Customers in 20 Counties Now Being Served and
Protected by Buried Lines, Reducing 98% of the Wildfire
Risk in Those Locations
OAKLAND,
Calif., Dec. 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As of this
week, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has constructed
and energized more than 600 miles of underground powerlines since
its ambitious 10,000-Mile Undergrounding program started in
mid-2021.
And the 350 miles completed in 2023 represents the most ever in
a single year by PG&E and nearly twice as many miles as were
completed in 2022.
"Our customers in high fire-risk locations where we have
undergrounded powerlines not only benefit from wildfire mitigation,
but also improved reliability at the lowest cost over the asset
lifecycle," said Peter Kenny,
PG&E's senior vice president of Major Infrastructure Delivery,
which includes the 10,000-mile Undergrounding program. "That
progress will continue in the years ahead."
From $4 million per mile when the
program first started, PG&E targeted cost reductions to
$3.3 million per mile by this year.
In fact, the unit cost has now fallen below $3 million per mile.
Eliminating risk with layers of protection
Undergrounding eliminates nearly 98% of the risk of wildfire
ignition from electrical equipment. And it's one of many layers of
wildfire protection from PG&E, ranging from 600-plus weather
stations and high-def cameras with AI capability for early fire
detection to safety shutoff programs that prevent ignitions that
could lead to catastrophic wildfires.
The Undergrounding program was launched in June 2021 by PG&E CEO Patti Poppe. PG&E and contract crews
completed 73 miles that year, 180 miles in 2022 and 350 miles this
year.
The California Public Utilities Commission recently approved
PG&E's 2023-2026 General Rate Case, which authorized 1,230
miles of undergrounding during those four years. PG&E is
evaluating the GRC decision and creating the specific work plans
for 2024 and beyond. Also, by mid-year, PG&E will file its
10-Year Undergrounding Plan, which was enabled by the passage of SB
884.
Here's how the process works. Using sophisticated modeling,
PG&E identifies the circuits with the highest wildfire risk.
After engineering and permitting are completed, the most time- and
labor-intensive part of the process—digging trenches and installing
conduit, the piping that securely holds the electric lines in
place—begins.
Once the civil construction work is complete, electric crews
arrive to pull powerlines through the conduit, make the necessary
electrical connections, de-energize the overhead lines and energize
the underground lines. Final steps include removing the overhead
lines and poles in some cases, and then completing paving and other
work to return the surrounding area to a condition as good as or
better than before the construction.
In recent months, on average, PG&E energized about 20 miles
of undergrounded line each week. In all, customers on circuits in
20 counties now benefit from underground powerlines, extending from
Trinity and Shasta counties in the north to Fresno County in the south.
Multiple benefits from undergrounding
Investing in undergrounding in the highest fire-risk areas
benefits all PG&E customers in several ways—from improved air
and water quality resulting from fewer fires; protection of
wildlands; and over the long run, lower costs to customers due to
reduced maintenance and vegetation management costs.
Expanding PG&E's electric system underground in High
Fire-Risk Areas (HFRAs) will not only help reduce wildfires caused
by utility equipment, but also will improve reliability and reduce
the need for safety-related power outages.
Go to www.pge.com/undergrounding to see PG&E's progress
and learn more about this crucial safety program.
Note to media: B-roll is available upon request
About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company,
a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation
(NYSE:PCG), is a combined natural gas and
electric utility serving more than 16 million people across 70,000
square miles in Northern and Central
California. For more information, visit
pge.com and pge.com/news.
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/600-miles-and-counting-pge-hits-significant-milestone-as-crews-safely-complete-construction-energization-of-350-more-miles-of-underground-powerlines-in-2023-302020332.html
SOURCE Pacific Gas and Electric Company