Southern California Edison files 2019 wildfire mitigation plan
Southern California Edison (SCE) filed Wednesday with the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) its proposed 2019 Wildfire Mitigation Plan.
The plan aims to address and reduce fire ignitions caused by utility infrastructure as well as to fortify the electric system against the threat of extreme weather and the impacts of wildfires.
The proposal is the first annual submission of a Wildfire Mitigation Plan required by Senate Bill 901, which was enacted last year to begin addressing growing wildfire challenges in California.
“At SCE, the safety of the public, our customers, our communities and our employees and contractors is always our first priority,” Phil Herrington, senior vice president of Transmission and Distribution at SCE, said. “This is an aggressive plan to protect public safety. We are implementing a variety of additional tools and technologies to advance fire safety even further throughout our system to respond to the ‘new normal’ of year-round wildfire risk.”
The plan includes enhanced inspections of overhead power lines in high fire risk areas as well as steps to harden infrastructure, improve situational awareness capabilities, improve operational practices and increase the use of data and technology. Approximately 35 percent of SCE’s service area is located in high fire risk areas.
It also includes metrics to provide transparency to the public and other stakeholders as well as enables the PUC to evaluate the company’s performance.
SCE is proposing to this year remove 7,500 additional hazard trees as part of the Hazard Tree Mitigation Program; replace conductor across 96 circuit miles; install more than 7,800 fuses on unfused lines; install 62 additional high-definition cameras and 350 additional micro weather stations; and inspect 100 percent of overhead lines in high fire risk areas.
“We are setting the bar high and putting extraordinary effort into meeting tough goals,” Herrington said. “We are going far beyond traditional good utility practices and incorporating advanced mitigation measures deployed in high fire risk regions around the world.”
