Southern California Edison Files 2020-22 Wildfire Mitigation Plan
February 07 2020 - 8:01PM
Business Wire
Plan advances company’s commitment to
prevent utility-caused wildfires
Southern California Edison today filed its proposed 2020-22
Wildfire Mitigation Plan with the California Public Utilities
Commission. SCE’s multiyear plan builds on the progress made last
year to reduce the risk of fire ignitions caused by utility
infrastructure.
“Our wildfire mitigation plan is a comprehensive effort to
address the wildfire challenges in high fire risk areas which
represent about 27% of the area we serve,” said Phil Herrington,
SCE’s senior vice president of Transmission & Distribution.
“The women and men of Southern California Edison remain dedicated
to keeping our communities safe and making our system stronger
against the increasing threat of extreme conditions driven by
climate change, which also supports the state’s broader
electrification efforts.”
The company’s 2020 plan will advance the maturity of SCE’s
wildfire mitigation capabilities in a number of dimensions. In
2020, SCE proposes to:
- Install at least 700 circuit miles of covered conductor,
reducing ignitions caused by objects that contact distribution
power lines or conductor-to-conductor contact.
- Install fast-acting fuses at more than 3,000 locations; these
fuses help interrupt electric current more quickly and reduce the
risk of ignitions.
- Continue enhanced inspections, applying advances in the
company’s risk model to prioritize and address the inspection
findings for the overhead assets across transmission,
sub-transmission, distribution and generation facilities in high
fire risk areas.
- Deploy at least 375 weather stations. By year’s end, the
company will have one of the country’s largest, densest networks of
weather stations.
- Actively identify and trim or remove trees that may pose a risk
of falling into power lines.
- Advance new technologies. SCE is piloting Distribution Fault
Anticipation and Early Fault Detection, a set of complementary
predictive technologies that provide advance warning of potential
equipment failures and allow for proactive repairs, thus minimizing
ignition risks. The company is also piloting “Open Phase” wire-down
technology, a novel way of detecting and isolating wire-down
incidents that could pose a wildfire risk.
- Leverage machine learning and analytics, also known as “big
data,” to improve inspections and automated sensing of electric
system and equipment conditions. This big data effort will continue
to drive improvements in safety and reliability as these
capabilities mature and expand.
- Engage Access and Functional Needs customers and partner with
community-based organizations and community stakeholders to support
their resiliency, working with existing philanthropic partners and
deploying customer programs for PSPS preparedness, all-hazard
awareness and emergency planning.
The company will seek opportunities to accelerate efforts beyond
the targets in the plan where possible. SCE plans to invest
approximately $3.8 billion to implement the 2020-22 Wildfire
Mitigation Plan.
Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS)
SCE recognizes that PSPS is a disruptive hardship, but it is
necessary to protect Californians from catastrophic wildfires.
Patrols conducted after PSPS events have found multiple instances
of equipment damage and tree branches contacting power lines that
could have ignited a fire. As more mitigations are deployed, the
company expects to reduce the scope and impact of PSPS, but PSPS
will have to remain available as a tool to mitigate wildfire risk
during severe weather and high Fire Potential Index events.
The company’s ability to isolate circuit segments and its use of
real-time weather data and field conditions before activating PSPS
aids in reducing the number of impacted customers. For example,
during the unprecedented “extreme red flag warning” issued by the
National Weather Service last October, about 2% of the company’s
customers were impacted.
To further reduce PSPS impacts this year, the company is rapidly
developing circuit-specific plans. For targeted circuits, SCE is
applying a multipronged approach that includes:
- leveraging existing isolation equipment and/or installing
additional sectionalization equipment
- targeting grid hardening and remediation measures
- providing resiliency solutions such as assistance with battery
backup generation
- pursuing microgrid opportunities where they are feasible
SCE remains committed to providing timely notification to
potentially impacted customers, local governments, public safety
agencies and the California State Warning Center before, during and
after a de-energization event. SCE will continue to work with local
governments and public safety agencies, as well as essential
service providers and business customers, to refine the
program.
Results through 2019
SCE met or exceeded nearly all the goals in its 2019 Wildfire
Mitigation Plan. Since 2018, SCE has:
- Installed more than 500 miles of power lines with covered
conductor.
- Installed fast-acting, current limiting fuses at more than
10,000 locations.
- Added more than 50 remote-controlled sectionalizing devices to
isolate portions of circuits during potential fire ignitions and
reduce the number of customers impacted during a PSPS.
- Conducted enhanced inspections in 2019 on 100% of overhead
equipment in high fire risk areas, including the use of infrared
cameras to inspect equipment and identify potential issues that
could lead to ignitions. As required, the company addressed all
high-priority safety issues within 24 hours.
- Removed thousands of hazard trees that could fall into power
lines and lead to a fire ignition.
- Deployed 482 micro weather stations and installed 161
high-definition cameras that visually cover nearly all of SCE’s
high fire risk areas. Information from the weather stations and
camera feeds is publicly available.
- Continued a robust community outreach effort to help customers
prepare for wildfire-related issues, including PSPS. SCE conducted
more than 350 meetings with local government and tribal officials,
community organizations and customers. SCE actively identified
Medical Baseline and critical care, or life support, customers to
get their current contact information and enroll them in outage
notifications. SCE also took extra precaution with critical care
customers, including home visits.
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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Media Contact: Brian Leventhal, (626) 302-2255
Investor Relations Contact: Sam Ramraj, (626) 302-2540
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