Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) announced the continued expansion of its remote grid program, with half a dozen new systems being built this year, allowing PG&E to remove an additional six miles of overhead power lines.
Including the new systems to be deployed in the coming months, PG&E will soon reach up to 12 total remote grids powering 18 customers while removing nearly 13 miles of overhead electric distribution lines at the grid edge in high fire-threat areas. PG&E has identified additional locations where remote grids may be the most effective way of reducing wildfire risk and improving electric reliability, with additional sites either in development or being assessed in Butte, Glenn, and Tehama counties, among others.
Throughout PG&E’s 70,000-square-mile Northern and Central California service area, pockets of remote customers are served via long electric distribution lines that in many cases traverse high fire-risk areas. Replacing these overhead powerlines with a low-carbon local energy source is an option that, in many cases, is preferred for serving customers at the edges of the grid, PG&E said.
Remote grids operate independently from the larger electric grid that delivers energy throughout the state, and they allow PG&E to remove overhead powerlines, which it says reduces wildfire risk and service interruptions.
PG&E deployed its first remote grid in 2021 in Briceburg, California located near Yosemite National Park.
The Briceburg remote grid has maintained power reliability with almost no downtime for the five customers it has served since June 2021, PG&E said. The standalone power system, which replaced 1.3 miles of overhead distribution lines, has generated more than 90% of its power from solar energy. Backup generators support redundancy and power generation during winter months when solar generation is lower due to shorter days and cloudier weather. The Briceburg system has remained operational throughout several severe weather events over the last few years when nearby customers lost power during fires and winter storms.
In November 2023, PG&E deployed its fifth — and first fully renewable — remote grid at Pepperwood Preserve outside Santa Rosa, California. The Pepperwood system is comprised of solar and battery energy storage and includes energy efficiency upgrades to the property it serves to keep from draining the batteries during periods of no or low solar generation, minimizing the likelihood of a power outage. The new system replaces 0.7 miles of overhead distribution line, eliminating the associated wildfire risk, and complementing Pepperwood’s own initiatives in wildfire resilience.
PG&E has worked with Potelco, Inc and BoxPower to design and build its growing remote grid fleet. New Sun Road provides the remote monitoring and control platform for managing PG&E’s remote grids.
Remote grids are primarily identified, designed, and deployed as part of PG&E’s system hardening work, which prioritizes hardening powerlines based on elevated wildfire risk and geographic considerations. In addition to remote grids, PG&E’s system hardening efforts include undergrounding, installing stronger and more resilient poles, and replacing bare powerlines with larger, covered lines.