Southern California Edison (SCE) held a streamed meeting Thursday evening to talk about their efforts to reduce the use of Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) for the Santa Clarita Valley.
PSPS are intentional power shut-offs initiated by SCE to reduce the threat of wildfires in high-risk conditions, like when winds are high and humidity is low.
“Our goal is to achieve reductions in scope for the number of customers impacted…” said Eric Takayesu, Vice President of PSPS Readiness.
Fire weather, often worsened by the annual Santa Ana Winds, is expected around October of each year, and it is SCE’s goal to be more prepared for such conditions by the beginning of this October, according to Takayesu.
One such measure to better prepare for high winds is replacing older power cables with newer, insulated ones.
“…I just wanna be clear here that we’re not covering our bare wire with an insulation,” Takayesu added, “we are replacing a wire all together with your wire that is insulated- wire that we have today it’s open to the elements and if things come in contact with these wires, much like what would happen if you create a short circuit in your home, there is no difference when a palm frond or a tree branch or other debris blows into our lines it creates (a short circuit)…”
The Santa Clarita Valley has been struck by over two dozen PSPS outages over the last year, with mass outages encompassing most of the valley in January triggering a response from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which referred to the actions of SCE as both “tactless” and “deficient in meeting the standard its customers deserve.”
See Related: Local Representatives Call For Better SCE Practices In Aftermath Of Widespread Power Outages
Another change SCE aims to implement when PSPS is required is better communication to the public when and where they can be expected with more advanced notice.
“…In reality it may mean your power is going to go out in the next hour or two hours possibly three hours,” said David Kaintz, Senior Manager of Customer Service, “so there’s a gap in our communicating with you that we need to fix so we’re more consistent and clear and better understanding of what’s happening.”
In select circumstances, SoCal Edison may be able to financially help those in need to acquire large batteries to power necessary electronics when power is shut off. Residents with special needs may also be accommodated with hotel room reimbursements.
During the live stream, Santa Clarita residents were encouraged to write-in anonymous questions for the present SCE staff. One resident asked the speakers from SoCal Eidson about using solar panels, and how they may be affected by PSPS.
“(Solar power) can get you through an emergency or an outage,” Kaintz said. “there is some technology that’s required to be able to fail… and you have to consider the energy that’s been produced by the solar or a discharge of the battery rules around it but the combination of solar and battery in the right situation– that’s the best scenario.”
Another Santa Clarita Valley resident asked if the measures being put in place would completely replace PSPS.
“The short answer is no, and I know that’s probably not the answer people want to hear on the call,” said Terry Ohanian, Director of Expedited Grid Hardening. “… there could be, for example, very tall trees that fall into our lines and bring them down there, and even though the wire is covered, where it separates there’s a really severe situation at least in the near-term– (PSPS is) going to remain an option…”
The entire live stream was recorded by SoCal Edison and is expected to be uploaded later at this site.
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