PG&E: Less trimming, shut-offs....and more digging

Continuing my fascination with all things electricity-related, PG&E's announcement that they will substitute quick, tenth-of-second shut-offs when changes in flow occur.  From today's WSJ:

The California utility company PG&E spent about $2.5 billion on a yearslong effort aimed at reducing wildfire risk by cutting or clearing more than a million trees growing alongside power lines.  It now says that work was largely ineffective and is eliminating the program, according to an internal analysis reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and interviews with utility executives.  The strategy shift marks a calculated risk by the utility that new power-line settings will be more effective than the tree-trimming program that was put in place after a series of devastating wildfires. The program, which the company called “enhanced vegetation management,” was meant to supplement routine tree-trimming work required by regulators.  PG&E saw a 68% reduction in ignitions on lines that shut off on contact in 2022, the first year the settings were fully deployed.

Let's hope Hillsborough gets the shut-off capability early, but I'm still not seeing the wisdom or economics of the "bury everything" strategy:

PG&E says the new approach will be both safer and less expensive as it works to permanently reduce wildfire risk by burying 10,000 miles of power lines in the coming years, an ambitious plan expected to cost at least $20 billion. The company is challenged in its ability to raise capital following a complex bankruptcy restructuring and has been working to cut costs in order to fund the work.

What this means for our rates cannot be good.  Aside from screwing higher-income customers and the steady rate increases already announced, digging 10,000 miles of trench, burying lines and removing towers has a lot of hidden complexity.  Ask me how I know.

Comments

[Joe]

At least some of the "journalists" at the Comicle read the WSJ. They managed to skirt full-on plagiarism by slightly rewriting yesterday's WSJ piece for today's Comicle piece:

https://www.sfchronicle.com/climate/article/peg-trees-18275639.php

It's the 7th grade version of the Journal piece.

[Editor]

No foul language, hollyroller. Your comment has been removed.

[hollyroller@ gmail.com]

"AGAIN?"
I guess you Win and we lose.
Any comments Hillsider?

[Joe]

From the Merc:

OAKLAND — PG&E bills may hop higher if the utility lands state approval for a rate proposal that includes wide-ranging plans to bury power lines to help ward off catastrophic wildfires.

A hearing officer with the state Public Utilities Commission is expected to issue a proposed decision in the coming days on PG&E’s general rate request that could trigger an array of impacts on monthly customer bills. Among the proposals is a plan that could oblige its customers to foot the bill to bury PG&E power lines.

Rather than bury the lines to mitigate fire risk, TURN is urging the Oakland-based utility to insulate its lines. Insulation of overhead lines would cost bout $800,000 a mile, Toney estimated. The cost to bury 10,000 miles of power lines would be several times as much, he added.

According to the utility, the cost to bury power lines was $3.3 million per mile in 2022 and is expected to gradually decrease to roughly $2.8 million a mile in 2026.

But PG&E executives believe placing power lines underground is the best long-term approach, according to company spokesperson Jennifer Robison.

“Undergrounding electric distribution lines in high fire risk areas is the most effective long-term solution for keeping customers and communities safe,” Robison said in a statement. “Undergrounding eliminates nearly all wildfire ignition risk from those lines and helps to reduce long-term costs.”

To the south, Southern California Edison, the principal electricity provider in sprawling Los Angeles County and nearby regions, is taking the less-expensive approach, embarking on a quest to insulate 8,000 miles of overhead power lines.

[Joe]

More from the Merc:

OAKLAND — PG&E customers are facing a fresh round of monthly bill increases — yet again.

The utility, which serves about 16 million people in Northern and Central California, has sketched out a proposal to collect an eyebrow-raising $1.46 billion to help stabilize its finances and cover recent spending on preventing wildfires — and it wants some of the money by spring.

By Jan. 1, 2024, PG&E bills could be roughly 13.6% higher than they were at the start of 2023. The Bay Area inflation rate rose 2.8% over the one-year period that ended in October. Put another way, PG&E bills are rising four times faster than the region’s overall inflation rate.

During a Nov. 28 business update, PG&E predicted that 2024 would produce profits of $1.31 to $1.35 a share, a jump of 10% from the anticipated earnings per share for all of 2023, which itself is expected to be 10% higher than 2022.

Still, PG&E wants approval for the higher bills to cover recent expenditures in 2022 and 2023 linked to wildfire mitigation, vegetation management and catastrophic winter storms.