Risk Assessment of Transmission Lines Against Grid-ignited Wildfires

TL;DR

This paper introduces a comprehensive risk assessment method for transmission lines to prevent grid-ignited wildfires, combining multiple datasets and demonstrating effectiveness on a standard system.

Contribution

It presents a novel transmission line risk assessment approach that integrates grid, weather, and topology data for wildfire mitigation.

Findings

Effective identification of high-risk transmission lines

Demonstrated method's success on IEEE 30-bus system

Supports targeted wildfire prevention strategies

Abstract

Wildfires ignited by the power lines have become increasingly common over the past decade. Enhancing the operational and financial resilience of power grids against wildfires involves a multifaceted approach. Key proactive measures include meticulous vegetation management, strategic grid hardening such as infrastructure undergrounding, preemptive de-energization, and disaster risk financing, among others. Each measure should be tailored to prioritize efforts in mitigating the consequences of wildfires. This paper proposes a transmission line risk assessment method for grid-ignited wildfires, identifying the transmission lines that could potentially lead to damage to the natural and built environment and to other transmission lines if igniting a wildfire. Grid, meteorological, and topological datasets are combined to enable a comprehensive analysis. Numerical analysis on the standard IEEE 30-bus system demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method.