Local and utility-wide cost allocations for a more equitable wildfire-resilient distribution grid
Local and utility-wide cost allocations for a more equitable wildfire-resilient distribution grid
复制标题
地方和公用事业范围内的成本分配，以建立更公平的抗野火配电网
作者：
Zhecheng Wang;M. Wara;Arun Majumdar;R. Rajagopal
气候引起的极端天气条件使电力基础设施更加脆弱。它们增加了电线引发野火的风险，进而危及电力输送。在这里，利用机器学习，我们表明，加州的低收入社区不仅地下配电线路的比例较低，而且他们社区的架空线路和电线杆也更容易受到野火的影响。如果他们自己承担容易发生火灾的地下线路的费用，他们将不得不为每户家庭支付不成比例的更高费用。我们建议一个成本分摊计划，设定一个收入门槛，低于该门槛的成本由公用事业纳税人承担，高于该门槛的成本由本地承担。该方案不仅可以将每个家庭的平均地下成本作为收入的一部分最小化，而且还可以在社区之间实现成本收入比的同质化。我们的研究表明，在气候变化中，适当整合现有政策以使电力基础设施负担得起、公平和可靠是有机会的。极端天气条件威胁着电力基础设施。一项新的研究发现，加州低收入社区的地下配电线路更少，社区内的架空线路和电线杆更脆弱。
Climate-induced extreme weather conditions make electricity infrastructure more vulnerable. They increase the risk of power-line-ignited wildfires which can, in turn, jeopardize electric power delivery. Here, leveraging machine learning, we show that lower-income communities in California not only have lower fractions of power distribution lines undergrounded, but overhead lines and poles in their neighbourhoods are also more vulnerable to wildfires. Should they bear the cost of undergrounding fire-prone lines themselves, they would have to pay a disproportionately higher cost per household. We propose a cost allocation scheme with an income threshold below which the cost is borne by utility-wide ratepayers and above which the cost is borne locally. This scheme can not only minimize the average of undergrounding costs per household as a share of income, but also homogenize such cost–income ratios across communities. Our research demonstrates the opportunity to appropriately integrate existing policies to make electricity infrastructure affordable, equitable and reliable amidst climate change. Extreme weather conditions threaten electricity infrastructure. A new study finds that lower-income communities in California have fewer power distribution lines undergrounded and more vulnerable overhead lines and poles in their neighbourhoods.