in Madrid, Spain. With over 8000 inhabitants most dwellers live below the poverty line in informal, low-quality housing. Due to the impossibility to have legal supply contracts with utility providers, Cañada Real settlers have relied on irregular connections to nearby electricity and water distribution networks for decades. However, in October 2020, technical changes implemented by the distribution system operator left some 4000 people without access to power, and more than two years later a large share of them remain in those conditions. Emergency research has been conducted to document the change in living conditions experienced by Cañada Real residents. Census data have been analysed together with primary data from a 39-household survey, data retrieved from electricity service continuity sensors and direct measurements of indoor thermal comfort in 12 households. This set of data provides unique evidence on the impact of a collective disconnection event of an unprecedented magnitude in an EU context. Results give evidence of a case of ‘extreme energy poverty" that existing datasets and indicators fail to capture. The collective adaptation response displayed by a group of residents, who agreed on an intermittent, predictable disconnection schedule, highlights social fabric, self-organization and local capacities as resilience factors that provide temporary relief. Still, collective reconnection appears as a necessary first step to secure a minimum level of material living conditions. Political action is needed to modify the existing framework that marginalizes vulnerable dwellers as non-compliant customers, without any provisions against supply disconnections.Sergio Tirado-Herrero acknowledges funding from the 'Ramón y Cajal' program supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (grant RYC2020-029750-I). Raúl Castaño-Rosa acknowledges for the support provided by Tampere University and The RESCUE-Real Estate and Sustainable Crisis management in Urban Environments-Academy of Finland funded project (number 339711). The article publishing charges were funded by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Read & Publish Agreement CRUE-CSIC 2023)