Good morning.
America’s power grid is a patchwork of more than 12,500 power plants in varying stages of health that generate electricity through coal, natural gas, petroleum, hydroelectric power, wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, and nuclear energy. That power is distributed through anywhere from 160,000 to more than 642,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines—the range of official estimates could make a journalist cry—and let’s just say several million miles of local distribution lines.
What we do know is that fallen and damaged lines are a major source of deadly wildfires—from the 2018 ‘Camp Fire’ in California caused by PG&E to last year’s tragedy in Lahaina, Maui that was caused, in part, by Hawaiian Electric Co. That’s put a lot of pressure on utilities to address those risks at a time when demand on the grid is soaring, thanks to electric vehicles, data centers, and the power demands of a warming planet.
I spoke with three CEOs this past week who are trying to address these challenges in California, the state with the most wildfires: PG&E’s Patti Poppe, Edison International CEO Pedro Pizarro, and Sunrun CEO Mary Powell.
Since coming to PG&E in 2021, Poppe has invested in building a more resilient grid and a more trusted culture. While that’s meant more preventive power shut-offs and rising rates—countered by a new state-imposed flat fee in May—Poppe says she’s a “climate optimist” who believes AI and EVs will lead to a more resilient grid. (More on that in our upcoming podcast.)
Her competitor Pizarro—a misnomer, perhaps, as utilities don’t really compete —says Edison faces different challenges than PG&E. “We’re fortunate that more of our territory is grasslands [where] the ignition source is typically stuff blowing into lines,” which can be protected by an insulated cover instead of having to be buried underground to avoid falling trees in forested areas. Moreover, smart meters that were installed to replace human meter readers now give real-time voltage readings that detect failing lines before they cause problems. “We’ve done a lot through innovation,” he says.
Sunrun’s Mary Powell says there’s a lot more to do. She’s gone from running a utility in Vermont to a solar company in California that moved into clean energy storage amid dramatic cuts to solar subsidies. “A piece that has been constantly left out in the energy dialogue is the customer,” says Powell, whose company sells household solar panels and energy-storage solutions. “Our work at Sunrun is all about accelerating a consumer-led revolution to a more affordable, resilient way to power America … The reality is that utilities are spending at unprecedented levels, while nothing has changed about the physical or financial math of utility infrastructure.”
Maybe so, but Pizarro is certain he has a more resilient company today. “This is not a utility problem or a California problem. Every sector needs to be making investments to adapt its infrastructure for climate change.”
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Diane Brady
diane.brady@fortune.com
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This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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