Three Lines of Defense for Wildfire Risk Management in Electric Power Grids: A Review

Ali Arab,Amin Khodaei,Matthew P Thompson,Yu Wei,Rozhin Eskandarpour

doi:10.1109/access.2021.3074477

Ali Arab, Amin Khodaei + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2021.3074477

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Abstract

Wildfires pose a significant challenge to the natural and the built environments, as well as the safety and economic wellbeing of the communities residing in wildfire-prone areas. The electric power grid is specifically among the built environments most affected by, and contributing to, wildfires. In this paper, we propose a three lines of defense (3LD) framework for wildfire risk management in electric power infrastructure and review the literature from this lens. An overview of the physics and phenomenology of the wildfires as it relates to power grids is presented, and the logic for the proposed 3LD framework is discussed. The reviewed literature based on the 3LD theme includes the most relevant and emerging research work on wildfire prevention as the first line of defense, wildfire mitigation and proactive response as the second line of defense, and wildfire recovery preparedness as the third line of defense. This study reveals that while the state of the art, to a large extent, stands comprehensive in various aspects of power system resilience and wildfire risk management, there is a gap in the literature in addressing this emerging risk in a holistic, interdisciplinary approach.

Highlights

The keystone of modern society is a resilient power grid that ensures an uninterrupted supply of electricity to citizens and interdependent lifeline infrastructure systems even during extreme external events such as wildfires
Our work is different from [21], [21] in three ways: a) we provide a thematic review from a risk and resilience perspective and propose a framework to find the gap in the literature of various research areas within the proposed theme; b) we provide a broader perspective by reviewing the relevant research work from power systems engineering, forest management, social sciences, and economics of disasters to facilitate an interdisciplinary dialogue among research communities; c) In addition to preventive measures before a wildfire, we review research work related to managing the wildfire during and after a disaster runs its course
We reviewed the state of the art on research work related to wildfire prediction, detection of fire-causing faults in the grid, early detection of wildfires, grid asset management, vegetation management, wildfire simulators, preemptive de-energization, suppression tactics, wildfire monitoring, grid operations management during wildfires, recovery logistics, energy contingency planning, disaster risk financing, and community engagement in the recovery process

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The keystone of modern society is a resilient power grid that ensures an uninterrupted supply of electricity to citizens and interdependent lifeline infrastructure systems even during extreme external events such as wildfires. Each wildfire has its own idiosyncratic characteristics; the aftermath of most of these events is the damage to the grid and power outages These outages can cascade into multiple service areas and critical infrastructure, including natural gas, telecommunications, water, transportation, and emergency services. In this climate, the concept of grid preparedness and resilience against wildfires has become an important risk management measure, which focuses on identifying, developing, and implementing strategies for limiting the impact of wildfires and the subsequent wide-area, long-duration power outages. An overview of the commonly used wildfire risk modeling methods is presented, followed by a discussion on the underlying logic for the 3LD framework for wildfire risk management in power infrastructure

WILDFIRE PHYSICS AND RISK MODELING

FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE

SECOND LINE OF DEFENSE

THIRD LINE OF DEFENSE

Findings

CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK