Available at: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/2697
Date of Award
12-2023
Degree Name
MS in Electrical Engineering
Department/Program
Electrical Engineering
College
College of Engineering
Advisor
Majid Poshtan
Advisor Department
Electrical Engineering
Advisor College
College of Engineering
Abstract
As climate change continues to worsen, environmental effects are felt by many people around the world. In California, some of its most damaging wildfires have been found to be started by utilities. As the state continues to suffer from worsening wildfire conditions, the utilities need to implement a variety of wildfire mitigations to help reduce the risk of wildfires that can affect the state and its residents. This paper analyzes the effectiveness of four mitigations employed across three California utilities and suggests potential ways for the mitigations to be used together. The technologies evaluated are covered conductor, rapid earth fault current limiter, distribution fault analysis, and early fault detection. Each of these mitigate different failure drivers of utility lines, whether it is due to a contact from a foreign object, an equipment failure, or another driver. Because each mitigation is more effective against different drivers, a suggestion for multiple mitigations to use together is given. This also includes a path for utilities to evaluate mitigation effectiveness in a different way that may more accurately represent how many fires are stopped by the mitigations employed.