[3] The Committee on Enhancing the Resilience of the Nation's Electric Power Transmission and Distribution System has developed strategies that seek to reduce the impact of large-scale, long-duration outages.
Resilience is not just about preventing these outages from happening, but also limiting their scope and impact, restoring power quickly, and preparing for future events.
[4] Distributed energy resources are rapidly growing in some states, but most U.S. customers will continue to depend on the large-scale, interconnected, and hierarchically structured electric grid.
Therefore, strategies to enhance electric power resilience must consider a diverse set of technical and institutional arrangements and a wide variety of hazards.
[4] According to the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), resilience is defined as "the ability to adapt to changing conditions and withstand and rapidly recover from disruption due to emergencies".
These events are generally unpredictable and occur unexpectedly, but advances in weather and disaster forecasting technology can offer some warning time to prepare for certain situations.
[4] Power outages can be caused by a wide range of factors, including natural disasters, cyberattacks, equipment failure, human error, and political instability.
Regardless of the reasons, one growing concern is that power outages result in economic losses and hardship for people who have become increasingly reliant on electricity for even basic comforts.
These disruptions are typically caused by physical damage to local parts of the system, such as lightning strikes, falling trees, or equipment failure.
Resilience, as defined by the Random House Dictionary of the English Language, refers to the ability to return to the original state after being stretched, compressed, or bent.