Wildfire Risk Mitigation: A Paradigm Shift in Power Systems Planning and Operation
John W. Muhs, Masood Parvania, Mohammad Shahidehpour
Abstract
Managing the risk of wildfires has been arguably the biggest recent challenge of electric utilities with infrastructure located in the wildland-urban interface. Utilities are deploying solutions for wildfire risk mitigation, such as public safety power shutoffs, which are counter-intuitive from a reliability-centric operation paradigm. This article presents an overview of the challenges, implications, and potential strategies for wildfire risk mitigation in power systems, and introduces the vision for a wildfire-resilient power system. The wildfire risk management strategies presented in this article range from fault prevention methods such as structural hardening, vegetation management and implementing advanced protection systems, to arc-suppression and ignition prevention methods. This article also identifies relevant research opportunities associated with implementing wildfire mitigation techniques on power systems.