PG&E PSPS Update: Essentially All Customers Who Can Receive Electric Service Are Now Restored
October 16 2020 - 10:37PM
Business Wire
So Far, Patrols and Inspections Confirm at
Least 30 Instances of Damage or Hazards to Electric Equipment
During the Strong Wind Event
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has restored power
to essentially all customers who can receive service that were
impacted by the Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) event that
started Wednesday evening (Oct. 14). PG&E called the PSPS event
due to a high-wind event combined with low humidity and severely
dry vegetation, which together created high risk of catastrophic
wildfires.
Customers Impacted by PSPS Event
The PSPS affected about 41,000 customers in targeted portions of
24 counties: Alameda, Butte, Contra Costa, Humboldt, Lake,
Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Plumas, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz,
Shasta, Solano, Sonoma, Tehama, Trinity, Yolo and Yuba.
Specifically, impacted customers were located in the following
targeted areas, all of which were covered by National Weather
Service Red Flag Warnings that indicate critical fire weather
conditions.
- The Northern Sierra Nevada foothills;
- The mid and higher elevations in the Sierra generally north of
Yosemite;
- The North Bay mountains near Mt. St. Helena;
- Small pockets in the East Bay near Mt. Diablo;
- A pocket of the Oakland Hills east of Piedmont (generally
between Highway 24 and Upper San Leandro Reservoir);
- The elevated terrain east of Milpitas around the Calaveras
Reservoir; and
- Portions of the Santa Cruz and Big Sur mountains.
Weather “All Clear,” Inspection and Restoration
Process
In some locations, the severe weather subsided enough during the
day yesterday (Oct. 15) for PG&E’s Meteorology team to issue
some “weather all clears,” meaning that electric crews could begin
patrols of power lines as the first step toward restoration. Power
lines must be visually inspected to ensure that no wind-driven
damage or hazards such as tree limbs, debris or other material were
blown into the lines. Once inspected, the lines can be energized,
restoring service to customers. Yesterday, PG&E restored about
10,000 customers who had been de-energized for this event.
This morning (Oct. 16), PG&E was able to issue the “weather
all clear” for all remaining areas of the PSPS footprint. More than
1,200 PG&E employees have been working on the ground or in 47
helicopters inspecting about 3,200 miles of lines for damage or
hazards.
The majority of the remaining 31,000 customers affected by this
PSPS event were restored by early Friday evening.
Wind Speeds Recorded; Damage and Hazards Identified
Wind gusts of more than 50 miles per hour (MPH) were recorded in
multiple high fire danger areas including Napa, San Mateo, and Yolo
counties. Peak wind gusts exceeded this with Contra Costa County at
61 MPH, Butte County at 64 MPH, and Sonoma County at 73 MPH.
Preliminary data shows 30 instances of weather-related damage
and hazards in the PSPS-affected areas. Examples include downed
lines and vegetation on power lines. If PG&E had not
de-energized power lines, these types of damage could have caused
wildfire ignitions.
More Information on PG&E PSPS events
PG&E’s goal is to restore electric service to essentially
all customers affected by the PSPS who can receive power within 12
daylight hours of the “weather all clear” for each affected
area.
PG&E uses a PSPS only as the last resort to protect
community and customer safety against wildfires, given dry and
windy weather, dry vegetation and an elevated fire risk across
portions of its service area. Wind gusts as high as 73 mph were
recorded during this PSPS event.
PG&E will submit a report detailing damages from the severe
weather conditions to the California Public Utilities Commission
within 10 days of the completion of the PSPS.
For more information on the PSPS event, visit
pge.com/pspsupdates.
Prevention, preparedness and support
It is important that PG&E has your current contact
information so you can be notified and better prepared if a
wildfire or PSPS event may impact your home or business. To set up
your alerts, visit pge.com/alerts.
With the increased wildfire threat our state faces, PG&E is
enhancing and expanding our efforts to reduce wildfire risks and
keep our customers and communities safe. Our Community Wildfire
Safety Program includes short, medium and long-term plans to make
our system safer. For tips on how to prepare for emergencies and
outages, visit our Safety Action Center at
safetyactioncenter.pge.com.
About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E
Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas
and electric energy companies in the United States. Based in San
Francisco, with more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers
some of the nation's cleanest energy to 16 million people in
Northern and Central California. For more information, visit
pge.com and pge.com/news.
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