Region I Electric Energy RRAP New Hampshire State Workshop

Department of Homeland Security Regional Resiliency Assessment Program (RRAP)

The Regional Resiliency Assessment Program (RRAP) is a cooperative assessment of specific critical infrastructure within a designated geographic area and a regional analysis of the surrounding infrastructure led by the DHS National Protection and Programs Directorate, Office of Infrastructure Protection in collaboration with Northeastern University and the Kostas Research Institute. 

The goal of the RRAP is to mitigate the Nation’s risk of loss of life and physical and economic damage from natural and manmade hazards. This goal is achieved by:

• Assessing critical infrastructure on a regional level, focusing on threats, vulnerabilities, and consequences from an all-hazards perspective
• Identifying critical dependencies, interdependencies, cascading effects, and resilience characteristics and gaps
• Assessing the status of the integrated preparedness and protection capabilities of critical infrastructure owners and operators, local law enforcement, and emergency response organizations
• Coordinating protection and response efforts to enhance resilience and address security gaps within the geographic region

Critical Infrastructure Issue Addressed by the Region I Electric Energy Resilience RRAP

Multiple gaps in federally accessible data impede decision making on policies and investment related to resilience, reliability, and security. These data are critical for understanding the extent to which our existing energy infrastructure is resilient and for better informing resilience investments. To address this issue, the Quadrennial Energy Review (QER) recommends that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), in collaboration with DHS and interested infrastructure stakeholders, develop common analytical frameworks, tools and metrics to assess the resilience, reliability and security of energy infrastructures.

 Of the four categories of electricity transmission, storage and distribution that are particularly vulnerable to hazards, electricity substations with Large Power Transformers (LPTs) are a particular concern. A common vulnerability for substations is flooding, and flood vulnerability has a relatively high probability.

Region I Electric Energy Resilience RRAP Goal and Objectives  

Goal: Identify electric energy substations with LPTs in Region I that are potentially vulnerable to climate-related risks, examine potential regional consequences from a disruption and develop resilience enhancement options to mitigate potential disruptions.

Objectives:

• Identify energy infrastructure such as substations with LPTs that might be vulnerable to extreme weather events
• Conduct joint vulnerability assessments to evaluate risk
• Identify critical dependencies, interdependencies, cascading effects, and resilience characteristics and gaps