Power System Resiliency During Wildfires Under Increasing Penetration of Electric Vehicles

Rising electric vehicle (EV) adoption is introducing new challenges to the operation and planning of the electric grid. Currently power system planners perform analysis to ensure adequate levels of reliability following contingencies such as loss of a substation. However, existing planning standards do not explicitly mandate studies of the redistribution of EV charging demand that would take place in the case of extreme events. Planning to serve the charging demand from EVs during extreme events is paramount to ensure the resiliency of the grid. This paper presents a novel framework for power system planners to reflect the impact of EV evacuations on grid resiliency during wildfire events. The method consists of resiliency analysis coupled with probabilistic models of load redistribution taking into account potential evacuation routes. A case study using the 2019 update to the IEEE 24 bus Reliability Test System (RTS) is performed to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed strategy. The framework results in a more specific resiliency trapezoid that reflects a more realistic resiliency behaviour of the system.