Palo Alto accelerating utility undergrounding and transmission upgrades to reduce wildfire risk

Al Goren Torre, Palo Alto's utilities director, told neighbors the city is expanding its grid modernization and undergrounding program to improve reliability and reduce wildfire risk in foothills areas.

"We've been working with the California ISO to bring a transmission corridor coming from the South," Al Goren Torre said, describing a new supply path into the city's Colorado receiving station that will add redundancy. "That will have a new supply coming into Palo Alto... so in an event that we have a power outage... we'll have another source of electricity coming into Palo Alto."

Torre described the ongoing utilities undergrounding project as approximately 9.3 miles of work, with the city about 80% complete and the program's total budget around $50 million. He reported the city has spent about $11.3 million to date and aims to finish the current scope, including service connections, by the end of the year. He said the current phase includes easements secured through Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District to continue undergrounding up to the ridge where communications sites (AT&T and FAA equipment) are located.

Torre also described water‑system and resiliency work: increased storage capacity, backup diesel generators at pump stations, fiber communications to wells and pump sites, and SCADA monitoring to allow 24/7 control from the city's operations center. He said pump stations and reservoirs have been equipped with communications and controls to maintain supply during outages.

The director noted coordination where poles are shared with PG&E on the far side of Foothill Expressway and said the city manager planned to raise PG&E's mitigation plans and status with the utility's government affairs representative.

Residents asked about recent outages and specific pole or tree issues; city staff directed residents to utilitiescustomerservice@paloalto.gov for customer service requests and committed to follow up on particular neighborhood concerns. Staff also explained the scope of tree trimming (primary and secondary lines are prioritized; service drops and communication lines may not be trimmed by the city).

Ending: Torre said the city is on track to complete the undergrounding work this year and will continue coordination with telecom providers, the FAA, and neighboring jurisdictions to reduce wildfire ignition sources and improve system reliability.