PG&E Plans to Bury 3,600 Miles of Power Lines Over 5 Years to Reduce Wildfire Risk
PG&E Plans to Bury 3,600 Miles of Power Lines Over 5 Years to Reduce Wildfire Risk
(Bloomberg) -- PG&E Corp. wants to bury about 3,600 miles of power lines over the next five years in areas at high risk of wildfires, part of an ambitious plan to reduce the threat of its equipment starting catastrophic blazes in drought-parched California.
The utility giant aims to reduce the cost per mile from $3.75 million today to about $2.5 million in 2026, Chief Executive Officer Patricia Poppe said Thursday, offering new details on a plan to bury 10,000 miles of power lines.
“We’re providing the first look at the next five years of our undergrounding plan,” Poppe said during a call with Wall Street investors. “It’s big and it’s bold.”
California likely will face another dangerous wildfire season after early winter rains failed to erase a persistent drought. PG&E, which was held responsible for causing some of the worst wildfires in California history, has been under pressure to find ways to reduce the chances of its live wires sparking blazes during dry and windy weather.
This year, PG&E aims to put 175 miles (282 kilometers) of lines underground, according to a slide presentation posted Thursday. The utility expects to ramp up its annual pace of burying electrical conductors to 1,200 miles in 2026.
In total, PG&E has 25,000 miles of overhead lines in high-threat fire areas.
Last summer, Poppe first unveiled the company’s ambitious undergrounding goal shortly after the start of the Dixie Fire, which was found to have been caused by the utility’s equipment and exploded to become the second-largest in state history.
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