Keeping the Lights On: An Analysis of the Dynamic Allocation Problem of Assigning Utility Repair Trucks to Outages

Abstract

For electrical providers like PSE&G, the main goal of the company is to provide consistent and reliable services to their customers. However, these companies are often challenged by an overwhelming number of outages following a storm, and restoring power to their customers as quickly and efficiently as possible with a limited amount of repair resources is their highest priority. This thesis aims to analyze the process of assigning utility repair crews to outages by modeling the PSE&G electrical grid and simulating problems that may arise following a storm. It will then test and compare various dynamic allocation policies for assigning repair crews to outages to determine the most effective policy for resolving potential storm-­based issues in the future.