Optimal Mobile Power Source Depot Placement for Resilient Coupled Power Transport Networks

Ensuring an uninterrupted power supply is crucial in today’s electricity-dependent world, where disruptions can cause severe economic crises and endanger lives. However, maintaining consistent power during natural disasters is challenging. Therefore, it is common practice to have small backup systems at load ends to support essential demands. This paper explores effective strategies for optimally placing a Mobile Power Source (MPS) depot within a realistic coupled power-transport network. The goal is to ensure the fastest possible service to backup systems located at all nodes within the network. An agent-based routing model is employed to determine the optimal routes for effective service provision during the restoration period of a disrupted network, whether due to a natural disaster or a cyber-attack. An iterative optimization algorithm, incorporating the agent-based optimal route model, is used to identify the best starting node for the depot. This approach ensures the most efficient service, minimizing downtime by meeting the power backup replenishment needs across the transportation network. Various case studies have been performed to validate the proposed algorithm on a real life coupled transport electric network of the the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IITK) campus area.