Risk Assessment of Transmission Lines Against Grid-ignited Wildfires

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.