Improving Storm Recovery

Major storm recovery is shaped by decisions made before the first outage.

Where should crews be staged? How much mutual aid is enough? Which assumptions are driving the restoration plan? What happens if the storm shifts, damage is worse than expected, or productivity drops once crews are in the field?

These are high-consequence decisions, but utility leaders rarely get a realistic environment to practice them before the next major event.

GridCommander was created to change that.

The idea began with lessons from decades of hurricane response at Florida Power & Light, where storm leaders developed practical operating judgment across many major events. That judgment is difficult to learn from a manual, a slide deck, or a one-time training session. It comes from seeing scenarios unfold, making tradeoffs, comparing plans, and understanding why certain decisions lead to faster recovery.

The Extreme Weather Event (XWE) Simulator is being built to make that kind of practice possible.

It allows utility incident commanders and storm teams to work through realistic restoration scenarios, compare staging and crew strategies, test planning assumptions, and build confidence before the grid is under stress.

The first version is focused on training and planning. Over time, our goal is to extend GridCommander into real-time storm decision support: a tool that helps leaders evaluate changing conditions, understand operational impacts, and make better recovery decisions during live events.

We are currently offering free early access to the simulator for utility leaders, storm response teams, and industry partners who want to help shape the product.