PG&E works to ‘island’ power plant

The Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s plans to operate the Humboldt Bay power plant independently during a future power shutoff are on track to be complete by the end of May, a result of localized staff continuing work on the plant during the coronavirus pandemic, county officials said.

Staff began testing the plant on Saturday, the first of several steps to ensure the plant can “island” Humboldt County’s energy supply in the event that PG& E’s main transmission lines are shut down due to wildfire risks.

While the test still needs to confirm the power plant’s viability, it’s a marker of relief for Humboldt County officials who watched large swaths of the county lose power late last year, even though the region’s wildfire

potential was low.

“Local PG&E staff didn’t hesitate at all,” said 1st District Supervisor Rex Bohn. “They’ve been working safely through this COVID thing to make sure they stayed within this timeline.”

Bohn and Sheriff William Honsal had written a letter to the utility last October pressing officials on why they hadn’t islanded the power plant before implementing power shutoffs.

In addition to local workers, Bohn credited Andrew Vesey, the new president and CEO of PG& E, for responding when Bohn reached out.

“We would have still just been talking about it if ( Vesey) hadn’t listened,” Bohn said.

If the test is successful, the utility will take additional steps to ready the plant for “island mode” once wildfire season hits. The goal is for Humboldt County’s energy infrastructure to remain unaffected when transmission lines in other areas are shut down.

A PG& E press release states the utility will look to reduce the number of customers affected in a power shutoff by one-third, though a representative for the utility said that figure accounts for more than just customers in Humboldt County. Locally, the utility is aiming for the majority of county residents to keep the lights on.

“It’s well- known that there were a couple PSPS events last year where much of Humboldt County that was impacted was not part of the wildfire threat, and that it was coming in elsewhere,” said Contreras. “This (process) is to power a large portion of Humboldt County directly from the power plant.”

“We understand that maybe portions of Willow

Creek, Hoopa and (Southern Humboldt) are some of the areas where fire can strike, and where power can be shut down in a ( power shutoff),” Honsal said.

“We want to make sure that these people have a place to go and that they can seek refugee here in our greater Humboldt Bay area — it can be an oasis of power for people to get the services they need,” Honsal added.

Contreras said the county’s own transmission lines would still need to be de-energized amid local weather conditions that threaten wildfire.

Meteorologists say it’s too early to tell if the summer months will coincide with dry weather and strong winds — the perfect storm for wildfire.

The county has seen 70% of its average rainfall over winter and spring, but it would take several years of successive dry seasons to spur any serious potential for wildfire.