Evaluating the resilience of electrical power line outages caused by wildfires

Power transmission lines are an essential component of the electricity distribution system, responsible for transporting electricity from power plants to homes and businesses. Power lines are often used in high-risk areas such as forest areas. A significant danger to power conductors can be posed by wildfires that cause considerable losses to the power grids. This study considers a fire growth model in heterogeneous landscapes concerning topography, weather elements, and fuel variables. We solve an optimal power flow problem that incorporates the cooling and heating process of power conductors. The current–temperature relationship of power conductors is determined based on the fire heating factor and power flows. The resilience of electrical power line outages is also studied that considering the relationship between fire behaviors and the physical locations of power lines. Moreover, the breakdown voltage probability with respect to power line height and wildfire distance from power lines is studied. The results show that the breakdown voltage reduces by up to 14% for an 11 m increase in line height. Similarly, the breakdown voltage decreases by up to 28% for a 15 m increase in wildfire distances from power lines. Lastly, the relationship between the loss of tensile strength, temperature, and time for an aluminum conductor is also evaluated. We observe that the aging failure probability increases over time by up to 7% when the conductors’ temperature increases by up to 150 (°C).