Editor’s Note: Photographs and b-roll are
available here.
As part of its ongoing efforts to protect customers and
communities from the growing risk of wildfires, Southern California
Edison proposed additional wildfire safety measures in a filing
today with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).
The proposed $582 million Grid Safety and Resiliency Program
(GS&RP) aligns with the wildfire mitigation plans required by
Senate Bill 901, one of the wildfire bills passed by the
legislature last month and currently awaiting the Governor’s
signature.
“The devastation caused by the 2017 and 2018 wildfires leaves no
doubt that wildfire risk has increased to the point where
California needs to reassess the way we collectively prepare for
and prevent wildfires,” said Phil Herrington, SCE senior vice
president of Transmission & Distribution. “This includes a role
for utilities in going beyond existing state standards and
traditional utility practices to incorporate leading mitigation
measures from around the world, selected based on their
effectiveness.
“We are taking a holistic approach and proposing to implement
measures between now and the end of 2020 that will further harden
our infrastructure, bolster our situational awareness capabilities
and enhance our operational practices,” Herrington said. “We also
will continue to work with state leaders on policies to reduce the
risk of catastrophic wildfire damages while ensuring equitable
distribution of costs.”
Initiatives to Further Harden Infrastructure
Insulated Wires: SCE will replace
nearly 600 miles of overhead power lines in high fire risk areas
with insulated wire by the end of 2020. This will be the first
large-scale deployment of insulated wire in the U.S. designed to
reduce wildfire risk.
While up to 10 percent of wildfire ignitions in California are
from power lines, in SCE’s service area more than half of ignitions
associated with distribution lines are caused when objects such as
metallic balloons, tree limbs and palm fronds come into contact
with power lines. While bare, uninsulated wire meets California
state standards and is widely used by utilities across the country,
insulated wires can significantly reduce the potential for
ignitions resulting from contact with foreign objects. In addition,
insulated wires provide the greatest overall value compared to
other mitigation measures such as undergrounding lines.
Where appropriate, fire-resistant composite poles will be used
when poles need to be replaced to support the increased weight and
diameter of the insulated wire.
SCE plans to replace about 3,400 miles of overhead line with
insulated wire between 2021 and 2025; funding for that work would
be included in future General Rate Case requests.
Current Limiting Fuses: SCE is
installing 15,700 of these devices, which interrupt current more
quickly and avoid the potential creation of their own heat source
during fuse operation when compared to traditional, industry
standard fuses. In addition to reducing the risk of wildfires,
installation of the current limiting fuses is expected to boost
reliability by segmenting circuits to isolate problems, thereby
limiting the number of customers affected by an outage.
Remote-Controlled Automatic Reclosers
(RARs): Under normal conditions, the grid automatically
tests any circuit experiencing a temporary interruption or “fault”;
if the fault condition no longer exists, the circuit is quickly
re-energized. During Red Flag conditions (low humidity and high
wind), SCE uses RARs to stop affected circuits from automatically
re-energizing so SCE crews can physically inspect the lines before
they are re-energized. SCE currently has 930 RARs and is installing
another 98, in addition to updating the RAR settings to increase
both the speed and sensitivity of the RARs to react to line
faults.
Projects Increasing Situational Awareness
High-Definition Cameras: SCE will
deploy up to 160 high-definition cameras which will enable
emergency management personnel, including fire agencies, to more
quickly respond to emerging and spreading wildfires and save
critical time in assessing fire severity.
Weather Stations and Modeling
Tools: SCE will install up to 850 weather stations,
beginning with 125 weather stations in 2018. Data from the weather
stations will be used by a new advanced weather modeling tool that
can forecast weather conditions within a third of a mile. This
information can be used to inform operational decisions and
optimize resource allocation during emergency situations.
Enhancing Operational Practices
Vegetation Management: While the
CPUC last year issued aggressive new rules on tree pruning in high
fire risk areas, SCE is proposing to do even more: SCE will inspect
all trees within 200 feet of its electric facilities and remove or
prune trees that could strike the equipment. “These trees are far
enough away from electrical equipment that they are not covered by
existing clearance requirements, but close enough to present a
possible threat during high winds,” Herrington said.
Public Safety Power Shutoffs
(PSPS): As a measure of last resort, the company proactively
de-energizes portions of its system under extreme fire conditions
to keep customers and communities safe. The company will implement
a number of measures designed to minimize the inconvenience to
customers, including:
- A new Emergency Outage Notification
System to send customized messages before, during and after a
PSPS.
- Portable Community Power Trailers so
customers can charge their personal devices (mobile phones,
tablets, laptops, etc.) and continue to receive outage updates and
public safety information while staying connected with friends and
family.
- A pilot project deploying drones
operating Beyond Visual Line of Sight to quickly survey power lines
after a PSPS so power can be restored more quickly.
Infrared Inspections: SCE is
expanding the use of infrared inspection for overhead distribution
lines to help identify equipment at risk of failure. Visual
inspections, while valuable, cannot identify potential issues
inside sealed components or covered objects that may lead to
component failure.
“With both safety and consumer cost in mind, we believe that the
portfolio of projects we are proposing will work together to
provide a comprehensive approach to further minimize the risk of
wildfires and increase the resiliency and reliability of our grid,”
Herrington said.
If the GS&RP is approved, the average monthly bill for a
residential customer would increase by about $1.20;
income-qualified CARE customers would see an increase of about 81
cents per month. The total costs include $175 million in Operations
& Maintenance expenses and $407 million in capital
spending.
About Southern California Edison
An Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California
Edison is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving a
population of approximately 15 million via 5 million customer
accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central,
Coastal and Southern California.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180910005845/en/
Southern California EdisonMedia Contact:Brian Leventhal, (626)
302-2255orInvestor Relations Contact:Sam Ramraj, (626) 302-2540
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