Balancing Wildfire Risks and Power Outages due to Proactive Public Power Safety De-Energizations

Faults on overhead power line infrastructures in electric power distribution systems (DS) can potentially ignite catastrophic wildfires, especially in areas exposed to high wind regimes, low humidity and dense vegetation. The common practice adopted by electric utilities to build resilience against such electrically-induced wildfires is called public-safety power-shutoff (PSPS): strategies to intentionally and proactively de-energize power line infrastructures to prevent wildfire risks. Our research aims to generate an optimal PSPS plan for mitigating the risk of costly wildfires while keeping the intentional power outage minimal. This objective is achieved by strategic deployment of transportable energy backup technologies in the DS, i.e., mobile power sources (MPSs).