PG&E Reaches Significant Undergrounding Milestone, Burying More Than 800 Miles of Lines in High Wildfire-Risk Areas
Customers in 27 Counties Now Benefit from Newly Installed Underground
Powerlines that Improve Reliability and Eliminate Nearly All Wildfire Risk in a Given Location
OAKLAND, Calif., Nov. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) announced today that it has constructed and energized more than 800 miles of underground powerlines since launching its wildfire safety undergrounding effort in 2021.
This comes on the heels of PG&E completing more than 360 miles of undergrounding in 2023, representing the most undergrounding completed in a single year by the company. Customers in 27 counties are now being served by these buried lines, permanently reducing 98% of wildfire risk in those locations and also bringing significant reliability improvements.
"Undergrounding powerlines is a key layer of protection in our strategy to reduce wildfire risk and improve reliability for our customers," said Matt Pender, PG&E's Vice President of Undergrounding and System Hardening. "Reaching this milestone is a testament to our commitment to our hometowns and our continued focus on delivering safe and reliable electricity."
PG&E remains committed to undergrounding powerlines in high-risk areas as part of its wildfire mitigation efforts because moving powerlines underground is the most effective solution to permanently reduce wildfire risk, improve reliability and reduce operating costs over the long term.
Undergrounding Progress and Long-Term Plans
As of this week, PG&E has completed more than 187 miles of work toward the company's target of undergrounding 250 miles in 2024. In recent weeks, customers in the Spring Valley area (Lake County), Vacaville (Solano County) and the Pine Grove area (Amador County) are among those now being served by underground powerlines.
PG&E plans to complete an additional 330 miles of undergrounding in 2025 and another 440 miles in 2026. This work will be targeted in the highest wildfire-risk portions of the company's service area and will bring PG&E to a total of more than 1,600 total miles of undergrounding completed across 30 counties in Northern and Central California by the end of 2026.
Updates on the company's undergrounding progress are shared monthly on pge.com/undergrounding. Customers and stakeholders also can view an interactive map highlighting where all PG&E wildfire safety work, including completed and forecasted undergrounding, is happening by visiting pge.com/progressmap.
To determine the highest-risk lines for undergrounding, PG&E uses machine-learning-based risk modeling. That includes advanced fire-propagation technology, developed by a company named Technosylva and also used by CAL FIRE, the U.S. Forest Service and other utilities.
For undergrounding workplans in 2027 and beyond, PG&E will analyze additional projects in high fire-risk areas. Priority is given to the highest-risk circuits. Details on long-term plans will be shared in PG&E's 10-Year Electrical Undergrounding Plan to be filed in 2025.
PG&E's layers of protection, including undergrounding, have significantly reduced wildfire risk across its service area, resulting in no catastrophic fires from company equipment in 2023 and a significant reduction in wildfire risk since 2018.
Additional layers of wildfire protection include:
- Strengthening the electric system with strong poles and covered powerlines in and near high fire-risk areas.
- Deploying Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings (EPSS) to decrease ignitions and provide wildfire protection to 44,000 line miles and all 1.8 million customers living in high fire-risk areas. In 2023, there was a 72% reduction in CPUC-reportable ignitions on EPSS-enabled lines in High Fire-Threat Districts (compared to the 2018-2020 average).
- Continuing to reduce the impact of Public Safety Power Shutoffs, which remains a top focus for the company.
- Managing trees and other vegetation located near powerlines that could cause a power outage and/or ignition.
- Leveraging a network of over 1,500 weather stations, or one station every 18 line-miles, to better predict and respond to severe weather threats.
- Using 600 high-definition cameras, which provide the ability to see more than 90% of the high fire-risk areas.
- Investing in advanced tools and technologies like artificial intelligence and drones that help automate fire detection and response.
Note to Media: B-roll footage is available upon request.
About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is a combined natural gas and electric utility serving more than 16 million people across 70,000 square miles in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit pge.com and pge.com/news.
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SOURCE Pacific Gas and Electric Company