GIS-Analysis Of The Ural Power Grid Vulnerability To The Impact Of Sleet And Wind

In this paper, we describe an experiment of complex power grid structure and wind and sleet mapping of territory using two different network indices: standard edge betweenness centrality and new author’s index – electrical grid centrality. Such analysis of the network allows to identify power lines with high load which could be vulnerable elements of the power grid. It is very important for strategic planning of power grids to reduce the risk of accidents by distributing loads across several lines so that they will be able to reserve each other. As a case territory for this research, we took the Ural united power system in Russia which is greatly exposed to different sleet and wind according to the statistics of the power grid operator. The degree of natural hazard consequences could be compensated by the network structure through alternative paths of energy supply or vice versa – increased if they are absent. At the same time, in this paper we consider that power grids have their own features from the graph theory point of view, for example multiple (parallel) edges, branches, different types of vertices. The existing index of edge betweenness centrality does not perfectly cope with them. We compare two indices characterizing power line importance within the system – betweenness centrality and electrical grid centrality and analyze the network structure features together with the spatial distribution of sleet and wind. As a result, we could identify bottlenecks in the study network. According to this study the most vulnerable power lines were detected, for example 500 kV Iriklinskaya CHP – Gazovaya and 500 kV Yuzhnouralskaya CHP-2 – Shagol power lines, that supply big cities such as Chelyabinsk and Orenburg and a bunch of industries around them.

Conflicted Energy Transition—Conception of a Theoretical Framework for Its Investigation

Energy transition plays a central role in efforts to reduce anthropogenic global warming. However, energy transition involves physical manifestations, for example in the form of wind turbines, photovoltaic plants, and power lines, which trigger resistance, especially among those who live in the vicinity of the (planned) plants. The reasons for this resistance are complex, as they relate to residents’ emotional ties and/or stereotypical common-sense expectations of landscape. The complexity of landscape conflicts in general, and energy transition-related conflicts in particular, makes it difficult to capture the intricacy of the subject matter by means of a single theoretical perspective. To address this difficulty, a neopragmatic approach of identifying and combining appropriate theoretical perspectives is utilized to develop an analytic framework for understanding these conflicts. To this end, we draw on Dahrendorf’s conflict theory and the framing approach. Both have high complementary explanatory potential and empirical applicability, with the framing approach broadening the theoretical prism to include micro-individuals and groups to Dahrendorf’s meso-social perspective.