Publication Date
11-7-2025
Document Type
Article
Organizational Units
Daniel Felix Ritchie School of Engineering and Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Keywords
Dynamic line rating, Power line capacity, Power system operation, Vegetation management, Physics-based wildfire simulation
Abstract
The growing frequency and intensity of wildfires is significantly impacting power grid operations. Specifically, wildfires spreading to power lines can induce thermal stress, leading to a restriction in line capacity. This reduction imposes a challenge for electric utilities as they must supply electric demand while experiencing reduced transmission capacity. This paper introduces a model that simulates wildfire behavior in proximity to a transmission line, evaluates the impact on conductor temperature and capacity constraints, and subsequently analyzes the impact on grid operation from economic and reliability perspectives. The numerical studies conducted on the IEEE 14-bus test system assess both economic and reliability perspectives under three scenarios: normal conditions, wildfire conditions with high-risk vegetation, and wildfire conditions with low-risk vegetation. Results show an 8 % increase in total operational cost under high-risk vegetation, which is reduced to a 1 % increase when vegetation risk is low. The wildfire exposure also leads to significant derating of the affected line, with maximum capacity reductions of 57 % and 22 % in the high- and low-risk scenarios, respectively, relative to normal conditions. These findings offer a strategy to maintain operational resilience for a power grid during wildfire and highlight the critical role of vegetation management in mitigating wildfire impact on transmission lines.
Copyright Date
11-7-2025
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Rights Holder
Saeed Nematshahi, Behrouz Sohrabi, Amin Khodaei, Ali Arabnya, and Rui Fan
Provenance
Received from Elsevier
File Format
application/pdf
Language
English (eng)
Extent
10 pgs
File Size
23.3 MB
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the Authors. User is responsible for all copyright compliance. This article was originally published as
Nematshahi, S., Sohrabi, B., Khodaei, A., Arabnya, A., & Fan, R. (2025). Wildfire Impact Analysis on Power System Operation: A Framework Leveraging Physics-Based Wildfire Simulation and Dynamic Line Rating. Electric Power Systems Research, 252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsr.2025.112467
Publication Title
Electric Power Systems Research
Volume
252
First Page
112467
ISSN
0378-7796
Recommended Citation
Nematshahi, Saeed; Sohrabi, Behrouz; Khodaei, Amin; Arabnya, Ali; and Fan, Rui, "Wildfire Impact Analysis on Power System Operation: A Framework Leveraging Physics-Based Wildfire Simulation and Dynamic Line Rating" (2025). Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Scholarship. 57.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/electrical_engineering_faculty/57
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsr.2025.112467