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PG&E Microsoft Teams Meeting Just for Almaden Valley Thursday, July 21st, 5:30 to 7:00pm Matt Mahan has arranged a Webinar meeting with PG&E representatives who shared information about recent power outages in Almaden Valley and what is being done to prevent them in the future. Here is a summary of the information presented by PG&E: Every year, when the wildfire season starts, PG&E activates their Enhanced Power Safety Settings (EPSS) system, which shuts down power temporarily once the local EPSS sensor detects potential wildfire risks hitting power lines. The system will automatically try to restore power three times, but if the risk persists, the electrical circuit stays open (and the power out) until PG&E makes it out into the field to check on the situation and remove the hazard. This can happen during the wildfire season which historically has been from May to October. They said will do their best to restore power as fast as possible for potential future outages. It is the substation on Hicks Road that is the line most impacted. It is triggered by monitors/sensors and is very sensitive. It's designed to detect things that may cause a fire and proactively shut down the power. This is part of their EPSS. Employees then must physically check the line to ensure everything is clear before they turn it back on. This substation affects the southeastern part of Almaden, all the way down to New Almaden. It's unclear what PG&E plans to do to make the sensors less sensitive or what other measures they will take to reduce outages. Here is a link to request the free Backup Power Transfer Meter Here is a link to the PG&E Backup Power Transfer Meter LED Indicators Here is a link to the Backup Power Transfer Meter Operation Insturctions
UPDATE: PG&E claims the power outages are due to the new Enhanced Power Safety Settings as explained in the webinar above. However, the root cause of the outages is the ancient infrastructure that has exceeded its design life and is now failing at a high rate. There have been 28 power outages in the last year in Almaden Valley. This is a public safety issue! Perhaps if enough people submitted an online public safety complaint with the California Public Utilities Commission, PG&E would be pressured into taking action to upgrade their infrastructure. Here is a link to submit a Public Safety Complaint
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