In this article we describe the meaning of such terms as power system reliability and power system exposure to emergencies. We define reliability factors of power system and their impact on emergency. We proved the necessity of studying and mapping emergency due to the case of improving power system reliability. Then we showed opportunity of open data application concerning power systems’ emergency. This information is useful for analysis of power systems’ work. We carefully described the structure of this data and the approach of its interpretation from text to tables and their georeferencing. We paid particular attention to the choice of territorial unit for mapping: three main methods applied in electric power industry are analyzed. The one of them that is the most suitable for the research is chosen.

We marked zones of the main emergency cause in Russia by aggregating acquired data. Some new indexes we suggested to characterize special features of emergencies: a quantity of emergencies per 1 km of pipelines, a quantity of emergencies per 1 unit of pipelines density, a quantity of emergencies in different types of power grids and weighted coefficient of emergency. For every index we explain the reason for use and its’ perspectives.

On the basis of acquired data we created the series of six maps illustrating the character of emergencies in Russian power systems. We analyzed results to confirm indexes representativity

The main purpose of created maps is the use for power systems management such as recognizing weak spots in power systems, indication of main reasons of emergencies and to find out what`s the ratio between the number of emergencies caoues by different reasons.