Utilities Prioritize Wildfire Resilience in US Electric Grid Expansion

Utilities are changing the way they plan the US electric grid due to the increasing risk of wildfires. This year's wildfire season is exceeding the 10-year average for both the number of fires and acres burned. The US is embarking on a major grid expansion, with utilities designing the grid to withstand a more fire-prone climate.

Utilities are using a combination of weather models, wildfire behavior, infrastructure data, and population impacts to help prioritize resilience investments. Nadia Panossian, an electrical engineering researcher at the National Laboratory of the Rockies, says this approach helps utilities make informed decisions about where to invest in resilience. Seth Guikema, a University of Michigan professor of civil and environmental engineering, notes that undergrounding power lines can also improve resilience to hurricanes, winter storms, and other hazards.

Wildfires are already affecting how utilities operate, disrupting the power system by damaging equipment, forcing utilities to cut power, and reducing solar generation when smoke blocks sunlight. Preventing outages is no longer enough, and utilities now have to incorporate wildfire resilience into grid projects. California was one of the first states to require investor-owned utilities to publish wildfire resilience plans, and other states have adopted similar approaches as wildfire risk grows.

Some utilities are experimenting with microgrids that can disconnect from the main grid and keep supplying power during outages. However, these investments can be cost-prohibitive, and regulators are limiting resilience investments due to cost concerns. The US needs thousands of miles of new transmission to connect renewables, storage, and data centers, and much of the existing grid needs to be replaced. As utilities evaluate these upgrades, they are looking for opportunities to build wildfire resilience into these projects.