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Wildfire Smoke, Air Quality, and Renewable Energy—Examining the Impacts of the 2020 Wildfire Season in Washington State

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  • Augusto Zanin Bertoletti

    (Power System Research Group, Washington State University Vancouver, Vancouver, WA 98686, USA
    Current address: School of Engineering and Computer Science, Washington State University Vancouver, 14204 NE Salmon Creek Ave., Vancouver, WA 98686, USA.)

  • Theresa Phan

    (Power System Research Group, Washington State University Vancouver, Vancouver, WA 98686, USA
    Current address: School of Engineering and Computer Science, Washington State University Vancouver, 14204 NE Salmon Creek Ave., Vancouver, WA 98686, USA.)

  • Josue Campos do Prado

    (Power System Research Group, Washington State University Vancouver, Vancouver, WA 98686, USA
    Current address: School of Engineering and Computer Science, Washington State University Vancouver, 14204 NE Salmon Creek Ave., Vancouver, WA 98686, USA.)

Abstract

The 2020 wildfire season was devastating, setting negative records in many states and regions around the world, especially in North America. Five of the six largest fires in California’s recorded history burned in 2020. In the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, Oregon and eastern Washington almost doubled their 10-year average of burnt acres recently. Depending on wind speed and direction conditions, the smoke from wildfires may significantly impact the air quality and reduce solar photovoltaic (PV) generation even in regions located hundreds of kilometers away from high-risk zones. Thus, during those periods, power system operators must ensure reliability and resilience across power generation, transmission, and distribution, while minimizing carbon emissions that can harm the air quality of the affected communities during wildfire events even more. This paper analyzes the impact of the 2020 wildfire season in the state of Washington, verifying the wind speed and solar irradiance data, and correlating these with the particulate matter 2.5 (PM 2.5) concentration and aerosol optical thickness (AOT) through a multi-variable regression model. The results show that PV production may be significantly reduced during the periods of high concentration of wildfire smoke and reduced wind speeds, thus highlighting the need for efficient and sustainable power system operations during wildfire events.

Suggested Citation

  • Augusto Zanin Bertoletti & Theresa Phan & Josue Campos do Prado, 2022. "Wildfire Smoke, Air Quality, and Renewable Energy—Examining the Impacts of the 2020 Wildfire Season in Washington State," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-17, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:15:p:9037-:d:870199
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Alexandra Witze, 2020. "The Arctic is burning like never before — and that’s bad news for climate change," Nature, Nature, vol. 585(7825), pages 336-337, September.
    2. Shannon A. Gonick & Nicole A. Errett, 2018. "Integrating Climate Change into Hazard Mitigation Planning: A Survey of State Hazard Mitigation Officers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-9, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Maddison Seeley & Hamish Hede & Mitchell Bylart & John Rodwell, 2023. "Diagnosing the Institutional Forces Impacting Australia’s Aerial Firefighting Capability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-15, January.
    2. Hong Wen Yu & S. Y. Simon Wang & Wan Yu Liu, 2024. "Estimating wildfire potential in Taiwan under different climate change scenarios," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 177(1), pages 1-26, January.

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