Preventing Certain Powerline Caused Wildfires by Early Detection and Repair of Failing Devices

Long-term drought and elevated environmental temperatures are contributing to a significant increase in the number and severity of wildfires in United States. One major west coast utility attributes 8-10% of wildfires to failures and faults on electric utility distribution circuits. Ignition mechanisms that can cause fires may develop over weeks or months before ignition occurs. Existing monitoring and protection systems cannot detect many incipient failure conditions before a catastrophic event causes fire ignition. This paper presents a real-time diagnostic technique capable of detecting developing fire ignition mechanisms. Operators can utilize actionable information, dispatching crews to find and fix certain developing ignition conditions prior to fire start. Actual case studies from utility trials are presented.