SoCal Edison Explores Improvements To Public Safety Power Shutoffs In Preparation For 2020 Fire Season

Posted by: Jade Aubuchon in Public Safety, Santa Clarita Latest News June 30, 2020 - 3:45 pm 0 1,507 Views

Southern California Edison (SCE) is exploring and implementing changes to its Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) approach due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with officials taking safer-at-home orders into account while still working to mitigate wildfire threats.

SCE first exercised PSPS as a way of managing wildfire risks on Dec. 7, 2017. Although PSPS activity was “minimal” in 2017 and 2018, there was a marked increase in 2019 due to the implementation of a more widespread plan in order to continue managing wildfire prevention, according to SCE officials.

Residents in the Santa Clarita Valley and surrounding communities were affected by several PSPS zones last year. Residents in the rural communities of Acton and Agua Dulce voiced their concerns over PSPS during high wind events in the fall of 2019, especially in the aftermath of the Tick Fire in October of that year, which caused tens of thousands of residents to be evacuated.

Among the complaints raised were the inability to use on-site wells, potential dangers from unpowered medical equipment and potentially immobilizing disabled individuals when their battery packs run out.

See Related: Acton, Agua Dulce Residents Voice Concerns Over Public Safety Power Shutoffs

Since that time, SCE officials have confirmed that during the statewide October 2019 PSPS events, SCE was able to limit the cumulative impact to approximately two percent of customers throughout California.

“We recognize and appreciate the impact of PSPS events on our customers, and we do not take lightly any decision to proactively de-energize portions of the grid,” reads a statement from SCE issued in May of 2020. “Though the frequency and scope of PSPS events are expected to lessen as we deploy more of our WMP activities, PSPS will have to remain available as a tool to mitigate wildfire risk during severe weather and high Fire Potential Index (FPI) events.”

SoCal Edison’s 2020-2022 Wildfire Mitigation Plan (WMP) includes 69 specific activities, a net increase of 11 since the 2019 WMP, with the new activities targeting further improvements in several areas.

Edison officials noted that the decision to de-energize PSPS areas is based on risk analysis that takes several factors into account, including:

Red flag warnings
Weather conditions
The FPI
Wind speeds
Local public safety authorities
The current situation in terms of the condition of equipment and the impact of turning off power to essential public services

“We are actively pursuing system hardening measures and other mitigation efforts to reduce the impact of PSPS on our customers,” reads an official report from the company. “We will continue to evolve our de-energization criteria and will post updates as they become available.”

In 2019, SCE did extensive testing of wooden poles wrapped with a fire-resistant barrier and determined that this technology is a cost-effective solution that can protect poles against a passing wildfire. SoCal Edison plans to install at least 8,190 poles this year, with a mix of composite poles and wooden poles with fire-resistant wrap in order to reduce the risk of damaged poles blocking roadways during an emergency while enabling workers to more quickly restore power to customers afterward.

Additionally, SCE is set to install fast-acting fuses at more than 3,000 locations. These fuses reduce electrical current when there is a wire-down event and segment circuits to minimize the number of customers impacted during a PSPS, officials said.

In high fire risk areas, SoCal Edison expects to continue to trim or remove trees to maintain a minimum 12-foot clearance from power lines (at the time of trim) to prevent vegetation from coming into contact with electrical equipment and potentially sparking a fire, in addition to expanding the effort to clear brush surrounding poles.

SCE officials estimate that the company inspects approximately 1.1 million trees annually, including over 500,000 trees in high fire risk areas, pruning nearly 750,000 trees per year.

In order to help make better predictions for when PSPS would be required, 375 weather stations are planned to be installed alongside Edison poles in 2020, moving toward a goal of two weather stations per circuit in high fire risk areas, or up to 2,600 weather stations by 2024.

Additionally, 161 high-definition cameras were installed in 2019 to assist in fire-spotting, providing visual coverage of more than 90% of high fire risk areas. These are expected to assist in helping to determine when a PSPS might be required.

Using the information offered by these sources, at least three days ahead of a forecasted PSPS event, SCE officials plan to begin releasing notifications to city and state agencies as well as public safety partners in the potentially impacted areas, if weather conditions can be predicted that far in advance.

To assist in alerting the public, the SCE has planned several new enhancements to their alert systems for customers and others affected by potential planned blackouts, including:

Adding Nextdoor as a communications tool to communicate with customers within its service area about PSPS notifications and alerts
Working with technology partners to enable Public Alerts to provide area-based PSPS alerts for significantly increased reach, including transient populations. The expected implementation date for this enhancement is June 2020.
Improving and continuing to display a simplified circuit-map-based system on SCE.com allowing visitors to view PSPS alerts and notifications, as well as identifying the location of Community Crew Vehicles (CCVs) and Community Resource Centers (CRCs)

For more information on the SCE or 2020 Public Safety Power Shutoffs for your area, click here.