EDITORIAL: WHY SDG&E PLAN TO SHUT OFF POWER MAY NOT PREVENT FIRES - AND WHAT SHOULD BE DONE INSTEAD

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version Share this

By Ed Clark

February 25, 2009--I was reading the article on your site this morning, where SDG&E plans to turn off power to remote residences during high wind, low humidity days.

This is nothing more than part of their cover-up to prevent a system ground fault on a high windy days from arcing at down guy anchors and starting fires. What they don't get is that depending on where a ground fault occurs, it could still catch the grass on fire, if not corrected.

Additionally, SDG&E has several alternatives other than turning power off to customers who are in need.

In remote areas SDG&E can:

1.Inter-set more poles, shortening the length between poles. This allows more tension and less swing of the conductors. Consequently less risk to touching with High Winds.

2.Along with more poles, they could utilize Longer post insulators, ie. Higher voltage class insulators adding more distance between the conductors, again preventing them from coming together. This is considered overbuilding, it is more expensive, but if its in the best interest of the public and could prevent from turning power off, I think it should be looked at.

3.Stepping up their tree trimming maintenance in remote areas to insure trees are not going to break and fall into power lines.

It appears to me that SDG&E should take a pro-active approach and support the community rather than take a defensive posture as they have done in the past.

Edward L. Clark, Jr
www.theelectricalexpert.com

Ed Clark is an electrical engineer who has worked for Southern California Edison, served as an expert witness for SDG&E, and conducted investigations into causes of some wildfires for a major insurance agency.

The opinions expressed in this editorial reflect the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of East County Magazine or its publisher. If you wish to submit an editorial for consideration, please contact editor@eastcountymagazine.org.


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.