The WARN Consortium project will improve the resilience of the partner cooperatives’ electric distribution grids by reducing the risk of utility-ignited wildfires and hardening these grids against wildfires of all causes. Grid resilience will be improved through the strategic deployment of both well-known methods and advanced technologies for grid hardening, grid operations, and condition-based maintenance. These grid deployments will be guided by the development and use of the WARN assessment tool. The WARN tool will assess the value of resilience upgrades by estimating the expected value of avoided loss of property, natural resources, grid assets, and stakeholder-identified cultural and community resources from utility-ignited wildfires. WARN will use state-of-the-art wildfire ignition and propagation modeling using grid data, terrain data, and historical weather data. The assessment capability provided by WARN and tested on the WARN Consortium electric grids will enable cooperatives to better understand the value of resilient grid upgrades and justify investment in them. The knowledge and expertise gained by the WARN Consortium will be disseminated by making the WARN assessment tool available throughout the NRECA cooperative community and training cooperative personnel in it use.
