Volume 18: Sustainable Energy Solutions for a Post-COVID Recovery towards a Better Future: Part I

The Swedish Power System Resilience against Bad Weather Conditions Novalie Hou, Sanja Duvnjak Žarković, Patrik Hilber, Ebrahim Shayesteh

Abstract

As a result of global warming, the frequency of bad weather events has increased raptly, but so has the demand for more reliable power supply. This study investigates the Swedish power distribution system’s resilience towards certain weather conditions such as wind, lightning, rain etc. The input data is all unplanned disturbances gathered from the Swedish energy companies (Energiföretagen Sverige) between 2015 and 2019. After sorting and analyzing the data, the results are then compared to the weather data from SMHI (Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute). The results show that on average 21% of unplanned outages are related to weather conditions in Sweden. Of the weather phenomena studied, wind and lightning are significantly affecting the resilience of the power system. One way to prevent outages, especially in lower voltage distribution systems, where most disturbances occur, is to improve the maintenance of the system.

Keywords climate change, power system, outages, reliability, resilience, weather