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<\/p>\nSan Francisco, CA…Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) today provided an update on its accelerated and enhanced safety inspections and repairs conducted in high-fire threat areas over the past six months. These inspections are one part of PG&E\u2019s Community Wildfire Safety Program, which was implemented following the wildfires in 2017 and 2018 to provide additional precautionary measures intended to further reduce wildfire risk. This update is consistent with the commitment of PG&E\u2019s new CEO and Board of Directors to keep their customers informed about the work being done to mitigate wildfire risks and safely deliver energy to their customers and communities.<\/p>\n
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Through the end of May, PG&E has completed visual inspections of approximately 99 percent of its distribution infrastructure and visual or aerial inspections of approximately 98 percent of its transmission infrastructure in high-fire threat areas. This includes approximately 50,000 electric transmission structures, 700,000 distribution poles and 222 substations, covering more than 5,500 miles of transmission line and 25,200 miles of distribution line.<\/p>\n
Throughout the inspection process, PG&E has been addressing and repairing conditions that pose an immediate safety risk, while completing other high-priority repairs on an accelerated basis. Repairs for all other conditions are scheduled to be completed as part of PG&E\u2019s work execution plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve just concluded one of the most advanced inspections of our electric infrastructure in the high-fire threat areas and the number of safety issues we identified is unacceptable,\u201d said Bill Johnson, President and CEO of PG&E. \u201cThe safety of our customers and communities must be the driving factor in our approach to maintaining our electric system. The efforts and dedication of the more than 2,000 PG&E employees and contractors during this inspection and repair process is a start in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Transmission Line Safety
\nPG&E has permanently deenergized the Caribou-Palermo transmission line, which CAL FIRE identified as an ignition point of the Camp Fire. The line has been out of service since December 2018. As previously disclosed, during its inspections, PG&E identified a significant number of high-priority conditions on the Caribou-Palermo line. At the request of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), PG&E retained Exponent, an independent third-party scientific and engineering consulting firm, to conduct a records-based review of the transmission line. PG&E expects that Exponent will conclude its review over the next couple of months.<\/p>\n
During the WSIP repair work, PG&E also identified several high-priority issues on one section of the Ignacio-Alto-Sausalito transmission line that runs through areas of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) and serves the city of Sausalito. Ten of the line\u2019s eleven towers in the GGNRA with high-priority conditions will require complete replacement. PG&E has commenced preparations for repair work, which will require the construction of a temporary transmission line to provide electric service while the towers on the permanent transmission line are replaced and repaired. PG&E is also in the process of assessing additional structures on the line to determine if additional corrective actions are needed.<\/p>\n
PG&E has provided results of the enhanced and accelerated inspections to the CPUC and will be making the status of the high-priority repairs, organized by city and county, publicly available on its website on or before July 15.<\/p>\n
Inspection & Repair Progress
\nThe unprecedented volume of wildfire risk reduction work outlined in PG&E\u2019s Wildfire Safety Plan, along with challenges outlined in the Plan, including inclement weather, the availability of qualified personnel, scheduling of transmission clearances, and access and environmental permitting requirements, have prevented PG&E from achieving every aspect of the Plan\u2019s targets.<\/p>\n
PG&E will prioritize safety-driven work, including corrective actions presenting immediate fire risk, which will delay completion of other corrective actions that present reduced or no fire or safety risks.<\/p>\n
As of May 31, 2019, of the WSIP inspections, PG&E has completed:<\/p>\n
\u00b7 Visual or aerial inspections of approximately 98 percent of the nearly 50,000 transmission structures in, or adjacent to, high-fire threat areas.<\/p>\n
\u00b7 Inspections of all 222 substations in high fire-threat areas.<\/p>\n
\u00b7 Inspections of approximately 99 percent of nearly 700,000 distribution poles in, or adjacent to, high fire-threat areas.<\/p>\n
As of May 31, 2019, through the WSIP inspections, PG&E has identified:<\/p>\n
\u00b7 Approximately 53,000 corrective actions on transmission structures with nearly 100 conditions identified as highest priority. 100 percent of these highest-priority conditions have been repaired or made safe.<\/p>\n
\u00b7 Approximately 207,000 corrective action on distribution poles with nearly 1,000 conditions identified as highest priority. 97 percent of these highest-priority conditions have been repaired or made safe and the remaining high priority conditions are currently in the process of being repaired.<\/p>\n
\u00b7 Approximately 3,000 corrective actions within substations with approximately 100 conditions identified as highest priority. 100 percent of these highest-priority conditions have been repaired or made safe.<\/p>\n
The learnings, enhanced inspection processes and new technologies, including use of drones and high-resolution imagery capture, from the nearly completed Wildfire Safety Inspection Program are being incorporated into PG&E\u2019s future inspection plans. Combined with a risk-based asset inspection cycle that is expected to exceed the minimum compliance inspection cycle, the inspection tools are being incorporated into a plan to support PG&E\u2019s ongoing efforts to minimize the wildfire risk faced by the communities we serve.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe unmistakable message of the inspection results is that we as a company must do a much better job of making sure that we maintain our assets in a way that puts safety first,\u201d said Sumeet Singh, PG&E Vice President of the Community Wildfire Safety Program. \u201cThe unprecedented amount of work we\u2019ve put into the inspections and completing all of the accessible identified high-priority repairs puts us on a path to becoming the company that our customers deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wildfire Safety Inspection Program
\nThe inspection work is being completed as part of PG&E\u2019s Community Wildfire Safety Program, which is in addition to the company\u2019s routine inspection and maintenance programs executed in accordance with state regulatory requirements. The inspections involve nearly 750,000 transmission and distribution structures along, or immediately adjacent to, more than 5,500 miles of transmission line and 25,200 miles of distribution line in high fire-threat areas, as defined by the CPUC\u2019s High Fire-Threat Map.<\/p>\n
In all, more than 2,000 people \u2013 PG&E employees and contractors \u2013 have performed the inspection work and have been integrating new technologies that the company will continue to use going forward.<\/p>\n
Inspectors looked at all aspects of PG&E assets including cross-arms, insulators and footings, along with critical electrical components and equipment. PG&E and contract crews inspected electric towers and poles from top to bottom through ground, climbing, helicopter or drone inspections.<\/p>\n
Inspection findings were documented, particularly through high resolution images, and reviewed by dedicated teams with experience in system maintenance, engineering and maintenance planning to evaluate identified conditions. This process included reviewing millions of high-definition photographs taken from the ground, qualified personnel climbing towers, drones and helicopters. Photographs were evaluated by experts who rate the severity of the condition found, assign a priority level and begin the process of dispatching corrective notifications for repair.<\/p>\n
Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
\nThis news release includes forward-looking statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the beliefs, expectations, estimates, future plans and strategies of PG&E Corporation and Pacific Gas and Electric Company. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions, which management believes are reasonable, and on information currently available to management, but are necessarily subject to various risks and uncertainties. In addition to the risk that these assumptions prove to be inaccurate, factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements include the factors disclosed in PG&E Corporation and Pacific Gas and Electric Company\u2019s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, their most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2019, and their subsequent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Additional factors include, but are not limited to, those associated with PG&E Corporation\u2019s and Pacific Gas and Electric Company\u2019s Chapter 11 cases. PG&E Corporation and Pacific Gas and Electric Company undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether due to new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by law.<\/p>\n
About PG&E
\nPacific 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 approximately 24,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation\u2019s cleanest energy to nearly 16 million people in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com\/ and pge.com\/news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
San Francisco, CA…Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) today provided an update on its accelerated and enhanced safety inspections and repairs conducted in high-fire threat areas over the past six months. These inspections are one part of PG&E\u2019s Community Wildfire Safety Program, which was implemented following the wildfires in 2017 and 2018 to provide additional […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,20,35,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-featured","category-fire-news","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/pge.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=82029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/61172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}