Tim Bedford, Pacific Gas & Electric Company
Tim Barat, Gridware
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) has implemented a structured approach to identify, diagnose, and mitigate potential wildfire risks in their service territory by exploring strategies and a variety of technologies. Recently, PG&E issued an “Authoritative Guide on Wildfire Mitigation," which outlines the key issues they face, an exploration of the solutions they have evaluated, and the results they have captured. The report provides meaningful and timely insights for risk mitigation not only in PG&E’s service territory but also for utilities everywhere where wildfire risks and other hazards exist.
Tim Bedford, Senior Manager of Electric Operations Safety at PG&E, will discuss the innovative field-based technologies PG&E has deployed. Their primary approach was to identify conditions in advance of a threat and capture data from a variety of sensors. They then applied data science, machine learning, and deep analytics to provide actionable intelligence, enabling operators to make informed mitigation decisions. Bedford will delve into the process PG&E underwent to select and evaluate various technologies tested, share the findings of their pilots, and explore future plans for deploying promising technologies.