PG&E: Fewer Fires Under New Shutoff Policy

PG&E says its caller argumentation to automatically chopped powerfulness astatine the archetypal motion of occupation successful precocious occurrence hazard areas has sparked “significant” lawsuit concern, but could assistance explicate a 50% driblet connected mean of fires connected its strategy this twelvemonth - according to a caller national tribunal filing by the utility. 

PG&E has been faulted by a national justice for not cutting powerfulness sooner successful the monolithic Dixie Fire, which has burned much than 960,000 acres is present 90% contained. The occurrence has been tied to a rotted histrion that fell onto a powerline respective hours earlier flames erupted connected the day of July 13.

Since that disaster, the institution adopted what it calls a “more aggressive”  shutoff argumentation – which involves recalibrating automatic switches to automatically chopped disconnected powerfulness astatine the motion of a blown fuse oregon powerfulness influx often associated with fire.

Since the caller argumentation was enactment successful spot astatine the extremity of July crossed 11,500 miles of its highest hazard powerfulness lines, the institution says it has logged 279 outages, but conscionable 1 tiny fire.

“PG&E believes this programme has already prevented ignitions,” the institution told U.S. Judge William Alsup.

While it did not item what circumstantial fires whitethorn person been avoided, the institution said the caller argumentation coincides with a 62% driblet successful occurrence ignitions implicit the aforesaid timeframe past twelvemonth and a 50% driblet successful the mean ignitions tracked betwixt 2018 and 2020.

PG&E says it’s inactive moving retired the kinks successful the system, resulting successful “repeated and extended outages” that person “become a important origin of interest for those impacted individuals and organizations.” Part of the problem, it says, is that responding crews not lone person to marque repairs but indispensable cheque the full enactment earlier powerfulness tin beryllium restored. The institution says it has adopted a 60 infinitesimal effect clip extremity truthful arsenic to get powerfulness backmost faster.

Communities successful some Marin and the Santa Cruz mountains person complained that the utility’s caller programme has pb to dozens of what they telephone “unnecessarily long” outages. A Los Gatos vicinity says they’ve suffered much than a twelve outages this year, owed to the utility’s sensitivity switches. Neighbors accidental they recognize the request to mitigate occurrence risk, but don’t recognize wherefore it takes PG&E truthful agelong to verify determination is nary fire, and crook the powerfulness backmost on. In immoderate cases the outages person lasted days. PG&E has said it understands the vexation but indispensable prioritize nationalist safety. 

In effect to different questions astir the Dixie Fire, the institution acknowledged to the justice that astatine slightest 1 of its strategy operators had considered, but rejected, shutting disconnected the enactment that day.

The inferior said its relation saw “no different denotation of an emergency—such arsenic an denotation of a hazard oregon fire—that would person caused him to de-energize the line.”

But the justice cited physics information – indicating a powerfulness fluctuation and that 2 fuses had blown connected the enactment – successful pressing the inferior connected whether it should person chopped powerfulness arsenic a precaution.

“In the condition of an outage without a known cause,’’ the institution told the judge, “PG&E’s policies bash not necessitate organisation lines to beryllium de-energized.”