San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) has officially announced the launch of its updated cutting-edge Wildfire and Climate Resilience Center, which happens to be the company’s latest innovation in its commitment to build an electrical grid capable of withstanding the strong effects from climate change.
According to certain reports, the stated center is expected to be hub for research, development and implementation of innovative solutions, something it will do by packaging AI and predictive modeling, shared technology, and intelligence with emergency responders. The eventual idea here is to enable a swift and integrated response against regional threats. More on the same would reveal how such a combination will also tread up a long distance in achieving cost-efficient decision-making that helps reduce risk at a lower cost for customers so to scale up energy affordability.
Beyond that, the facility is also slated to serve as SDG&E’s new Emergency Operations Center, a critical hub during extreme weather events and major disasters. When not up against major disasters, though, the facility will inspire future energy professionals, advance wildfire and climate science, and engage local youth in climate resilience education through a new Resilience Zone. All in all, the new center will feature three climate science labs, and a series of interactive exhibits designed to educate young students and partner with academia to advance and share wildfire and climate science.
Markedly enough, the new Wildfire and Climate Resilience Center will also be the central point of SDG&E’s climate resilience strategy, a strategy which currently includes advanced weather monitoring, AI and machine learning infrastructure, partnerships with academia, community collaboration, fire-resistant infrastructure, and workforce training.
Talk about each component on a slightly deeper level, we begin from the prospect of advanced weather monitoring. You see, as of today, SDG&E operates one of the nation’s most sophisticated weather forecasting networks, offering real-time data to better anticipate and address weather-related threats. The company’s systems use millions of historical weather data points going back to 2010 to assist in training AI-based wind forecasting models, including one of the first AI-trained Santa Ana Wind Gust forecast models in the industry.
Next up, there is the work SDG&E is doing in the context of AI and ML. The company’s objective behind leveraging these technologies is to predict and mitigate wildfire impacts on the energy grid. An example relaying the same would be how SDG&E conducts more than 10 million virtual wildfire simulations daily to inform operational wildfire risk models, and at the same time, uses more than 3.8 million drone images of company infrastructure to train AI-based inspection models.
“Our commitment goes beyond reacting to climate challenges. We are focused on anticipating and preparing for them,” said Caroline Winn, Chief Executive Officer at San Diego Gas & Electric. “By leveraging strategic investments, collaborations and community engagement, SDG&E is building the industry leading platform to support a more sustainable, resilient energy grid that is better prepared to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.”
Moving on to company’s partnership with academia, they include SDG&E’s collaboration with leading academic institutions such as Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes, San Jose State University, San Diego Supercomputer Center, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Space Science and Engineering Center. These partnerships, on their part, have strived to develop weather products that better anticipate extreme events, visualize and share weather and fuel moisture data, analyze fire potential, and detect wildfires using real-time satellite data.
Known for working closely with local communities and stakeholders to achieve more inclusive and effective climate resilience efforts, the company has also built up a fire-resistant infrastructure, which includes undergrounding, steel poles, and vegetation management practice that aims to reduce wildfire risk.
Finally, our last piece of highlight comes from the work SDG&E has done to enhance workforce training. This effort has made it possible for the company’s workforce to manage and maintain a resilient grid.
