2022 Wildfire Mitigation for Utilities Summit

May 4-5, 2022 | Online :: Pacific Time

0522-wildfire-mitigation

“The caliber of guest speakers and their presentations is unrivaled. Details of historical, present, and future strategies and technologies employed were covered, including deep dives into forecasting modeling. This course is a must for individuals in the utility industry to keep up with wildfire mitigation strategies!” Electrical Engineer, California Department of Water Resources

“A very good opportunity for federal land managers to hear an industry and state perspective on wildfire risk mitigation.” US Department of the Interior

In 2021, more than 7.6 million acres burned in the US due to wildfires. California’s expanding fire season is also happening across other states, bringing unusual fire activity in November and December. The Infrastructure Bill authorizes future Congresses to appropriate $3.3 billion for wildfire risk reduction efforts over several years. But in the meantime, utilities continue to navigate the demands of the pandemic while mitigating fire risk to safely deliver reliable energy. Wildfires continue to increase in both frequency and severity, meaning utilities operating in wildfire-prone areas will continue to face significant risks. Utilities must take measures to reduce exposure and mitigate financial liability.

This online summit will bring together utility personnel from Western states to collaborate and discuss:

• Infrastructure Enhancements to Reduce Risk of Wildfires
• Key Objectives of Utility Wildfire Mitigation Plans
• Regulatory Views of Mitigation Plans
• Collaboration between Regulators, Utilities, First Responders, and Civic Officials
• De-energization to Minimize Risk

At EUCI’s virtual Wildfire Mitigation for Utilities Summit, utility and industry professionals, wildfire experts, and thought leaders from across the West will inform and engage each other about the challenges of wildfires and share their best practices and lessons learned, as well as sharing cutting-edge technology that can help us better manage these disasters.

Learning Outcomes

This virtual summit will provide attendees an opportunity to:

• Examine the regulatory view of wildfire mitigation plans within Western states and British Columbia
• Review key objectives of utility wildfire mitigation plans
• Identify lessons learned from 2021 fire season case studies
• Develop strategies for grid hardening and systemic material planning
• Discuss situational awareness strategies so that utilities can be prepared for wildfire events
• Examine best practices for collaboration between regulators, utilities, first responders, and civic officials
• Discover new technological advancements and tools for wildfire mitigation
• Realize how advances in climate science, big data, and machine learning can help identify threats to the electric system

 

Wednesday, May 4, 2022 : Pacific Time

 

9:00 – 9:05 a.m. :: Welcome Remarks

9:05 – 10:15 a.m. :: Regulatory View of Mitigation Plans: Key Objectives

This panel brings together regulators from various states and British Columbia to discuss the key objectives they are looking for in 2021 utility wildfire mitigation plans

Moderator:

Caroline Thomas Jacobs, Director, Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety, State of California

Panelists:

Kristine Bienert, Executive Director, Energy Supply, Compliance & MRS, British Columbia Public Utilities Commission

Mark Thompson, Commissioner, Oregon Public Utilities Commission

Chris Petrie, Chairman, Wyoming Public Service Commission

10:15 – 11:15 a.m. :: Key Objectives of Utility Wildfire Mitigation Plans

It is imperative for utilities to develop a clear action plan for the upcoming fire season, and to ensure efforts are building toward increased resiliency. In this session leaders from NV Energy will detail objectives and goals for successful mitigation plans.

Mark Regan, Fire Mitigation Specialist, NV Energy

Alex Hoon, Senior Meteorologist, NV Energy

11:15 – 11:30 a.m. :: Morning break

11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. :: Case Study: Fire-Hardening – CNF Project

SDG&E completed a decade-long wildfire hardening project in July 2021. SDG&E will detail the scope of the project and how it will enhance the safety of the electric grid.

Tim Knowd, Program Manager, Transmission & Distribution, San Diego Gas & Electric

12:30 – 1:30 p.m. :: Lunch Break

1:30 – 2:15 p.m. :: Technological Enhancements and Tools for Utilities

This session will be a showcase featuring a series of presentations and/or case studies spotlighting the latest tech and tools available for utilities that will simplify forecasting, operational decision-making, and modeling fire behavior.

Chris Guttman-McCabe, Chief Regulatory & Communications Office, Anterix

Ryan Bradetich, SVP, Research & Development, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL)

Ryan  Gerbrandt, Chief Operating Officer, Anterix

2:15 – 3:00 p.m. :: Wildfire Risk Reduction, Reliability, and Asset Protection (WRAP)

Trinity Public Utilities District is working with Western Area Power Administration on the Wildfire Risk Reduction, Reliability, and Asset Protection (WRAP) project in Trinity County. The WRAP Project involves right-of-way expansion of existing transmission/distribution lines and vegetation management to reduce fire risk to the surrounding communities and nearby Public Lands, to increase electrical reliability to maintain critical services in the local communities of Trinity County, and to protect the utilities assets.

Paul Hauser, General Manager, Trinity PUD

3:00 – 3:30 p.m. :: Afternoon Break

3:30 – 4:00 p.m. :: Case Study: Collaboration in Washington

In this session, program leaders will detail how they are utilizing a grant to conduct vegetation management under lines and support fuels mitigation word on adjacent private lands, as well as exploring partnerships with local community groups and fire departments/county emergency management to practice shutoffs and evacuation.

Patrick Haggerty, Forestry Program Manager, Cascadia Conservation District

4:00 – 4:45 p.m. :: The Big Picture

Mitigating wildfire is a collaborative effort – regulators, utilities, equipment providers, first responders, state and federal agencies, and civic officials must all work together for best solutions. In this session you’ll hear real-world best practices for wildfire coordination.

Jessica Morse, Deputy Secretary, California Natural Resources Agency

4:45 p.m. :: Open Q & A / Networking

 

Thursday, May 5, 2022 : Pacific Time

 

9:00 – 9:05 a.m. :: Welcome Remarks

9:05 – 9:30 a.m. :: Navigating the FEMA Process

 

Billy Terry, Chief Operating Officer, Consumers Power Inc

9:30 – 10:00 a.m. :: Systematic Material Planning

Many utilities are planning improvements to grid infrastructure such as replacing existing poles with fire resistant materials, insulated lines, and undergrounding. Standards leaders will discuss what grid hardening solutions they’ve chosen and what criteria they used to make those decisions.

Raymond Fugere, P.E., Principal Manager, Wildfire Mitigation Strategy, Southern California Edison

10:00 – 10:45 a.m. :: System Hardening and Undergrounding

Matthew Pender, Senior Director, Programming

Jamie Martin, VP of Undergrounding, PG&E

10:45 – 11:00 a.m. :: Morning break

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. :: The Future of Wildfire Mitigation

Climate change is provoking extreme weather events, and to help mitigate and adapt to climate change impacts, utilities are looking towards innovative tools to improve forecasts of extreme weather-related risks to the grid.  Underlying data needs to be collected and analyzed to be better prepared for events before they occur. Dive into a solution-driven conversation on how advances in climate science, big data, and machine learning are coming together to predict threats and vulnerabilities to the electricity system.

Bryan Landry, Ph.D., Senior Advisor – Strategic Planning, Enterprise Risk Management, SCE

12:15 p.m. :: Conference Adjourns

Customer Perspective for PSPS

Thursday, May 5, 2022 : Pacific Time

This workshop will detail the complicated issues surrounding PSPS events. Over the last decade, the western region of North America has seen record-breaking wildfires. These events have resulted in loss of life and billions of dollars of property and infrastructure damage. With the increasing threat of wildfire, utilities may proactively cut power to electrical lines to reduce the likelihood that their infrastructure could cause or contribute to a wildfire. However, a Public Safety Power Shutoff brings its own risks, particularly for vulnerable communities and individuals. Attend this workshop for a deep dive into PSPS issues, including lessons learned and best practices for implementation of de-energization, and community and stakeholder engagement.

Learning Outcomes

• Identify lessons learned from 2021 PSPS events
• Develop best practices for implementation of de-energization for wildfire mitigation
• Discuss engagement and collaboration between utilities, communities, first responders, and civic officials
• Realize how new projects and programs affected communities and improved fire mitigation efforts in 2021
• Discover the latest operational enhancements and improvements in the execution of PSPS

 

Agenda

1:00 – 2:00 p.m. :: Public Safety Power Shutoffs

Pacific Gas & Electric executed the largest PSPS events in California (and likely in utility history) and they made substantial improvements in 2020. This session will detail lessons learned and best practices for implementation of de-energization for wildfire mitigation.

Shawn Holder, Director, Public Safety Power Shutoff, Pacific Gas & Electric

2:00 – 3:00 p.m. :: PSPS Lessons Learned

This session will detail the actions and programs that IOUs in the West have taken and how these resiliency strategies affected the 2021 fire season.

Michael Williams, Principal Manager, Business Operations, Southern California Edison

3:00 – 3:15 p.m. :: Short Break

3:15 – 4:30 p.m. :: Best Practices for Engagement & Collaboration for PSPS Events

While PSPS lowers the risk of wildfire ignitions from utility equipment, it also creates concerns, including customer disruptions, and other risks associated with the loss of power.  Utilities are implementing operational enhancements to improve the execution of PSPS.  This session will include best practices developed to integrate PSPS with federal emergency response doctrine and to provide more effective communications and better coordination with external agencies at various state, county and city levels.

Brian D’Agostino, Director of Fire Science and Climate Adaptation, San Diego Gas & Electric

4:30 p.m. :: Workshop Adjourns

Workshop Speakers

Shawn Holder, Director, Public Safety Power Shutoff, Pacific Gas & Electric

Thomas Brady, Principal Manager, Southern California Edison, (SCE)

• Kristine Bienert, Executive Director, Energy Supply, Compliance & MRS, British Columbia Public Utilities Commission

• Ryan Bradetich, SVP, Research & Development, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL)

• 
  Raymond Fugere, P.E., Principal Manager, Wildfire Mitigation Strategy, Southern California Edison

• Ryan Gerbrandt, Chief Operating Officer, Anterix

• Chris Guttman-McCabe, Chief Regulatory & Communications Officer, Anterix

• Patrick Haggerty, Forestry Program Manager, Cascadia Conservation District

• Paul Hauser, General Manager, Trinity PUD

• Alex Hoon, Senior Meteorologist, NV Energy

• Danyale Howard, Director, Natural Disaster Protection, NV Energy

• Thomas Jones, Vice President, Utilities, Primoris

• Tim Knowd, Program Manager, Transmission & Distribution, San Diego Gas & Electric

• Bryan Landry, Ph.D., Senior Advisor – Strategic Planning, Enterprise Risk Management, SCE

• Jamie Martin, VP of Undergrounding, PG&E

• Jessica Morse, Deputy Secretary, California Natural Resources Agency

• Matthew Pender, Senior Director, Programming

• Chris Petrie, Chairman, Wyoming Public Service Commission

• Mark Regan, Fire Mitigation Specialist, NV Energy

• Billy Terry, Chief Operating Officer, Consumers Power Inc

• Caroline Thomas Jacobs, Director, Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety, State of California

• Mark Thompson, Commissioner, Oregon Public Utilities Commission

• Jay Wiggins, Director, Natural Disaster Protection, NV Energy

We will be using Microsoft Teams to facilitate your participation in the upcoming event. You do not need to have an existing Teams account in order to participate in the broadcast – the course will play in your browser and you will have the option of using a microphone to speak with the room and ask questions, or type any questions in via the chat window and our on-site representative will relay your question to the instructor.

• IMPORTANT NOTE: After November 30 you will not be able to join a Teams meeting using Internet Explorer 11. Microsoft recommends downloading and installing the Teams app if possible. You may also use the Edge browser or Chrome.
• You will receive a meeting invitation will include a link to join the meeting.
• Separate meeting invitations will be sent for the morning and afternoon sessions of the course.
  • You will need to join the appropriate meeting at the appropriate time.
• If you are using a microphone, please ensure that it is muted until such time as you need to ask a question.
• The remote meeting connection will be open approximately 30 minutes before the start of the course. We encourage you to connect as early as possible in case you experience any unforeseen problems.

Please Note: This event is being conducted entirely online. All attendees will connect and attend from their computer, one connection per purchase. For details please see our FAQ

If you are unable to attend at the scheduled date and time, we make recordings available to all registrants for three business days after the event

REGISTER NOW FOR THIS EVENT:

2022 Wildfire Mitigation for Utilities Summit

May 4-5, 2022 | Online

Special rates are available for some select groups

Your registration may be transferred to a member of your organization up to 24 hours in advance of the event. Cancellations must be received on or before April 01, 2022 in order to be refunded and will be subject to a US $195.00 processing fee per registrant. No refunds will be made after this date. Cancellations received after this date will create a credit of the tuition (less processing fee) good toward any other EUCI event. This credit will be good for six months from the cancellation date. In the event of non-attendance, all registration fees will be forfeited. In case of conference cancellation, EUCIs liability is limited to refund of the event registration fee only. For more information regarding administrative policies, such as complaints and refunds, please contact our offices at 303-770-8800

Credits

EUCI is accredited by the International Accreditors for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) and offers IACET CEUs for its learning events that comply with the ANSI/IACET Continuing Education and Training Standard. IACET is recognized internationally as a standard development organization and accrediting body that promotes quality of continuing education and training.

EUCI is authorized by IACET to offer 1.0 CEUs for this conference and 0.3 CEUs for the workshop

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Upon successful completion of this event, program participants interested in receiving CPE credits will receive a certificate of completion.

Conference CPE Credits: 11.5
Workshop CPE Credits: 3.5
There is no prerequisite for this Conference.
Program field of study: Specialized Knowledge
Program Level: Basic
Delivery Method: Group Internet Based
Advanced Preparation: None

EUCI is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its web site: www.nasbaregistry.org

 

Requirements for Successful Completion of Program

Participants must sign in/out each day and be in attendance for the entirety of the course to be eligible for continuing education credit.

Instructional Methods

Case Studies, Panel Discussions and PowerPoint presentations will be used in the program.

Who Should Attend

Individuals working in the following areas will benefit from attending this event:

• Electric Utility Leaders
• Utility Risk Management Professionals
• Utility Grid Planning and Operations Specialists
• Utility Transmission and Field Services Personnel
• State and Federal Agencies
• Mitigation Specialists
• Policy makers
• Researchers
• Corporate Communications Specialists
• Insurers
• Consultants
• Fire Prevention & Mitigation Technology Providers