As Paradise Rebuild Begins, PG&E Commits to Underground Power Lines
May 22 2019 - 10:20PM
Business Wire
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) announced today that
it will put all electric distribution power lines underground in
the Town of Paradise and some of the surrounding areas as the town
rebuilds from the Camp Fire.
The announcement was made by Aaron Johnson, vice president of
electric operations at PG&E, at a special meeting of the town
council.
“As part of our commitment to help this community recover and to
harden our electric system to protect against wildfires, PG&E
has decided to build our electric distribution system underground
in the Town of Paradise and in some of the surrounding areas like
parts of Magalia,” Johnson told the council. “We decided to rebuild
in this way after a careful review of factors, town planning and
safety considerations. This is just one of many ways we are trying
to assist communities in their recovery.”
PG&E weighed many factors in its decision, with the goal of
reducing wildfire risk, meeting the community’s desire for
unobstructed egress and the town’s urban design process helping
drive that decision. Paradise is well suited for the underground
build as PG&E needs to replace 74 miles of damaged natural gas
lines. This provides opportunities for joint trenching for both
electric and gas infrastructure.
Due to the amount of engineering, design and construction, the
underground rebuild will occur over five years. Engineering an
underground system requires designing the system around existing
water, natural gas and drainage systems, as well as planning for
future road widening and the possibility of a sewer system for
Paradise.
As PG&E rebuilds to underground the “backbone” of power
lines serving Paradise it will simultaneously be installing
temporary overhead service where needed to meet individual and
neighborhood service as people rebuild and as it begins
undergrounding electric service.
PG&E is still refining cost estimates for the undergrounding
project, but the undergrounding will occur at no additional cost to
the town as part of PG&E’s overall grid hardening efforts over
the coming years. Transmission lines in Paradise will not be part
of the project as these lines were not damaged in the fire.
About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E
Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas
and electric energy company in the United States. Based in San
Francisco, with more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers
some of the nation’s cleanest energy to 15 million people in
Northern and Central California. For more information, visit
www.pge.com/ and http://www.pge.com/about/newsroom/.
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