Abstract

In January 2017, large geographical regions of Chile were significantly exposed to an array of extreme wildfire events that devastated more than 500 thousand hectares, destroying public and private infrastructure. Such extreme wildfires have never been experienced before in Chile. As a result, the critical electricity transmission system infrastructure of Chile has been significantly affected, suffering severe damage in transmission assets leading to prolonged outages, which left customers without electricity supply for extended periods. Transmission systems have been traditionally designed and operated under reliability criteria, which establish network planning and operation standards to withstand normal or expected abnormal conditions. However, the resilience of transmission systems against high impact low probability events, such as extreme wildfires, has not been adequately considered and captured in regulatory frameworks. Additionally, the frequency and severity of wildfires may increase in the future as a direct impact of climate change (e.g., increased temperatures and prolonged drought periods). In this context, it is essential to have an adequate regulatory framework that enables the consideration and planning against wildfires to both minimise their impact and improve the system response to wildfires. Driven by the 2017 wildfire in Chile, this paper first critically reviews the applicability of the concept of resilience on wildfires and discusses potential mitigation measures that can be taken against wildfires. It then provides an overview of the 2017 wildfire in Chile, along with an advanced spatio-temporal assessment tool for reflecting and quantifying the impacts of wildfires. The current Chilean regulatory transmission planning framework is then reviewed and potential recommendations are finally provided to enable the systematic enhancement of the Chilean transmission system against wildfires, contributing to the social and economic well-being of the country.