Cut-set and Stability Constrained Optimal Power Flow for Resilient Operation during Wildfires

Resilient operation of the power system during ongoing wildfires is challenging because of the uncertain ways in which the fires impact the electric power infrastructure. For example, wildfires near energized power lines cause arc-faults to occur in rapid succession; such frequent faults can trip multiple grid assets due to dynamic instability. Conventional contingency analysis tools are not equipped to handle such phenomena. To address this challenging problem, we propose a novel cut-set and stability-constrained optimal power flow (CSCOPF) that ensures secure, stable, and economic power system operation through an advanced contingency analysis formulation which quickly detects and mitigates both static and dynamic insecurities as wildfires progress through a region. The CSCOPF achieves its objective by integrating a "feasibility test"algorithm that exhaustively desaturates overloaded cut-sets to prevent cascading line outages and a data-driven transient stability analyzer that predicts the correction factors for eliminating generator trips, with the optimal power flow formulation. The results obtained using the IEEE 118-bus system indicate that the proposed approach alleviates vulnerability of the system to active wildfires while simultaneously minimizing operational cost.