  Threats against power grids continue to increase, as extreme weather
conditions and natural disasters (extreme events) become more frequent. Hence,
there is a need for the simulation and modeling of power grids to reflect
realistic conditions during extreme events conditions, especially distribution
systems. This paper presents a modeling and simulation platform for electric
distribution grids which can estimate overall power demand during extreme
weather conditions. The presented platform's efficacy is shown by demonstrating
estimation of electrical demand for 1) Electricity Reliability Council of Texas
(ERCOT) during winter storm Uri in 2021, and 2) alternative hypothetical
scenarios of integrating Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), weatherization,
and load electrification. In comparing to the actual demand served by ERCOT
during the winter storm Uri of 2021, the proposed platform estimates
approximately 34 GW of peak capacity deficit1. For the case of the future
electrification of heating loads, peak capacity of 78 GW (124% increase) is
estimated, which would be reduced to 47 GW (38% increase) with the adoption of
efficient heating appliances and improved thermal insulation. Integrating
distributed solar PV and storage into the grid causes improvement in the local
energy utilization and hence reduces the potential unmet energy by 31% and 40%,
respectively.
