Whose Power Gets Cut? : Using High-Frequency Satellite Images to Measure Power Supply Irregularity

In many parts of the developing world, access to electricity is uneven and inconsistent, characterized by frequent and long hours of power outages. Many countries now engage in systematic load shedding because of persistent power shortages. When an...

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Main Authors: Min, Brian, O'Keeffe, Zachary, Zhang, Fan
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/125911498758273922/Whose-power-gets-cut-using-high-frequency-satellite-images-to-measure-power-supply-irregularity
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27634
id okr-10986-27634
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-276342021-06-08T14:42:47Z Whose Power Gets Cut? : Using High-Frequency Satellite Images to Measure Power Supply Irregularity Min, Brian O'Keeffe, Zachary Zhang, Fan POWER OUTAGES LOAD SHEDDING NIGHTTIME LIGHTS REMOTE SENSING POWER IRREGULARITY In many parts of the developing world, access to electricity is uneven and inconsistent, characterized by frequent and long hours of power outages. Many countries now engage in systematic load shedding because of persistent power shortages. When and where electricity is provided can have important impacts on welfare and growth. But quantifying those impacts is difficult because utility-level data on power outages are rarely available and not always reliable. This paper introduces a new method of tracking power outages from outer space. This measure identifies outage-prone areas by detecting excess fluctuations in light outputs. To develop these measures, the study processed the complete historical archive of sub-orbital Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) nighttime imagery captured over South Asia on every night since 1993. The analysis computes annual estimates of the Power Supply Irregularity index for all 600,000 villages in India from 1993 to 2013. The Power Supply Irregularity index measures are consistent with ground-based measures of power supply reliability from the Indian Human Development Survey, and with feeder-level outage data from one of the largest utilities in India. The study’s methods open new opportunities to study the determinants of power outages as well as their impacts on welfare. 2017-07-19T16:08:10Z 2017-07-19T16:08:10Z 2017-06 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/125911498758273922/Whose-power-gets-cut-using-high-frequency-satellite-images-to-measure-power-supply-irregularity http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27634 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8131 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper South Asia India
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic POWER OUTAGES
LOAD SHEDDING
NIGHTTIME LIGHTS
REMOTE SENSING
POWER IRREGULARITY
spellingShingle POWER OUTAGES
LOAD SHEDDING
NIGHTTIME LIGHTS
REMOTE SENSING
POWER IRREGULARITY
Min, Brian
O'Keeffe, Zachary
Zhang, Fan
Whose Power Gets Cut? : Using High-Frequency Satellite Images to Measure Power Supply Irregularity
geographic_facet South Asia
India
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8131
description In many parts of the developing world, access to electricity is uneven and inconsistent, characterized by frequent and long hours of power outages. Many countries now engage in systematic load shedding because of persistent power shortages. When and where electricity is provided can have important impacts on welfare and growth. But quantifying those impacts is difficult because utility-level data on power outages are rarely available and not always reliable. This paper introduces a new method of tracking power outages from outer space. This measure identifies outage-prone areas by detecting excess fluctuations in light outputs. To develop these measures, the study processed the complete historical archive of sub-orbital Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) nighttime imagery captured over South Asia on every night since 1993. The analysis computes annual estimates of the Power Supply Irregularity index for all 600,000 villages in India from 1993 to 2013. The Power Supply Irregularity index measures are consistent with ground-based measures of power supply reliability from the Indian Human Development Survey, and with feeder-level outage data from one of the largest utilities in India. The study’s methods open new opportunities to study the determinants of power outages as well as their impacts on welfare.
format Working Paper
author Min, Brian
O'Keeffe, Zachary
Zhang, Fan
author_facet Min, Brian
O'Keeffe, Zachary
Zhang, Fan
author_sort Min, Brian
title Whose Power Gets Cut? : Using High-Frequency Satellite Images to Measure Power Supply Irregularity
title_short Whose Power Gets Cut? : Using High-Frequency Satellite Images to Measure Power Supply Irregularity
title_full Whose Power Gets Cut? : Using High-Frequency Satellite Images to Measure Power Supply Irregularity
title_fullStr Whose Power Gets Cut? : Using High-Frequency Satellite Images to Measure Power Supply Irregularity
title_full_unstemmed Whose Power Gets Cut? : Using High-Frequency Satellite Images to Measure Power Supply Irregularity
title_sort whose power gets cut? : using high-frequency satellite images to measure power supply irregularity
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2017
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/125911498758273922/Whose-power-gets-cut-using-high-frequency-satellite-images-to-measure-power-supply-irregularity
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27634
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