IEEE Electrification - September 2019 - 24

electricity and transportation systems for ensuring
power network security during ice storms.
This emergency preparedness is implemented following
long- and midterm ice storm forecasts, while the emergency operation is a follow-up strategy during the ice storm
that applies the short-term ice storm forecast with realtime ice storm monitoring. The emergency preparedness
determines the long-term, day-ahead unit commitment,
while the emergency operation determines the real-time
de-icing schedule (DIS) and real-time power system

dispatch. The objective of the transportation operator is to
ensure that MDIDs can be routed and delivered to de-icing
sites quickly. Therefore, the emergency preparedness determines the optimal number and regional pre-positioning of
MDIDs, and the emergency operation determines the local
routing of MDIDs when the vehicles are called upon. The
objective of the grid operator is to maintain power network
security by de-icing the lines and ensuring the load supply
by the optimal dispatch of generating units.

Introduction to the State Key
Laboratory in China

Figure 1. Damaged transmission lines during the 2008 South China
ice storm. (Source: State Key Laboratory; used with permission.)

After the ice storm in 2008, the State Grid Hunan Electric Power Company established the State Key Laboratory of Disaster Prevention and Reduction for Power Grid
Transmission and Distribution Equipment to enhance
power network resilience against ice storms. The State
Key Laboratory consists of indoor and outdoor facilities,
as depicted in Figures 4 and 5. The indoor facility, the
most comprehensive laboratory in the world for analyzing icy conditions, can simulate icing and de-icing processes for ultrahigh-voltage transmission lines and
insulators (i.e., 500 kV and below). The outdoor facility,
located in the Xiaoshajiang Mountains, Hunan, is
equipped with a 500-kV transmission system infrastructure. The yearly ice storms in the Xiaoshajiang
Mountains provide an excellent opportunity for testing
the icing and de-icing equipment.

Ice Storm Severity Forecast and Monitoring
Transmission lines could be covered with ice during ice
storms and damaged if the covered ice thickness exceeds
certain thresholds. The ice cover on power lines could

Ice Storm Severity Forecast and Monitoring
Ice Storm Forecast
Long-Term Forecast
Midterm Forecast
Short-Term Forecast
Figure 2. A tower damaged during the 2008 ice storm. (Source:

Real-Time Ice
Thickness Monitoring

De-Icing Technique

State Key Laboratory; used with permission.)

TABLE 1. The damaged transmission infrastructure

Ice Storm Monitoring

Fixed De-Icing Device

MDID

Ultrahigh-Voltage Line

Transmission and
Distribution Line

during the 2008 South China ice storm.

Voltage Level (kV)

Damaged Towers

Damaged Lines

500

182

159

220

633

241

110

1,427

646

2,031

1,369

63,036

47,898

I E E E E l e c t r i f i cati o n M agaz ine / SEPTEMBER 2019

Emergency Preparedness and Operation
Electric System
Unit Commitment
Generation Dispatch
De-Icing Schedule

Transportation System
Number of Employed MDID
MDID Pre-Position
MDID Routing

Figure 3. The proposed de-icing method for the resilience enhancement strategy.

IEEE Electrification - September 2019

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