The model will measure the maturity of transmission resilience programs and identify improvements to increase the resilience of transmission systems
October 7, 2020
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The North American Transmission Forum (NATF), the Office of Electricity, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) collaborated to develop the new Transmission Resilience Maturity Model (TRMM). The model, released this week, enables utilities to measure the maturity of their transmission resilience programs and identify improvements to increase the resilience of their transmission systems. The TRMM evaluates a utility’s strategies, policies, and procedures and the implementation of programmatic activities to support resilience.
Resilient electricity transmission systems have improved abilities to "bounce back" and recover quickly from disruptions. The TRMM is designed to help utilities consider all aspects of a resilience or disruption event, including short-term and long-term preparation, operations during an event, and recovery after an event. During long-term preparation, utilities allocate time and resources for investments in hardening, redesign, acquisition of spare parts, and workforce training. Shorter-term preparations may involve resources on-hand to quickly engage and prepare for potential impacts. All three stages rely on robust response and recovery plans. The flexibility and scalability of those plans are key in managing the range of resilience event impacts.
The TRMM was designed by industry subject-matter experts and implemented by a multi-disciplinary team over a period of 18 months. Representatives from the Office of Electricity joined with teams at PNNL, NATF, EPRI, and representatives from 15 utilities with electricity transmission missions. The draft tool was piloted at five utilities over a six-month period, applying lessons learned after each pilot test.
Security and privacy are key elements of the TRMM. The online TRMM tool does not retain any assessment data, and no information is available to the website hosts or the Department of Energy.
TRMM assessments can be completed in as little as one to three days by a utility’s designated “TRMM facilitator” with input from a diverse set of utility subject-matter experts. The TRMM tool automatically generates a detailed output product for use in reporting or sharing results with utility decision makers.
Learn more about the tool and register to use the model at https://trmm.labworks.org/