Optimal Investment in Microgrids to Mitigate Power Outages from Public Safety Power Shutoffs

The increasing frequency of public safety power shutoffs (PSPS)-in which utilities intentionally de-energize power lines to reduce the risk of sparking wildfires-may increase the economic viability of backup power systems such as microgrids. This work provides a statistical analysis of all PSPS events that occurred between 2017 and 2019. It then develops a reliability evaluation model for microgrids, based on sequential Monte Carlo simulation (MCS), that calculates the reliability indices (loss of load expectation and interruption cost) for microgrids impacted by PSPS as well as normal grid outages and distributed energy resource failures, repairs, and maintenance downtime. This paper demonstrates how PSPS can be incorporated into the microgrid planning process. Via a case study, it quantifies the effect of PSPS on optimal investment of DERs in a microgrid and overall system economics.