Motivating the Use of Dynamic Line Ratings to Mitigate the Risk of Wildfire Ignition

Increasingly severe wildfires pose significant dangers to ecological, social, and economic systems. To curtail the risk of igniting wildfires, California utilities employ the Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) program, which de-energizes transmission lines that run through wildfire-prone regions. In order to reduce the amount of load shedding required during PSPS events, this paper explores the use of dynamic line ratings (DLR) to manage the current flows on lines that pose a high risk of igniting wildfires. DLR schemes determine line flow limits that change with ambient conditions. This paper uses DLR in combination with more restrictive ground clearance requirements during wildfire-prone conditions to reduce the likelihood of wildfire-igniting faults from conductors contacting vegetation. Using two case studies, this paper demonstrates the potential benefits of DLR in this context by comparing the tradeoffs between completely de-energizing lines versus imposing more stringent ground clearance requirements via reducing current flows with DLR. Results from a large dataset representing WECC with actual data regarding ambient conditions, load demands, and wildfire risks show that the proposed approach can significantly reduce load shedding due to de-energizing lines that pose high risks of igniting wildfires.