An Investment Prioritization Model for Wildfire Risk Mitigation Through Power Line Undergrounding

Grid-ignited wildfires are one of the most destructive catastrophic events, profoundly affecting the built and natural environments. Burying power lines is an effective solution for mitigating the risk of wildfire ignition. However, it is a costly capital expenditure (CapEx) requiring meticulous planning and investment prioritization. This paper proposes a systematic approach to estimate the potential wildfire ignition damage associated with each transmission line and accordingly offers a priority list for undergrounding. The proposed approach allows electric utilities to make risk-informed decisions for grid modernization and resiliency improvement against wildfires. As a case study, we examine the likelihood of wildfire ignition for each line segment, i.e., between two high-voltage towers, under diverse weather conditions throughout the year. The studies on the standard IEEE 30-bus test system, simulated on 43,712 scenarios, demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.