Cyclone preparedness strategies for regional power transmission systems in data-scarce coastal regions of India

As the frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones, and the degree of urbanization increase, a systematic strengthening of power transmission networks in the coastal regions becomes imperative. An effective strategy for the same can be to strengthen select transmission towers, which requires consideration of network at holistic scale and its orientation relative to the coastline, the fragility of towers, and properties of cyclones. Since necessary information is often missing, actionable frameworks for prioritization remain elusive. Based on publicly available data, we assess efficacies of strategic interventions in the network that serves 40 million people. After evaluating 72 strategies for prioritization, we find that strategies that consider rather simplistic properties of the network and its orientation with respect to the coastline work much better than those based purely on the network's properties, in spite of minor variations in fragilities of towers. This integrated approach opens avenues for actionable engineering and policy interventions in resource-constrained and data-deprived settings.