Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has unveiled its latest wildfire mitigation strategy, which includes undergrounding more than 1,000 miles of power lines, more vegetation management, and a suite of tech-based solutions.
PG&E’s 2026-2028 Wildfire Mitigation Plan (WMP), submitted to California’s Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety, integrates tools and solutions including inspecting assets with drones, using artificial intelligence in an effort to improve weather forecasts and installing sensors that can detect vibrations, sounds and light that could indicate potential anomalies on an electric circuit that could lead to an ignition.
PG&E’s WMP outlines layers of protection that are intended to work together to reduce wildfire ignition risk and strengthen PG&E’s electric grid in Northern and Central California locations where risk is most severe. These measures include strengthening 570 miles of overhead powerlines and poles; putting nearly 1,100 more miles of powerlines underground; using drones to get a bird’s-eye view of electric assets; utilizing a network of weather stations and high-definition cameras with AI; trimming trees and more.
When wildfire risk is elevated, these efforts are paired with operational mitigations such as Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings (EPSS), and Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS).
“Our system is safer today than it was yesterday, and it will be even safer tomorrow. Our Wildfire Mitigation Plan employs multiple layers of protection we’re using to stop catastrophic wildfires in our hometowns. The combination of tools, technology and the expertise of our coworkers is working to mitigate risk, reduce ignitions and prevent catastrophic wildfires,” said PG&E Executive Vice President, Operations and Chief Operating Officer Sumeet Singh.
The WMP introduces multiple new technology solutions that are being tested, evaluated and, in some cases, deployed in concert with proven wildfire risk reduction programs, including the following:
- Gridscope devices. Gridscope pilot deployment started in 2023 and expanded in 2024 with more than 10,000 Gridscope devices now in use across 900 circuit miles (or approximately 3.5% of miles in areas with the highest fire risk) These pole-mounted sensors can detect vibrations, sounds and light that could indicate potential anomalies that could lead to an ignition. In July 2024, during a record-setting heat wave, an electric troubleshooter who traveled to a location identified via a Gridscope alert found vegetation smoldering on an energized line. The line was de-energized, averting an ignition and possible wildfire. PG&E’s evaluation of the devices continues as wider deployment is considered.
- Early fault detection (EFD). Thanks to PG&E’s new radio frequency (RF) monitoring technology, a growing network of EFD sensors on power poles provide a more comprehensive understanding of emerging equipment hazards such as damaged conductor strands or vegetation encroachment that would otherwise be challenging to detect. “Promising” early results have led PG&E to consider expanding deployment of advanced RF technology, the utility said.
- Aerial span inspections. This new inspection tool gets added eyes-on-risk on equipment in areas of extreme wildfire risk. Leveraging aerial inspections in 2024 (220,000 poles) and 2025, the span inspections will entail a review of a streamlined, specialized set of photos tailored to identify conditions on equipment that pose the highest risk, including locations mid-span (between poles). These inspections will take place in the middle of the established three-year inspection cycle and be piloted in 2026-2028.
The WMP also highlights layers of protection that PG&E argues have proven to be effective in reducing wildfire risk:
- Undergrounding powerlines in high fire-risk areas is a permanent protection that can reduce the ignition risk from overhead electric distribution lines. PG&E plans to underground 1,077 miles of powerlines between 2026 and 2028.
- Overhead system upgrades such as installing covered conductor, strengthened poles, and wider crossarms are meant to provide long-term ignition risk reduction by improving how the grid is constructed and operated. The WMP calls for making these overhead upgrades across 190 circuit miles each year of 2026, 2027 and 2028, resulting in 570 miles over three years.
- Enhanced powerline safety settings protect 1.8 million PG&E customers living and working in areas with elevated or extreme wildfire risk. In 2024, these settings contributed to more than 72% reduction in California Public Utilities Commission-reportable ignitions when enabled on primary distribution lines, compared to the 2018-2020 average. More than half of customers protected by EPSS did not experience a power outage while EPSS was enabled in 2024.
Through the end of 2024, the average duration of outages on an EPSS-enabled circuit decreased 17% from the prior two-year average. PG&E also will install additional sectionalizing devices and animal/avian protection equipment to further reduce the impact of EPSS outages.
- Vegetation management programs continue to evolve using a data-driven, risk-informed approach to help reduce both outages and potential ignitions caused by vegetation contacting PG&E’s equipment.
- Inspections and repair efforts are informed by risk models and are part of monitoring and data collection programs providing insight into changing environmental hazards around assets to inform mitigation actions.
- Situational awareness improvements include enabling artificial intelligence to process wildfire camera data and provide automated wildfire notifications. PG&E will continue using weather forecasting and a monitoring and data collection network that uses high-definition wildfire cameras and weather stations to help detect, prevent, and respond to the risk of wildfires.
- Public safety power shutoffs are a last resort during extreme weather conditions to reduce the risk of catastrophic fire. PG&E’s meteorologists use weather models to forecast risk on a granular basis and factor in vegetation in proximity to overhead electrical lines. In recent years, PG&E’s use of PSPS has evolved and been refined in terms of the size and duration of events. In 2023, three PSPS outages affected 5,000 customers. With 2024’s more severe weather, PG&E initiated six PSPS events protecting 50,000 customers in 23 counties.
In 2022, the nation’s largest utility paid $55 million to avoid criminal prosecution for the 2021 Dixie Fire, which scorched more than 1 million acres. PG&E acknowledged that a tree leaning into one of its power lines may have started the blaze, one of the largest in state history.
In 2023, PG&E responded to what it called “inaccurate” news reports and claims about its 2023-2026 General Rate Case and its 10,000-Mile Undergrounding Program. The utility said reports “substantially overstate” the amount of the rate request and the cost of the undergrounding program while discounting the effectiveness of undergrounding to reduce wildfire risk.
In 2020, PG&E pled guilty to 84 counts of manslaughter for the Camp Fire, California’s all-time deadliest and most destructive wildfire. It started in November 2018 when part of a poorly maintained transmission line in Butte County’s Feather River Canyon failed during strong winds, sparking a fire that burned for two weeks, killing 85 people and causing an estimated $16.5 billion in damages. PG&E negotiated more than $25 billion in settlements during the 17-month bankruptcy that followed.
PG&E appeared to be responding to claims from consumer groups that its undergrounding program would result in higher bills for customers and reduced safety compared to insulating the lines instead. The utility responded that undergrounding is a “crucial part of our wildfire mitigation efforts” and said it had reduced the risk from its equipment by 90%. Responding to the claims that insulating lines is a better and cheaper alternative, PG&E said it has insulated lines “where it make sense,” but a “covered conductor is less than 65% effective by itself at reducing wildfire risk on a specific circuit.” Public Safety Power Shutoffs can increase that effectiveness to 95%, the utility said, but this would affect reliability for customers in the long run.
