PG&E transforming substations, system
Notwithstanding the power outage that hit 88,000 customers on April 21, PG&E’s electric infrastructure in San Francisco and across our system is quietly undergoing a transformation. In the past five years, PG&E has invested more than $15 billion to enhance its electric transmission and distribution networks.
Smart-grid technology like advanced meters, high-tech sensors and automated switches, combined with state-of-theart control centers and inspection techniques, has made our system more resilient and reliable than ever.
Among other benefits, this technology can “self-heal” the grid by automatically re-routing electricity around a damaged area, restoring power to most customers within minutes. Since 2012 we have installed these systems on more than 25 percent of PG&E’s distribution circuits, saving more than 1.6 million customers from experiencing any outage of more than five minutes.
In San Francisco, our work to upgrade key substations continues. Work on the Mission substation has been completed, and improvements are in progress at our Embarcadero, Glen Park and Marina substations in addition to the Larkin substation, where the recent outage originated.
At Larkin alone, we are investing $100 million to replace and upgrade various components and increase power capacity. Work there began last year and is scheduled to be complete in 2019. Regrettably, our teams hadn’t yet gotten to the equipment that failed.
To everyone who was affected by the recent outage, we sincerely apologize. At best, a lengthy outage is an annoyance. For many, though, it’s costly, disruptive and, in some circumstances, a safety risk. It’s with that in mind that we work constantly to prevent failures like this from happening, and it’s why we take them so seriously when they do.
We’ve launched a full investigation to uncover exactly what caused the equipment to fail. We are reinspecting all of PG&E’s other substations throughout the city. We’ll share those findings with city officials and the public when they are available. We also hired Exponent, an independent engineering firm, to review the incident and recommend corrective actions.
Our other focus is making things right for businesses and others who suffered financial losses resulting from the outage. A claims process is already up and running, and we’ll work to compensate customers as quickly as possible.
We want our customers to know that PG&E will continue to make investments in our local system a priority.
We also want to be clear that our commitment to renewing San Francisco’s power infrastructure is ultimately about more than avoiding outages. It’s also about building a grid that can support California’s clean energy vision.
Grid upgrades are critical to providing customers more choice and flexibility to take advantage of technologies such as private rooftop solar systems and electric vehicles. They are also part of a longer-term strategy to make San Francisco’s infrastructure more resistant to the impacts of climate change.
Ultimately, this breakdown is a reminder that modernizing the grid is a work in progress. We hope it is an opportunity to reassure customers that PG&E is focused on the future and working to build a better California.