In response to blazes, PG&E plans to bury 10K miles of power lines
While the Dixie Fire continued raging in the treacherous terrain above the valley, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. executives announced a program it will initiate to bury 10,000 miles of power lines underground, starting with areas that pose the greatest wildfire risk.
PG&E Chief Executive Officer Patti Poppe announced the “Make It Safe Bury the Lines” program during a press briefing at a company office in south Chico, just a few blocks away from the fire camp established at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds for crews fighting the wildfire that continues to threaten communities in Butte and Plumas counties.
The fire started on July 13 near the Cresta Dam off Highway 70 in the Feather River Canyon, an area that lost power on the same day. The utility company, which was also found criminally responsible for the 2018 Camp Fire that killed 85 people, filed a report with California utility regulators indicating it may have played a role in starting the Dixie Fire.
The company leaders’ visit to Chico and subsequent announcement were a direct response to the Dixie Fire. Poppe acknowledged the cloud of smoke in the air and the traumatic memories it harkens back to. Joe Wilson,
PG&E’s vice president for the North Valley and Sierra region, told Poppe the fire is “a punch to the gut for this community,” she said.
Last month, Poppe gathered with company engineers for a daylong workshop to discuss the possibility of burying lines. From that conversation, Poppe said the company had plans to go public with the project a couple months from now, but the Dixie Fire expedited that announcement.
“We were going to make this announcement in a couple months when we had a little more meat on the bones, but we couldn’t wait, particularly given the proximity to the Dixie Fire and the emotional toll that it has on all of us,” Poppe said. “We need you to know we are working night and day to solve this incredible problem.
“We are committing today to undertake one of the largest infrastructure projects in the history of our state. We are committing to bury 10,000 miles of lines, starting in our highest fire threat districts, in our highest fire risk areas.”
The company did not say how much it will cost to bury 10,000 miles of power lines, or what the timetable is for completing the project, though Poppe did say “we see a potential range of $15 billion to $20 billion as a starting point,” in response to a question asked during the press conference.
In 2017, PG&E estimated it costs the company $3 million per mile to convert underground electric distribution lines from overhead, whereas the cost to build new overhead lines is $800,000 per mile, less than one-third of the former cost, according to a PG&E web page titled “Facts About Undergrounding Electric Lines.”
Response to Dixie Fire
A PG&E worker investigated the July 13 outage and observed a blown fuse on the PG&E Bucks Creek
Overhead Distribution Circuit. PG&E did not indicate when its worker saw first-hand what appeared to be a “fault” on the line, only when the system indicated a power outage and over nine hours later when contact was made with the equipment.
Poppe said the worker discovered a “healthy” 70foot pine tree lying on “our otherwise normally functioning lines, doing exactly what they are designed to do,” and a fire near the base of the tree. The worker, whose efforts Poppe described as “heroic,” manually removed the third fuse and reported the fire. Poppe did not directly say that PG&E’s equipment was responsible for starting the fire.
“He took the action to attempt to put out that fire and after calling for help, he, by himself in the wilderness, made multiple trips,” Poppe said.
“Fortunately, he was quickly joined by Cal Fire and they went to work,” Poppe continued. “They did their best to contain the fire but given the treacherous terrain, the inaccessibility of the terrain, and the incredible drought that we’re all experiencing, they were unable to contain what is now known as the Dixie Fire.”
PG&E does not currently have a protocol in place for alerting Cal Fire when there is a fault on a power line because there
are “many faults on the system on any given day for a variety of reasons — some very benign; some very significant,” Poppe said. “We have to do that triage first before we call for help.”
Along with Cal Fire, the Butte County District Attorney’s Office has also joined the investigation into the Dixie Fire, District Attorney Mike Ramsey announced earlier this week.
During an exchange with a reporter, Poppe was asked about the notion of the company being held criminally liable for the Dixie Fire, particularly now that the DA’s office has joined the investigation.
“As I shared, our trouble man was the first on the scene. He found a green, 70foot tree laying on our lines. That’s what we know. Those are the facts that we have today,” Poppe said.
Pressed again on if the company is concerned about a criminal charge, Poppe responded, “I have no comment on that.”
An ‘extraordinary’ project
In addition to the cost, PG&E executives conceded the effort to underground 10,000 miles of power lines is a significant effort, though also suggested it is an opportunity for the embattled company to turn a corner and increase public safety.
Adam Wright, PG&E’s
Chief Operating Officer, who, like Poppe, joined the company earlier in 2021, said during the briefing undergrounding is “tried and true,” but this project will be unique in its scale and scope. PG&E maintains more than 25,000 miles of overhead distribution power lines in areas identified as the highest fire threat areas, which accounts for approximately 30 percent of its total overhead distribution system.
“It’s truly unprecedented and extraordinary,” Wright said. “It hasn’t been done at this scope or scale anywhere else, any other energy company in this terrain, and we’re fully committed to achieving it.”
The company has already begun construction on undergrounding lines in Paradise following the Camp Fire, in addition to the burn scar of the 2020 North Complex fires, where PG&E executives toured Tuesday and touted the fact that production has increased from 100-200 feet per day to a record 1,250 feet.
Wilson, who’s overseen much of the undergrounding efforts in Paradise, estimated the company has completed close to 65 of the 207 miles planned to be undergrounded. He said the effort has been a case study for the company to figure out ways to “reengineer how we underground” with better planning, cooperation with local agencies and suppliers, as well as bringing in new equipment to speed up trench production.
“We’re looking to be able to scale those things up and really apply that across the system in some of these high-risk areas,” Wilson said.
“Due to the success that we saw in Paradise, we saw that we could build on the lessons that we learned, and we applied to the North Complex fire rebuild area, where we’re going to be undergrounding 70 miles. So altogether, just within Butte County, we’re looking at close to 300 miles of underground electric distribution.”