Wildfires and Utility Risk
Reducing Utility Wildfire Risk
In the Western United States, wildfires ignited by electric infrastructure have caused devastating damage and created billions of dollars in liability, throwing finances into question for utilities such as Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO), Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) in California, and PacifiCorp in Oregon. Wildfires, made more severe by climate change, threaten areas beyond those in the West that have recently experienced catastrophic fires. This increasing exposure to wildfire risk puts utility finances in jeopardy and, in turn, impedes the construction of electric infrastructure needed for a transition to renewable energy. In collaboration with utility and energy sector experts, scholars with Stanford's Climate and Energy Policy Program are developing resources to assess and meet these challenges.
Wildfire risk and mitigation across Western utilities
Following a series of catastrophic wildfires ignited by electric utility infrastructure, California utilities have taken significant steps—at a significant cost to ratepayers—to lower their wildfire risk. But recent wildfires across the Western United States, from Oregon to Hawaii, Colorado, and Texas, have made it clear that California is far from the only region to face the growing threat of catastrophic utility-ignited fires exacerbated by climate change. The question of how to mitigate this danger while continuing to provide reliable and affordable energy is crucial for the future of the nation’s electric system. To help inform policy conversations on this subject, the Stanford Climate and Energy Policy Program (CEPP) is building a framework for comparative assessment of electrical utilities’ wildfire risk mitigation efforts.
Climate change and utility wildfire risk: A proposal for a federal backstop
On May 22, The Hamilton Project and the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability hosted an event to discuss the path to a resilient and clean electricity grid. The event coincided with the release of two new policy proposals focused on grid governance and wildfire utility risk. The Hamilton Project also released a facts document on permitting.
Building clean energy infrastructure: Roadblocks, tradeoffs, and solutions
