Socially-aware retrofit prioritization for electric power networks: integrating network performance and social impact considerations

Retrofit prioritization can be guided by various metrics (e.g., monetary, network performance). However, community resilience champions holistic community improvement by reducing post-disaster impacts relative to network and community social operation. Few prioritization approaches have been developed to accommodate both performance-based and social impact-based perspectives. This work introduces a network retrofit prioritization approach integrating an optimization-based approach driven by network performance and a social impact-based criticality. The proposed socially-aware retrofit prioritization approach is implemented for Seaside, Oregon’s electric power distribution network exposed to tsunami-earthquake hazards across budgetary levels. Prioritization variation is compared across scenarios and with both original optimization-based and social impact criticality-based prioritizations. The implementation demonstrates the socially-aware prioritization successfully integrates the two prioritizations and performs at an intermediate level relative to the two original approaches. The socially-aware retrofit prioritization approach marks a pivotal point for informed decision-making whereby multiple decision perspectives are combined to better support community resilience-based decision-making.