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Southern California Edison details $6.2 billion wildfire investments, local circuit upgrades
Summary
Southern California Edison briefed the Lake Forest City Council on investments in grid hardening, covered conductor and local circuit upgrades to lower wildfire ignition risk and reduce outage impacts.
Southern California Edison briefed the Lake Forest City Council on Oct. 7 about companywide wildfire mitigation investments and specific projects that affect Lake Forest.
Kelly Lee, an Edison representative, told the council the utility plans $6.2 billion in wildfire investments over three years focused on grid hardening, inspections, vegetation management and situational awareness. She described covered conductor and insulated wire installations, sensors for early fault detection, targeted undergrounding of frequently impacted circuits and the installation of remote-control switches to isolate smaller groups of customers during public safety power shutoff (PSPS) events.
Lee said three circuits that touch Lake Forest include the Atento circuit, which is partly underground with approximately 50 miles in length and multiple sectionalizing switches; the Cooler circuit (near El Toro and Portola Parkway) where Edison installed three-quarters of a mile of insulated wire and a remote control switch; and the Iron circuit on Alton and Commerce Center Drive where 0.29 miles of overhead line was converted to covered conductor and an underground switch added.
Lee described customer resources used during outages, including community resource centers, community crew vehicles, rebates for portable batteries and generators for qualifying customers, and partnerships such as 2-1-1 for access-and-functional-needs support. She said customers who depend on electrical medical devices in high fire-risk areas may be eligible for free portable backup batteries via SCE’s program.
Council members asked about camera and weather-station partnerships and about coordination with Orange County Fire Authority; Lee said OCFA and municipal fire agencies have access to situational-awareness feeds and that helicopters and aerial resources operate under cooperative agreements for aerial fire suppression.
No public comments were made for the item. Council thanked the presenter for the update.
