IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2022 - 79

By Rodrigo Moreno, Dimitris N. Trakas,
Magnus Jamieson, Mathaios Panteli,
Pierluigi Mancarella, Goran Strbac,
Chris Marnay, and Nikos Hatziargyriou
✔ How can microgrid operational capabilities improve traditional reliability-driven approaches
for making the network more resilient?
✔ How can planners assess investments in DER portfolios to achieve an effective tradeoff
between DER and network planning?
✔ What are the regulatory and policy barriers in adapting such hybrid resilience enhancement
portfolios against wildfires?
This article provides an overview of real-world evidence to understand the potential contribution
of DER and microgrids against wildfires. It presents a holistic framework for assessing and
quantifying the role of DER in operational planning and investment decision making to enable
additional robustness and flexibility in a system exposed to wildfires.
Real-World Examples
Looking at real-world examples can help explore the potential benefits of DER and microgrids
to improve power system resilience under wildfire scenarios. Using challenging situations where
these resources have mitigated or resolved operational issues can help fire-prevention stakeholders
better understand the feasibility and desirability of their practical application to wildfire resilience.
California
Conventional means of wildfire mitigation associated with the transmission system have been
found lacking. For example, in California, following years of major wildfires that included interactions
with the electric system, distribution companies are deploying preventive de-energization
of the grid during hot, dry high-wind conditions to prevent the power system from igniting wildfires.
Although unpopular by those losing service, these outages, known as public safety power
shutoffs (PSPSs), reflect that the highest priority of any power network entity is safe operation
despite the significant costs.
Without adequate mitigating meaDistributed
Energy Resources
Enhance System Resilience
sures, such as local backup generation
or microgrids, this can lead to customers
being left without essential services,
potentially for days. The hot, dry
weather is common in the late summer
and fall. The high, turbulent, and
dry wind tends to trigger PSPS events,
which typically last one to two days but can stretch to several days in hard-to-restore areas. PSPSs act
as an emergency measure in place of longer-term investments such as reconductoring, reinforcement,
undergrounding, or the introduction of new technologies such as distributed storage.
The reason such disruptive actions become necessary is the extreme cost and devastation
wildfires can cause when started by grid failures. One notable example was the Camp Fire
on 8 November 2018, in the northeast of the state. This wildfire, caused by the failure of a hook
carrying a conductor, led to an estimated US$17 billion in damages, including 85 fatalities, 18,804
lost structures, 620 km2 of burned area, and billions of dollars in fines and liabilities for Pacific
Gas and Electric Company (PG&E).
The company fell into bankruptcy following a history of similar, damaging events. Its stock
price fell by 66% over 13 months, although it was able to exit bankruptcy in June 2020 after
agreeing to a range of settlements with government agencies, insurance companies, and other
january/february 2022
ieeepower & energy magazine
79
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2022
