A Preventive-Corrective Scheme for Ensuring Power System Security During Active Wildfire Risks

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel preventive-corrective decision-making scheme for power system operation during wildfire risks, combining static and dynamic security measures to enhance grid resilience and cost-efficiency.

Contribution

It proposes a comprehensive coordinated scheme utilizing contingency analysis, feasibility testing, and transient stability analysis to mitigate wildfire-related grid insecurities.

Findings

Reduces system vulnerabilities during wildfires

Balances operational cost and grid security

Effective on IEEE 118-bus system

Abstract

The focus of this paper is on operating the electric power grid in a secure manner when wildfire risks are high. This is a challenging problem because of the uncertain ways in which the fires can impact the operation of the power system. To address this challenge, we propose a novel preventive-corrective coordinated decision-making scheme that quickly mitigates both static and dynamic insecurities given the risk of active wildfires in a region. The scheme utilizes a comprehensive contingency analysis tool for multi-asset outages that leverages: (i) a Feasibility Test algorithm which exhaustively desaturates overloaded cut-sets to prevent cascading line outages, and (ii) a data-driven transient stability analyzer which alleviates dynamic instabilities. This tool is then used to operate a coordinated unit commitment/optimal power flow model that is designed to adapt to varying risk levels associated with wildfires. Depending on the allowed risk, the model balances economical operation and grid robustness. The results obtained using the IEEE 118-bus system indicate that the proposed approach alleviates system vulnerabilities to wildfires while also minimizing operational cost.