Over the past ten years, SDG&E has invested $1.5 billion on wildfire safety initiatives, including building America’s most granular weather network and creating an in-house meteorology program consisting of five full-time meteorologists.
The work our meteorologists do to support the safe operation of the electric grid was highlighted in a new video just released by the U.S. Chamber Global Energy Institute.
Did you know our weather network – consisting of 177 stations – collects 200,000 different data points per day on humidity, wind, and temperature? This translates into more than 85 million data points per year.
“Really the main driver behind this is public safety, and operating the grid with the best information we possibly have,” said Brian D’Agostino, SDG&E’s director of fire science and climate adaptation, who is featured in the video.
“We need to understand what the weather is doing in every canyon, every ridgetop all across the backcountry to really bring that level of customer safety and customer service,” he added.
With the help of supercomputers, our meteorology team is able to detect patterns and garner insights from ten years’ worth of weather data. For example, they have identified areas in our region that are most prone to extreme winds and fire danger. In those high-risk areas, we installed additional equipment so we can isolate certain circuits and still continue to provide power to the rest of the region without sacrificing safety.
Watch the full video to learn more on what we do to reduce the risk of wildfires, or visit sdge.com/wildfire-safety.