Identifying Potential Risks: PG&E Surveying Powerlines by Helicopters to Keep Customers Safe
15 September 2022 - 05:33PM
Business Wire
Remote Sensing Technology Maps and Identifies
Wildfire Risk
Through the end of October, Pacific Gas and Electric Company
(PG&E) crews will survey electrical equipment, and the nearby
vegetation, in 25 counties throughout Northern and Central
California to spot and prevent potential wildfire risk. Helicopters
equipped with Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensors and
high-resolution imagery technology will evaluate PG&E
powerlines and adjacent trees.
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A Bell Long Ranger and/or a Bell 407
helicopter equipped with the LiDAR and high-resolution imaging will
survey electrical equipment throughout Central and Northern
California to identify potential wildfire risks. (Photo: Business
Wire)
“Our most important responsibility is the safety of our
customers and our hometowns we are privileged to serve and that
includes doing everything possible to mitigate wildfire threats,”
said Sumeet Singh, PG&E Executive Vice President and Chief Risk
Officer and Interim Chief Safety Officer. “The high-tech tools at
our disposal, such as this remote sensing technology, enhance
mapping data and produce the sharpest scans. That level of detail
and accuracy provides essential information on the condition and
location of our equipment relative to nearby vegetation.”
A surveyor in the helicopter will collect the data on PG&E’s
powerlines, poles, and the surrounding trees and brush located
along distribution circuits within or adjacent to extreme (Tier 3)
and elevated (Tier 2) wildfire risk areas (as defined by the
California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) High Fire-Threat
District Map). This data is used to create a 3-D simulation of our
facilities.
“This visual representation of our facilities gives us an
accurate and unique picture to determine if there are potential
encroachments near our equipment which could require safety
improvements or maintenance,” said Peter Kenny, PG&E Senior
Vice President for Vegetation Management and System Inspections.
“Incorporating the data from these technologies will support the
safe and reliable delivery of electricity to our hometowns.”
Additionally, the data is used to inform our machine learning
artificial intelligence risk models to predict the potential risk
of catastrophic wildfires from vegetation contacting our electric
lines.
Two helicopters equipped with the LiDAR and high-resolution
imagery technology will conduct surveys along distribution
powerlines Monday through Friday, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5
p.m. each weekday. Helicopters will be flying low, along the
powerlines, at an altitude of about 500 feet, but will remain no
lower than 200 feet.
Remote sensing is part of the company’s 2022 Wildfire Mitigation
Plan, which outlines a bold, comprehensive set of actions to
provide safe, reliable and affordable energy amid a changing
climate and evolving wildfire threat.
Utilizing multiple methods to gather data—including patrols,
physical testing of poles, ground, aerial, climbing, infrared and
LiDAR—PG&E plans to complete inspections of transmission and
distribution structures in extreme fire-threat areas, which
includes more than 390,000 distribution poles and nearly 39,000
transmission structures.
For more information on how PG&E is working every day to
reduce wildfire risk, visit www.pge.com/cwsp.
About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E
Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is a combined natural gas and electric
utility serving more than 16 million people across 70,000 square
miles in Northern and Central California. For more information,
visit pge.com and pge.com/news.
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