PG&E Announces New Electric Infrastructure Safety Initiative to Protect Communities from Wildfire Threat
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) announced a major new initiative to expand the undergrounding of electric distribution power lines in High Fire Threat Districts (HFTD) to further harden its system and help prevent wildfires. The new infrastructure safety initiative, announced in Butte County by PG&E Corporation CEO Patti Poppe, is a multi-year effort to underground approximately 10,000 miles of power lines.
PG&E's commitment represents the largest effort in the U.S. to underground power lines as a wildfire risk reduction measure.
"We want what all of our customers want: a safe and resilient energy system. We have taken a stand that catastrophic wildfires shall stop. We will partner with the best and the brightest to bring that stand to life. We will demand excellence of ourselves. We will gladly partner with policymakers and state and local leaders to map a path we can all believe in," Poppe said.
In addition to significantly reducing wildfire risk, undergrounding also benefits customers by lessening the need for Public Safety Power Shutoffs, which are called as a last resort during dry, windy conditions to reduce the risk of vegetation contacting live power lines and sparking a wildfire. Undergrounding also eases the need for vegetation management efforts, leaving more of California's trees untouched.
PG&E maintains more than 25,000 miles of overhead distribution power lines in the highest fire-threat areas (Tier 2, Tier 3 and Zone 1)—which is more than 30% of its total distribution overhead system.
10,000 miles of PG&E lines represent approximately the distance of 11 round trips from Chico to Los Angeles or almost halfway around the world. The exact number of projects or miles undergrounded each year through PG&E's new expanded undergrounding program will evolve as PG&E performs further project scoping and inspections, estimating and engineering review.
This initiative was announced after the company's equipment may be connected to the recent Dixie Fire reported earlier this week. PG&E equipment was blamed for a 2019 wildfire that burned through 120 square miles and destroyed 374 buildings in California.
For more information about the initiative, visit the PG&E website.
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