Distribution Grid Planning for Wildfire Resilience under Decision-Dependent Uncertainty

The interaction between power systems and wildfires can be dangerous and costly. In fact, the operation of distribution grids is liable for the outbreak of wildfires when extreme weather conditions arise. Therefore, investment planning should consider the impact of operational actions on the wildfires-related uncertainty, which directly affects line-failure likelihood. Neglecting this can compromise the cost-benefit evaluation in planning system investments against wildfire risk. In this work, we propose a decision-dependent uncertainty (DDU) aware methodology that prescribes the optimal portfolio of investments for distribution systems while considering that high power-flow levels through line segments in high-threat areas can ignite wildfires. The methodology identifies the best combination of system upgrades to provide the necessary leeway to operate the distribution system under wildfire-prone conditions. Case study indicates that by modeling the DDU relationship between power-flow and line-failures, investments are more accurate and better prepare the grid infrastructure to deal with wildfire risk.