Applying the Energy Justice Framework to Resiliency Studies in Power Systems

In the power system design process, engineers account for three topics outside of the technical feasibility. Those principles are economic feasibility, environmental impacts, and safety. This thesis argues that socioeconomic factors should also be included in this design process. Without properly accounting for social equity from the initial design of the power system, the resulting system has inequities. This thesis applies a three-tenet approach towards determining social inequities present and finding solutions to correct the inequity. This framework was applied to a resiliency study of a coastal city in North Carolina that is susceptible to Hurricanes and other extreme weather events.In this first tenet, distributional justice, a data-driven approach was undertaken to prove more socially vulnerable communities had longer power outages during extreme weather events. In the second tenet, recognition justice, a community member was interviewed to gain insight and context on how different communities within the area are treated and what social barriers these communities face. By combining the information gleaned in the first two tenets, the third tenet, called procedural justice, presented solutions to improve the disparity shown in earlier data analysis. The solutions presented were undergrounding portions of the electric system, constructing a microgrid in a more socially vulnerable neighborhood, and establishing a community engagement program between the local utility and the community.