LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Pacific Gas and Electric Co. officials are set to go before the Board of Supervisors to discuss public safety power shutoffs and other measures the company is taking to prevent wildland fires.
On Tuesday, Sept. 1, at 10 a.m. PG&E will join the Board of Supervisors to provide an update on the company’s Community Wildfire Safety Program and respond to questions from community members.
Presenters are expected to include Vice President of Wildfire Strategy Aaron Johnson, Director of Wildfire Mitigation Jason Regan and Microgrid Strategy Manager Jon Stallman.
Donovan Lee, PG&E’s public safety strategy specialist, and Melinda Rivera, the local public affairs representative, also will be in attendance.
Last fall, public safety power shutoffs hit Lake County hard, with power off for nearly a week.
Over the past year, PG&E has worked to limit the impact of the shutoff events and harden energy infrastructure assets against fire risk through their PG&E Community Wildfire Safety Program.
The company’s goal is to limit the number and frequency of public safety power shutoff, or PSPS, events, and by doing so limit the disruption of California communities.
PG&E has already announced the following measures, intended to make PSPS events smaller:
· Adding switches and sectionalizing devices to both distribution and transmission lines that limit the size of outages.
· Developing microgrids that use temporary generators to keep the lights on in communities where it is safe to do so.
· Conducting targeted undergrounding of power lines.
· Seeking to cut restoration times in half compared to 2019.
· A goal for 2020 of inspecting the system for damage and restoring power to 98 percent of the impacted customers within 12 daylight hours after severe weather has passed.
Additionally, to make PSPS events shorter in length, the following actions have been taken:
· Nearly doubling the exclusive-use helicopter fleet during events from 35 to 65;
· Using two airplanes with infrared cameras capable of inspecting transmission lines at night; and
· Adding more field crews to speed inspection of lines.
What these measures will mean for Lake County this fall will be discussed on Tuesday.
The board’s meeting will be viewable on Facebook and on Lake County PEG TV Channel 8.
No later than 72 hours in advance of the meeting, the agenda and Zoom info (to remotely participate and ask questions in real-time) will be available here.
You can learn more about PG&E’s Community Wildfire Safety Program and the role public safety power shutoffs can play at www.pge.com. This page even includes a video describing what is new for the PSPS Program in 2020.
To view PG&E’s seven-day weather and PSPS potential outlook, click here.
PG&E officials to give Board of Supervisors update on public safety power shutoffs at Sept. 1 meeting
- Lake County News reports
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