SDG&E presents expanded drone inspections, early‑fault detection and a TCC effort to limit PSPS scope

San Diego Gas & Electric told the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety that it is expanding risk‑informed drone inspections, adding early‑fault detection sensors and using a Temporary Construction and Compliance (TCC) analytic effort to prioritize corrections that can reduce the number of customers exposed to public safety power shutoffs.

“We intend to do about 6,500 drone inspections” in the WMP cycle and “the sensor would be either a radio frequency sensor or a power quality sensor,” SDG&E wildfire mitigation programs manager Lina McMillan said during the presentation. McMillan described the early‑fault detection program as a technology that “uses real time monitoring to detect incipient faults before the fault actually occurs on the grid,” which then triggers targeted field patrols.

TCC and PSPS reduction: SDG&E described TCC (temporary construction and compliance) as a wings‑ops‑driven workflow that identifies infractions on highest‑risk assets and scores them by potential PSPS impact; SDG&E said fixing those infractions can avoid lowering wind‑speed de‑energization thresholds for affected structures. “If we can fix or resolve those infractions, then we don't have to reduce the wind speed thresholds for, you know, those specific structures or the specific circuit segments, and those areas can remain at their baseline wind speed threshold,” McMillan said.

Inspection program specifics and prioritization: - SDG&E said it maintains a weather‑station network and leverages 30‑second reads during high‑wind events to reduce unnecessary de‑energizations. - The risk‑informed drone program combines historical asset data, intelligent image processing (IIP), WINS Ops probability of failure and ignition, and consequence modeling to optimize inspection scope and routing. - SDG&E told regulators it uses a cost‑benefit and efficiency optimization process to determine which structures should be inspected by drone and that those targeted structures are re‑scoped annually.

Customer resiliency: McMillan said SDG&E plans three customer‑resiliency initiatives targeted at high‑fire‑threat‑district customers (programs include assessments, generator rebates, and targeted supports) and that situational awareness and analytics helped SDG&E avoid de‑energization for some customers during recent high‑wind events.

What the presentation did not announce: SDG&E described program targets, pilot results and internal prioritization tools; it did not seek or announce formal new regulatory approvals at the meeting. SDG&E also said some programs' near‑term scope may be reduced because of CPUC‑authorized funding levels discussed elsewhere in the presentation.