IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - May/June 2014 - 74

Microgrids with natural gas-fueled sources, such as microturbines
or fuel cells with local reformers, have a higher probability of
remaining operational after hurricanes.

2,500 burnt poles, and seriously disrupting electricity supply to
more than 90,000 customers (see Figure 12). the immediate
mobilization of personnel of the national utility [Public Power
Corporation (PPC)] from all over Greece to the locations of the
fires for power supply restoration resulted in the minimization
of outage durations; however, it is not possible to estimate the
exact time of power cutoffs because it was affected by continuous fire re-ignitions. Few people had complete power outages
for the entire period, but for more than 20% of the customers
affected, it took longer than five days to restore their electricity supply. Distributed generation systems including mobile
diesel generators of 50-, 100-, and 130-kVa ratings were used
for restoring power supply to parts of the distribution network
(islanded villages), forming ad-hoc low-voltage microgrids. the
total cost of damage by the fires for PPC reached €10 million,
while the total cost of power restoration (for distribution) was
estimated at €6.3 million.

figure 13. Downed transmission towers during the 1998
ice storm in Québec. (Source: C. Abbey.)

figure 14. Locomotives were used for supplying electricity
during the 1998 ice storm in Québec. (Source: C. Abbey.)
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ieee power & energy magazine

Ice Storms in Canada
in 1998, the worst ice storm in Québec's recorded history lead
to extended power outages for over 1 million customers in the
hydro-Québec service area. on 9 January 1998, the accumulation of ice over the previous five days eventually culminated
in mechanical failures and a widespread blackout in a large
part of the utility system. the additional mechanical load associated with the ice finally led to failures of the infrastructure
at numerous points in both the distribution and transmission
systems and the resulting electrical outages of the majority of
customers in the montreal area (see Figure 13).
the impact of this event was felt on a large scale, affecting 3,000 km of power lines, 16,000 distribution poles, 3,000
transmission structures (including 1,000 pylons), and 4,000
transformers. as a result of the damages, some 1.4 million
customers were without power, in some cases for up to a
couple of weeks. the estimated cost of damages incurred by
the utility was C$2 billion in Québec.
in addition to the existing disaster action plans, locomotives were used by certain communities to restore power to
certain sections of the distribution network, operated in an
islanded grid or microgrid (see Figure 14). while a success,
there were nonetheless delays in implementing the system
and limitations in terms of the extent of load that could be
served. this anecdote, while but a small part of the mitigation
strategy that was ultimately developed following the disaster,
speaks to the fact that microgrids, if properly planned for
and coordinated, can play an active role in providing secondlevel services in the case of disasters.

Potential Venues for Microgrids
Operation in Recovery from Disasters
Evangelos Florakis Naval Base Explosion
in Cyprus
on 11 July 2011, a tragic explosion at the evangelos Florakis
naval base in Cyprus killed 13 people and injured dozens more.
the country's newest and largest power station at Vasilikos,
situated next to the naval base, suffered extensive damages,
in effect losing all of its power generation capacity for several
months. at the time of the explosion, the installed capacity
at the station was 428 mw, while two combined cycle units
rated at 220 mw each were under testing/commissioning. the
installed capacity in Cyprus at the time of the explosion was
1,584 mw, the actual generation capacity was 1,445 mw, and
the maximum demand was 1,210 mw. overall, the explosion
may/june 2014

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