SAI: Strengthening Energy Infrastructure Resilience and Equity During Extreme Cold Weather Events

加强美国基础设施(SAI)是一项NSF计划，旨在刺激以人类为中心的基础性研究和潜在的变革性研究，以加强美国的基础设施。有效的基础设施为社会经济活力和广泛的生活质量改善提供了坚实的基础。强大、可靠和有效的基础设施刺激私营部门创新，增长经济，创造就业机会，提高公共部门服务提供效率，加强社区力量，促进机会均等，保护自然环境，增强国家安全，推动美国的领导地位。要实现这些目标，需要来自科学和工程学科的专业知识。SAI侧重于人类推理和决策、治理以及社会和文化过程的知识如何能够建立和维护有效的基础设施，以改善生活和社会，并建立在技术和工程进步的基础上。在极端寒冷的天气事件中，电力和供暖需求激增。天然气管道利用率在这些时期接近最大产能，发电厂可能无法获得足够的天然气发电，因为天然气分销公司拥有最高的服务优先级。在天然气的主要用途是空间供暖而不是发电的时代，这样做是谨慎的。这种情况已经改变，住宅和商业部门现在更多地使用电力供暖。这对依赖电力供暖的客户来说是一个不利因素，因为天然气分配的优先事项不是发电。最近的电力危机表明，在极端寒冷的天气事件期间，停电和天然气供应短缺可能会对人类造成代价高昂的影响。重要的是，寒冷天气停电的不利后果往往落在历史上负担过重和服务不足的社区身上。预计到2050年，随着居民用电量的增长，这些差距将变得更加明显。这个SAI项目调查了美国电力和天然气部门之间日益增长的相互依赖所带来的复杂挑战。该项目开发了一个集成了能源系统建模、机制设计和利益相关者参与的框架，以在极端寒冷的天气事件中改善当地配电公司和发电厂之间的天然气配置。综合研究方法开发了模型，以评估极端寒冷天气事件期间能源基础设施关键组件的损害。这些模型用于模拟冬季风暴期间能源基础设施的联合运行，并在区域测试系统中评估对县级成本、排放和停电的相关影响。提出并评估了在极端寒冷天气事件期间提高气体分配效率和公平性的潜在政策解决方案。这项研究与一项涉及一系列关键利益攸关方的强有力的参与计划深度整合，其中包括能源监管机构、非营利组织和社区组织、能源公司和电网运营商。这项研究和利益相关者的参与促进了对加强美国能源基础设施韧性的解决方案的理解，并促进了对这一基础设施的公平访问。该奖项得到了社会、行为和经济(SBE)科学局和工程局的支持。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，认为值得支持。

Strengthening American Infrastructure (SAI) is an NSF Program seeking to stimulate human-centered fundamental and potentially transformative research that strengthens America’s infrastructure. Effective infrastructure provides a strong foundation for socioeconomic vitality and broad quality of life improvement. Strong, reliable, and effective infrastructure spurs private-sector innovation, grows the economy, creates jobs, makes public-sector service provision more efficient, strengthens communities, promotes equal opportunity, protects the natural environment, enhances national security, and fuels American leadership. To achieve these goals requires expertise from across the science and engineering disciplines. SAI focuses on how knowledge of human reasoning and decision-making, governance, and social and cultural processes enables the building and maintenance of effective infrastructure that improves lives and society and builds on advances in technology and engineering.Electricity and heating needs spike during extreme cold weather events. Natural gas pipeline utilization approaches the maximum capacity during these periods, and power plants may not receive enough natural gas for electricity generation because gas distribution companies hold the highest priority of service. This was prudent during an era when the primary use for gas was space heating and not electricity generation. That landscape has changed, with electricity now more commonly used for heating in the residential and commercial sectors. This creates a disadvantage for customers who rely on electricity for heating because the priority for natural gas distribution is not for electricity generation. Recent electricity crises demonstrate the costly human impacts that power outages coupled with natural gas supply shortfalls can have during extreme cold weather events. Importantly, adverse consequences of cold weather outages tend to fall on historically overburdened and underserved communities. These disparities are expected to become more pronounced as residential electricity consumption grows through 2050. This SAI project investigates the complex challenges raised by the increasing interdependence between the electric power and natural gas sectors in the United States.This project develops a framework that integrates energy systems modeling, mechanism design and stakeholder engagement to improve allocation of natural gas between local distribution companies and power plants during extreme cold weather events. The integrative research approach develops models to assess damages to key components of the energy infrastructure during extreme cold weather events. The models are used to simulate the joint operations of energy infrastructure during winter storms, and assess the associated impacts on costs, emissions, and power outages at the county level in a regional test system. Potential policy solutions that enhance efficiency and equity of gas allocation during severe cold weather events are proposed and evaluated. The research is deeply integrated with a robust engagement program involving a range of key stakeholders, including energy regulators, non-profit and community-based organizations, energy companies, and electric grid operators. The research and stakeholder engagement advances the understanding of solutions to strengthen U.S. energy infrastructure resilience and promotes equitable access to this infrastructure.This award is supported by the Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic (SBE) Sciences and the Directorate for Engineering.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.