Resource planning and a depot location model for electric power restoration

The purpose of this research is to develop a depot location model to manage the resources needed for efficient and economic power restoration in an area which has experienced an outage. Determining the optimal number of depots, optimal location of depots, and the optimal number of repair crews and/or equipment is of significant importance in power restoration operations. The problem is studied on two levels: first, the general problem simultaneously locates depots and determines the amount of the resources to be shipped from the depots to each point in order to minimize the total transportation cost. The second problem adds new depots to an area where depots already exist. This decision-making is a trade-off between whether or not it is necessary to establish new depots. The mathematical models for both cases are developed on an incremental basis as the problems become complex and new scenarios become apparent. An optimal solution strategy is presented following each problem. The results show that the optimal model can be used by power restoration management. For a large size problem, a heuristic can help the analysts/planners obtain an approximate optimal solution. In this investigation, a two-phase heuristic for the depot location is developed. Some computational results are discussed for both optimal and heuristic solutions.