Using Weather Data to Manage Electric Power Grid
Case Study Summary
After devastating 2007 wildfires, San Diego Gas & Electric partnered with Western Weather Group to deploy a dense network of weather stations—giving grid operators real-time wind data to make safer, faster decisions during extreme events.
Location
San Diego County
Participating organization
San Diego Gas & Electric
Products used
CR1000 datalogger, 05103 Wind Monitor, cell communications
Problem
On October 21, 2007, strong Santa Ana winds downed an overhead distribution power line that ignited the Witch Fire in San Diego County, causing the evacuation of more than 500,000 people with over 2,000 structures burned and billions of dollars in damages.
Solution
Weather Stations were installed on high-fire risk distribution circuits throughout San Diego County to deliver near real time fire weather conditions (temperature, humidity, and wind), providing grid operators situational awareness that enabled proactive de-energizations to prevent a utility-caused ignition and subsequent wildfires.
In October of 2007, 30 wildfires burned approximately 972,147 acres from Santa Barbara County southward to the U.S.-Mexico border. In San Diego County, six fires burned 368,716 acres. Several fires were caused by power line damage from extraordinarily strong Santa Ana winds, with gusts measured as high as 112 mph.
San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E), decided to proactively manage their power grid during periods of severe fire weather conditions. In 2010, SDG&E worked with Western Weather Group to install several weather stations in San Diego County. Data were gathered every 10 minutes and made available to the SDG&E meteorologists, grid operators, and emergency management personnel.
Over the next several years the automated weather monitoring network was expanded to 225 stations across San Diego and Southern Orange Counties, making it the most densely populated automated weather monitoring system in the United States.
During subsequent annual Santa Ana wind events, this network of stations provided meteorologists, grid operators and emergency management personnel with invaluable data that enabled real-time circuit de-energization decisions where dangerous wind conditions were occurring, preventing the possibility of a utility-caused ignition and potentially, a catastrophic wildfire.