Resilience Enhancement of Electrical Distribution Systems with Mobile Energy Truck

The increasing frequency of extreme weather events has caused significant damage to electrical distribution systems (EDS), leading to prolonged power outages and affecting essential services. This study introduces a novel comprehensive methodology to enhance EDS resilience during extreme events by deploying mobile energy systems (MES) named energy truck (E-Truck). The approach integrates complex network theory, transportation network analysis, and electrical distribution system resilience evaluation. Closeness centrality computation is used to identify optimal central hub locations within the transportation network common to the distribution system, while the Floyd–Warshall algorithm determines the shortest paths to critical loads (CL), ensuring rapid and efficient E-Truck deployment. A new composite resilience metric, incorporating both topological and electrical service-based parameters is proposed for resilience evaluation that aligns with frameworks outlined by Sandia National Laboratories’ Resilience Analysis Process and the IEEE Task Force on Resilience. The performance of the proposed methodology is evaluated against extreme events using the IEEE 123-bus system with 16 switch configurations, demonstrating that the E-Truck improves EDS resilience by 12.17% during flood events, 12.61% during wildfire scenarios, and 16.44% during short-circuit faults by meeting the critical load demand. Thus, the proposed metric effectively quantifies both topological robustness and service requirements of the EDS, with E-Truck deployment enhancing resilience. The methodology integrates electrical and transportation network analysis for optimal E-Truck positioning and routing. The findings highlight the significant potential of mobile energy systems in enhancing grid resilience against diverse extreme events, paving the way for more resilient and flexible distribution systems.