ANGWIN, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and Pacific Union College
announced today that they are collaborating on a project in Angwin to
support wildfire prevention. Known as a Resilience Zone, this pilot
project is part of PG&E’s Community Wildfire Safety Program and involves
infrastructure upgrades that will allow the company to provide
electricity to central community resources serving local customers if
power lines need to be turned off for safety due to high wildfire
threats.
For public safety, and only as a last resort, PG&E may need to shut off
power lines serving communities in high fire-threat areas when extreme
fire danger conditions are forecasted. If a Public Safety Power Shutoff
were needed in the Angwin area of Napa County, the presence of the
Resilience Zone would allow temporary mobile generation to connect to
the grid quickly and energize centrally located facilities such as the
fire station and gas station, as well as the Brookside Apartments and
portions of the Angwin Plaza not served by on-campus generation.
“In the aftermath of the devastating wildfires in 2017 and 2018, PG&E
has been exploring how to quickly but safely provide power to areas
where a Public Safety Power Shutoff has been initiated,” said Brandon
Parker, vice president for financial administration at Pacific Union
College. “Angwin and Pacific Union College provide an excellent location
for this pilot and this partnership.”
This project will include infrastructure upgrades to enable temporary
power generation, undergrounding certain portions of power lines, and
installing stronger, more resilient poles and covered power lines. Other
components include a transformer and associated interconnection
equipment as well as a ground grid, and grid isolation and protection
devices. Pre-installing this equipment will significantly reduce the
amount of time it takes to connect temporary generation to the grid.
“This partnership provides an opportunity to strengthen our Public
Safety Power Shutoff program for this region by providing another safety
net for customers who would be impacted by a proactive power shutoff,”
said Aaron Johnson, PG&E vice president of Electric Operations. “The
cooperation between PG&E, Pacific Union College and Angwin is a crucial
part of this important project and we are excited to be working together
to further enhance the safety of the community.”
Given the continued and growing threat of wildfire, PG&E is evolving and
expanding its Community Wildfire Safety Program. Following the 2017
wildfires, PG&E launched the program in March 2018 as an additional
precautionary measure to further reduce wildfire risks and help keep its
customers and the communities it serves safe.
The Angwin Resilience Zone project is currently under construction near
the college’s baseball field and is expected to be completed in early
2019. It is being constructed on a permanent easement and was designed
in such a way to ensure access to the baseball diamond and field parking.
Community Wildfire Safety Program
PG&E’s comprehensive Community Wildfire Safety Program includes
real-time monitoring and intelligence capabilities, new and enhanced
safety measures and a critical hardening of its electric system to
strengthen the safety and resiliency of the electric grid to further
reduce future wildfire risks. More information can be found at www.pge.com/wildfiresafety.
About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E
Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas
and electric energy companies in the United States. Based in San
Francisco, with more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of
the nation’s cleanest energy to nearly 16 million people in Northern and
Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/
and www.pge.com/en/about/newsroom/index.page.
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Source: Pacific Gas and Electric Company