Wildfire Impacts on Security of Electric Power Systems: A Survey of Risk Identification and Mitigation Approaches

Abstract

The increase of extremely hot days globally has led to more frequent wildfires and frequent power outages directly and indirectly caused by the wildfires. This has sought an urgency to investigate the power system security issues associated with wildfires and the implementation of risk mitigation strategies. This article provides a comprehensive review of power system security in relation to wildfires, exploring methods to enhance the system security. The article starts with the multi-scale aspect of power system security and resiliency associated with wildfires. Additionally, it investigates the direct and indirect impacts of wildfires on renewable energy generation and the overall security of the system. Furthermore, the emerging technologies to enhance the system security against wildfires are discussed. To conclude, this paper sheds light on the industry, academic research gaps, and future direction.