Optimization of Load Curtailment Strategies in Power Systems Exposed to Extreme Weather Events

Abstract

Extreme weather events, particularly prolonged heatwaves intensified by climate change, create acute imbalances in power systems by driving massive demand surges from air conditioning while simultaneously derating generation, transmission, and distribution assets through elevated conductor temperatures, reduced cooling efficiency for thermal plants, and decreased renewable outputs. When preventive measures such as demand response, energy storage discharge, interregional imports, and redispatch prove insufficient, load curtailment (or load shedding) becomes the last-resort mechanism to restore supply-demand balance, prevent frequency or voltage collapse, and avoid cascading blackouts. Traditional curtailment strategies prioritize technical objectives minimizing total unserved energy, reducing system losses, or preserving critical infrastructure often resulting in inequitable outcomes where remote buses, downstream loads, or socioeconomically vulnerable communities bear disproportionate burdens. This is especially problematic during heatwaves, as outages eliminate cooling precisely when indoor temperatures rise rapidly to dangerous levels, disproportionately affecting elderly residents, low-income households in poorly insulated housing, urban heat islands, and medically dependent populations.