GEOAI for Urban Resilience: Strategic Optimization of Power Grids and Electric Vehicle Fleet Charger Networks

The accelerating change towards electrification in the transportation sector poses a significant threat to the stability of existing power grid infrastructure. It is necessary to change how utility companies manage their existing assets in the power grid. The unmanaged expansion of EV adoption threatens the power grid stability regarding power loss due to outages, costly updates to the infrastructure, and asset damage during outages. Focusing on the increasing prevalence of Electric Van fleets in the United States, this thesis proposes the integration of Geographic Information Systems and optimization tools to create a secure space for digitally formulating and testing operational algorithms for power grid asset arrangements before implementation in the physical world. The need to rely on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) arises from its capability to generate digital data based on their physical locations. The research breaks down the problem into three subproblems: synthetic data generation and modeling, fleet allocation optimization problem, and strategic path planning for cable installation. The creation of synthetic data for customer demands and feeder capacities and the creation of synthetic distribution feeders mapped to real geospatial topologies solved the problem of exposing sensitive data. The synthetic data provided a viable alternative, allowing us to generate datasets without compromising the privacy of clients and utility companies’ privacy. The optimization model strategically allocates electric vehicle fleets across the power grid, considering customer power demands and feeder capacities while minimizing operational costs. Finally, we propose a path planning for connecting clients to the power grid without affecting the environment. By proposing this comprehensive framework, the thesis aims to contribute to urban infrastrucvi ture’s sustainable and resilient development. The summarized roadmap provides cities worldwide with direction on incorporating electric vehicle fleets into existing power grids, ensuring the increasing demand for electricity doesn’t affect the current power grid clients and infrastructure and maintaining a reliable, cost-effective, and environmentally conscious power grid infrastructure.