Potentials and Limitations of Using Sentinel Data for Power System Operation and Control: Case Study of Protection Against Forest Fires and Aerosol Contamination

The power network is directly or indirectly exposed to various weather and climate conditions that can positively and negatively influence it. Forest fires and various aerosol contaminations may negatively affect the power network. Surface observations and measurements (e.g., weather stations) help protect against unfavorable influences, but the network is usually poor. That challenge may be solved by including satellite data in the power network planning, operation, and maintenance. This article presents the possibilities of using Sentinel mission’s data, at various temporal and spatial levels, for those purposes through examples of protection against forest fires and aerosol contamination. In the case of forest fires, satellite data enable a more-precise calculation of forest fire-spreading danger for areas with no installed weather stations, which may be used in the power system contingency analysis calculation. The analysis showed that aerosol contamination has a correlation with outage appearance in the 25 kV 50 Hz electric traction network. Sentinel 5p data may serve as a tool in a surface air-quality measurement data control to confirm/deny the high concentration of PM10 particles. Analysis showed that Sentinel data are favorable for power network operations on intra-day and day-ahead operations, as well as for long-term operations, which include planning and maintenance. The spatial resolution of Sentinel data is more than enough to fulfill the surface weather station network. Satellite data also enable the use of additional data that are not measured at ground stations.