Southern California Edison Files Annual Update to 2020-2022 Wildfire Mitigation Plan
06 February 2021 - 12:39PM
Business Wire
Filing provides achievements to date and
adjustments to reduce the risk of fire ignitions caused by utility
infrastructure
Grid upgrades will lead to reduction and
frequency of Public Safety Power Shutoffs
Southern California Edison today filed an annual update to its
2020-22 Wildfire Mitigation Plan with the California Public
Utilities Commission. This year’s filing highlights adjustments
that demonstrate the iterative and adaptive nature of the
three-year plan to reduce the risk of fire ignitions caused by
utility infrastructure during extreme weather conditions. Many of
the mitigation measures will also lead to the reduction and
frequency of Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) events, which have
caused hardship to many of SCE’s customers.
“The worldwide impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is undeniable,
and some of our local communities had the added hardship of PSPS
due to extreme weather conditions,” said Steve Powell, SCE’s
executive vice president of Operations. “We share in the urgency in
reducing wildfire risk, and our Wildfire Mitigation Plan reflects
this. With safety as our number one priority, we will continue to
focus on working to protect our communities regardless of what
Mother Nature has in store for us.”
The company takes seriously the commission’s recent
recommendations and customer comments during a public meeting on
Jan. 26 related to SCE’s PSPS execution during the 2020 wildfire
season. SCE will file a PSPS action plan on Feb. 12 that responds
to commission, customer and community concerns.
With another year of PSPS data, SCE will continue to review
opportunities to accelerate mitigations for circuits that are
frequently subject to PSPS events and evaluate new customer
programs and resources.
SCE began implementing wildfire mitigation activities in 2018.
This latest update incorporates lessons learned and reflects the
continued progress the company has made in its analytical,
engineering and process maturity.
This year, SCE looks forward to making significant progress in
the following key focus areas:
- Refining its high fire risk inspections strategy to
include inspections in targeted areas based on emergent conditions,
including fire weather conditions such as dry fuels;
- Expanding its system hardening activities to include
long-span remediation by installing line spacers on long power
lines that are prone to conductor-to-conductor contact during windy
conditions;
- Establishing central data platforms for next-generation
data analytics and governance;
- Improving fire agencies’ ability to detect and respond
to emerging fires using satellite imagery and providing aerial fire
suppression resources (e.g., helitankers) to fire agencies to help
protect communities in SCE’s service area;
SCE last year estimated it would invest about $3.8 billion to
implement the 2020-22 Wildfire Mitigation Plan. The company devoted
$1.3 billion last year and is on track to spend an additional $3.5
billion in 2021-2022. Primary drivers of the increase in forecast
are expanded inspections and maintenance and data governance as
well as a rise in labor costs driven by California’s Senate Bill
247.
SCE continues to invest in community preparedness, such as the
company's $2.2 million contribution toward the Orange County Fire
Authority’s (OCFA) lease of a Coulson-Unical CH-47 helitanker from
October to December last year, a busy period during California’s
now year-round wildfire season. SCE will expand its investments in
aerial assets this year.
“The helitanker is a force multiplier, especially during
wind-driven wildfires, with the ability to drop 3,000 gallons on a
single pass, it made a significant difference in last year’s
wildfires,” said OCFA Fire Chief Brian Fennessy. “We appreciate the
vision and generosity of SCE in making this very large helitanker
available to help keep the communities we both serve safe.”
In December alone, the aircraft saw 20 hours of flight time
making 101 water drops totaling 223,438 gallons of water.
Results through 2020 and Targets for 2021
SCE met or exceeded nearly all the goals in its 2020 Wildfire
Mitigation Plan.
- Replaced more than 960 miles of power lines with insulated
ones, known as covered conductor, bringing the total to more than
1,480 miles since 2018. SCE plans to install between 1,000 and
1,400 miles this year;
- Upgraded more than 6,090 poles to fire-resistant versions,
bringing the total to more than 7,510 poles since 2018. This effort
increases the resilience of SCE’s infrastructure to help minimize
service disruptions during fires regardless of ignition
source;
- Installed fast-acting fuses at 3,025 locations last year,
bringing the total to more than 12,900 since 2018. SCE plans to
install 330 fuses this year;
- Installed remote-controlled sectionalizing devices at 49
locations last year, in addition to the thousands already installed
in prior years before the wildfire mitigation program began;
- Deployed more than 590 weather stations last year, which
provide high-resolution and near-real-time information on circuits
in high fire risk areas, bringing the total to more than 1,050
weather stations. SCE plans to install 375 weather stations this
year;
- Inspected more than 199,000 distribution assets and 35,500
transmission assets in high fire risk areas last year. This program
now includes the use of aerial inspections in combination with a
pilot project featuring automated computer vision, which
accelerated the identification of equipment requiring
remediation;
- Removed more than 12,200 hazard trees (double the number from
2019) that could fall into power lines and lead to a fire
ignition;
- Actively identified Medical Baseline and Critical Care, or life
support, customers to get their current contact information and
enroll them in outage notifications. This year, SCE will increase
outreach to encourage more eligible customers to enroll in the
Medical Baseline program and expand eligibility for the Critical
Care Backup Battery program to include all Medical Baseline
customers;
- Continued community outreach effort to help customers prepare
for emergencies, including wildfires and PSPS. SCE conducted
virtual meetings for the public in communities that have been
highly impacted by PSPS and collaborated with community-based
organizations to help reach vulnerable populations. In response to
customer feedback, this year’s meetings will include more detailed
information on how we make PSPS decisions, as well as expanded
customer care programs and rebates. The company remains committed
to improving its PSPS processes and customer programs to better
serve communities in its high fire risk areas.
About Southern California Edison
An Edison International (NYSE: EIX) company, Southern California
Edison is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving a
population of approximately 15 million via 5 million customer
accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central,
Coastal and Southern California.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210205005548/en/
Media Contact: David Song, (626) 302-2255 Investor Relations
Contact: Sam Ramraj, (626) 302-2540
Edison (NYSE:EIX)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
Edison (NYSE:EIX)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024