PG&E recognized for innovative approach to mitigating wildfire risk.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES, November 2, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Association of Edison Illuminating Companies (AEIC), the electric utility industry’s leading organization for all aspects of operational excellence, announced today that Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has received one of the Association’s 2023 Achievement Awards.

The AEIC Achievement Awards are presented annually to AEIC member companies, committees, or subcommittees who have clearly demonstrated significant contributions to advancing operational excellence in the electric utility industry.

PG&E has taken resolute action to mitigate extreme wildfire risk in high fire risk areas by launching the Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings (EPSS) program. This program has impacted wildfire prevention by focusing on faster fault interruptions, reducing single-phase operation, and detecting high-impedance faults.

"PG&E is committed to safeguarding our communities from wildfire threats, and innovative tools such as EPSS are making a tangible difference,” said Mark Quinlan, Senior Vice President, Wildfire & Emergency Operations, PG&E. “The EPSS program's success is thanks to the hard work, dedication and passion of a team of professionals across our company. Each day that team manages our EPSS program, and works with our field operations team, engineering and customer and government affairs specialists to ensure that not only are our customers safe, but also they are informed about our efforts.”

PG&E's Meteorology & Fire Science team played a pivotal role by developing dynamic daily circuit-level EPSS enablement based on forecasts from the PG&E Fire Potential Index (FPI) model, a state-of-the-art machine learning model that predicts the probability of catastrophic fires. This proactive approach has yielded a 68% reduction in ignitions, a 99% reduction in fire size, a 56% reduction in outage time, a 20% reduction in the number of customers affected by outages, and significant increases in customer and powerline protection.

"PG&E's EPSS program is a testament to their commitment to wildfire prevention and community safety,” said Steve Hauser, CEO, AEIC. “This program sets a new standard for proactive wildfire risk mitigation in the industry."

PG&E received the award on October 26th at AEIC’s 139th Annual Meeting in Savannah, Georgia. Joining Quinlan in accepting the award were Dave Canny, Senior Director, Wildfire Mitigation, Eric Lamoureux, Director EPSS PMO, and James Tuccillo, Manager, Distribution Engineering.

To see a full list of 2023 AEIC Achievement Award recipients, visit: https://aeic.org/achievement-awards/.

About AEIC
AEIC builds one-of-a-kind industry relationships and networks and develops operational best practices by engaging leaders from across the utility industry. AEIC works to address challenges, accelerate opportunities, and achieve excellence in all aspects of generation, transmission, distribution, and storage of electric power for the benefit of its members, the industry at large, and consumers.

Founded by Thomas Edison and his associates in 1885, AEIC is the electric utility industry’s longest-serving association. AEIC’s members work closely together to share knowledge and provide guidance to the industry essential to achieving a modernized grid that delivers a secure energy future for all. To learn more about AEIC, its technical committees, and member companies, visit https://aeic.org/.

Kevin Gould
AEIC
+1 774-545-5142
comms@aeic.org
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