Arnold, CA… Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has begun construction on a microgrid designed to provide electricity to certain customers and shared community resources using temporary generation during future Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) events.

Local microgrid to power key community resources including gas stations, markets and restaurants in Arnold during Public Safety Power Shutoffs

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has begun construction on a microgrid designed to provide electricity to certain customers and shared community resources using temporary generation during future Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) events.

The temporary microgrid generation site in Arnold was identified and selected through an extensive process involving the analysis of prior and expected future PSPS events, along with overall feasibility and other utility work in the region that could reduce PSPS impacts. The plan for the Arnold temporary microgrid energization zone includes approximately 125 PG&E customers served by underground power lines to be safely energized during a PSPS event.

“The Arnold microgrid is one of several sites being developed across PG&E’s service area in 2020-2021 as a part of the company’s comprehensive actions to reduce wildfire risks across our system and minimize the impact of public safety outages on our customers and communities,” said Debbie Powell, vice president, Asset & Risk Management, Community Wildfire Safety Program, PG&E. “Our specific objective with the development of temporary microgrids is to provide electricity to resources such as medical facilities and pharmacies, police and fire stations, gas stations, banks, markets and other shared community services when weather conditions make it unsafe to operate the grid.”

PG&E currently has six temporary microgrid generation sites ready to use during PSPS events throughout its service area. Including Arnold, five sites are currently in development. See below for the full list of locations.

The under-construction microgrid site in Arnold is located at the Ebbetts Pass Fire District at 1037 Blagen Road. PG&E will be able to rapidly connect mobile generators to the site, allowing the fire station, post office, gas stations, markets, a propane facility, hardware store, restaurants and other facilities and community services to remain energized during future PSPS events impacting the area.. The Arnold temporary microgrid energization zone includes PG&E customers in the general vicinity of Highway 4, extending between Pine Drive and Henry Street.

Weather conditions and other operational considerations prevent PG&E from guaranteeing electricity to all customers potentially served by this temporary microgrid during all PSPS conditions or scenarios.

PG&E anticipates completing construction on this microgrid generation site in early 2021, depending on weather conditions. Once the site is operational, PG&E will be able to island customers within the temporary microgrid energization zone during PSPS events. Islanding refers to the ability of a microgrid to disconnect from the larger power grid: when the power is turned off during a broader grid outage, the area supported by the microgrid may still remain energized and can operate autonomously.

While performing this critical safety work during the COVID-19 pandemic, crews will maintain proper social distance recommendations and wear protective equipment when necessary to help safeguard the health and safety of themselves and the general public.

PG&E customers in the vicinity of the construction site will receive an automated, courtesy phone call from PG&E notifying them of the work taking place.

Customers who are within the temporary microgrid energization zone will receive a separate communication from PG&E, notifying them of their inclusion in the microgrid and informing them of how it will operate during a PSPS event.

In addition to deploying temporary microgrids, which are primarily designed to keep shared community services energized, PG&E is working towards a number of improvements to make PSPS events less impactful for customers, these include:

• Sectionalizing and Reconfiguration: Installing more than 600 sectionalizing devices this year capable of re-directing power and limiting the size of outages. PG&E also analyzed its grid configuration to ensure as few customers as possible are impacted by future PSPS events.
• Substation Microgrids: PG&E’s substation microgrid solution is intended to reduce the impact of transmission-level PSPS events, which is when PG&E must turn off power to higher-voltage transmission lines for safety. Transmission-level shutoffs generally impact a larger number of customers—some in areas that are not directly experiencing the severe weather conditions. Sixty existing substations are now prepared to use mobile generators when needed to help keep power on for safe-to-energize customers nearby. PG&E identified these substations as having a higher likelihood of experiencing future PSPS events based on historical weather data and past PSPS events.
• Community Resource Centers: Providing customers impacted by PSPS events with a climate-controlled environment and a space to charge electronic devices and receive refreshments.

Learn more about PG&E’s wildfire safety efforts by visiting pge.com/wildfiresafety.

List of Temporary Microgrids

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.