A DRL Planning Framework for Resilience of FEMA Lifelines in Distribution Systems

The planning of power infrastructure for the re-silience of FEMA lifelines, which are critical loads, to blackouts is a daunting task. High-wind speed events can cause damage to power distribution systems and their disconnection from bulk power grids. To maintain FEMA lifelines energized under such scenarios, it is paramount to plan for micro-grid formation with autonomous generation. To this end, this paper proposes a planning framework to: (i) decide where to place sectionalizers to split a distribution system into micro-grids and (ii) site and size solar and battery energy resources while taking space constraints into consideration. These developments are demonstrated via a seventeen-node system facing several wind impact scenarios.