According to Dr. Junwei Ma, postdoctoral researcher in the Zachry Department of Civil and Envrionmental Engineering, “The dataset included over 179 million data points sorted by time and location, allowing us to create the PSVI.” The Power System Vulnerability Index (PSVI), offers an interactive mapping tool for businesses to assess site-specific risks.
Coastal, high-density urban areas are among the most exposed. These include regions along the East and West Coasts, the Gulf, and the Great Lakes—areas that not only drive a significant share of the U.S. economy but also house major corporate headquarters, data hubs, and manufacturing infrastructure.
AI and digital infrastructure are also in the crosshairs. Many of the U.S.’s largest artificial intelligence data centers are located directly within these high-risk zones. These facilities depend on stable electricity to operate and manage the intense cooling requirements of high-performance servers. Extended outages in these environments can cascade into multi-sector service disruptions, making resilience planning a core operational concern—not just an IT issue.
The data shows a clear trend: power outages are no longer isolated incidents—they're structural threats. And traditional business continuity models aren’t keeping up. Increasingly extreme weather events like Hurricane Beryl and Winter Storm Uri are outpacing infrastructure resilience, catching organizations off guard in regions once considered stable.
“We knew that the state of power system vulnerability nationwide is exacerbating. But the magnitude of that was shocking, and greater than we hypothesized,” said Dr. Ali Mostafavi, professor in the Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering who also serves as the director of the Urban Resilience AI Lab. “After 2019, we see a 20% annual increase in outage duration, frequency and magnitude.”
Businesses with operations, supply chains, or data centers in high-risk areas must reevaluate their approach to continuity and infrastructure investment. This includes using tools like the PSVI to understand long-term regional vulnerability, adjusting facility planning, and reassessing where and how data is stored and accessed.
For many, backup systems and alternate site operations will become non-negotiable. Similarly, reevaluating vendor footprints, logistics pathways, and workforce distribution can help spread risk more effectively. As digital transformation accelerates, so does the exposure to infrastructure gaps—particularly in sectors relying on uninterrupted AI and cloud performance.
