With wildfire season now underway, California public power utility Truckee Donner Public Utility District is urging customers to prepare for the possibility of prolonged power outages during wildfire season.
NV Energy -- TDPUD’s primary energy transmission supplier -- and TDPUD both take actions during wildfire season to help mitigate wildfire risk to the community, but these safety programs can result in electric power outages for up to several days without much notice, TDPUD noted.
“Wildfire safety power outages have become a utility industry standard and are the new normal for our region,” said Steven Poncelet, TDPUD public information and strategic affairs director. “NV Energy’s PSOM program and emergency de-energization programs are established safety measures that we expect will continue to be used during periods of extreme wildfire risk and everyone needs to be prepared.”
NV Energy PSOM & Emergency De-Energization Programs
The public power utility provided the following details:
Public Safety Outage Management (PSOM)
In a PSOM event, NV Energy will de-energize transmission lines that deliver power to Truckee -- and likely the entire Truckee-North Tahoe region -- during extreme weather conditions and elevated fire risk levels.
As in prior years, TDPUD plans to alert the public with a 48-24 hour notice, followed by a 12-4 hour notice.
Emergency De-Energization
In an emergency de-energization event, NV Energy will shut off power when an active wildfire gets too close to its equipment, to protect first responders on the ground fighting fires, and to avoid contributing to catastrophic wildfire conditions by lowering the risk of a secondary ignition.
Depending on the location of the fire start and rate of expansion, NV Energy may provide little notice of the safety outage.
TDPUD will work to notify the public of an upcoming de-energization event as soon as possible, but there is a possibility the outage would come before TDPUD’s notice.
These outages will likely impact TDPUD’s entire customer base for periods ranging from a few hours to a few days, the public power utility said.
The timing and duration of the outages will be based on NV Energy’s determination of the length of the extreme wildfire danger period, plus the time required for both NV Energy and TDPUD to visually inspect 100 percent of the electric system to safely restore power.
Details on these programs can be found at nvenergy.com/safety/wildfire, and information on its impacts on TDPUD customers can be found at tdpud.org/psom and tdpud.org/wildfire.
TDPUD has partnered with Truckee-Donner Recreation and Park District to deploy an outage center at a community arts center during an extended wildfire safety power outage, offering device charging and information updates from 8 a.m. - 8 p.m.
"Public utilities are not required to provide services to the community during wildfire outages, however TDPUD wants to help our community as much as we can when these extended outages occur," the public power utility noted.
TDPUD noted that its ability to communicate with customers and visitors during outages is key to making sure the community is well-prepared for these events and offered a number of related tips for customers including updating and confirming contact information and signing up for automated alerts.
“We need to be able to communicate with our customer base and larger community in the event of a wildfire safety outage,” said Poncelet. “A few minutes now updating your contact information and being informed will make all the difference when it’s needed most.”
TDPUD takes several actions to reduce the risk of electric equipment starting a wildfire, like changing operation protocols, maintaining a robust, year-round vegetation management program, and installing new equipment.
