Reclosing of Distribution Systems for Wildfire Prevention

Abstract

The risk of catastrophic wildfire has challenged our societies and impacted various industries, with imminent danger to people's lives, financial burden, and irreparable damages to the environment, among other consequences. While progressive wildfires can impact power system operation and customer reliability and resilience, the relationship between power systems and wildfires is mutual: power systems can also contribute to wildfires. Wildfire risk of power systems is related to, in particular, fault-induced ignition events that can quickly turn into wildfires. While some electric utilities are working on approaches to mitigate such risk, the need for further research, development and demonstration of novel methodologies still exists. This paper identifies, analyzes, and compares the practices that can be further employed by utilities to manage the risk and mitigate the impact of power-system generated wildfires.