The special topic of Advanced Grid Institute (AGI) Day 2025 was \u201cWildfire Challenges and Mitigation Strategies.\u201d The panel was hosted by Larry Bekkedahl, Senior VP of Advanced Energy Delivery at Portland General Electric; Andre Coleman, data scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL); Kelly Miller, Wildfire Mitigation Program Manager at the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA); and Brad Heilman of Schweitzer Engineering Laboratory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bekkedahl opened the panel with the fact that the United States had 3.8 million acres burned as of the presentation being given, which is less than the previous year, but still a significant number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Emphasizing the danger that wildfires pose to people, property, structures, and utility companies, Bekkedahl gave several examples of large fires the past several years, including the 2020 Mt. Hood fire, the 2023 Maui fire, and the 2025 Los Angeles fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re thinking about response, we think about planning, execution, we\u2019re now all going into mitigation plans,\u201d Bekkedahl said, \u201cWe\u2019re required under regulation to have a plan each year, put that in place and act on it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bekkedahl mentioned multiple factors that go into mitigation plans, such as hardening the system, managing vegetation around the power systems, and Maintaining awareness of local conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also described a new practice being utilized by utility companies is using cameras equipped with AI and putting them in woody areas to detect smoke and fires potentially hours before they got big enough to detect otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Part of running a utility company is managing outages is to ensure that the power is shut off when it\u2019s unsafe to have certain wires electrified because of tree branch coverage or similar hazards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOther things to mention: early fault detection,\u201d Bekkedahl said. \u201cThere are devices that are sensing and looking for signal signatures that would tell you that you\u2019ve got a cracked insulator on the line, or you\u2019ve got a conductor that\u2019s split.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coleman and Miller were the next presenters, presenting jointly on wildfire challenges and grid resilience from the perspective of the PNNL and BPA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEvery region in the country is seeing an increase in fire occurrence, this used to be a western issue\u2026 anywhere from doubling to twelvefold increases in occurrence,\u201d Coleman said. \u201cThis has become a national problem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coleman then detailed a partnership between PNNL and BPA, highlighting that PNNL develops a map with potential burn probability areas in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTypically we\u2019re doing this very early in the year, from November to January in the peak fire season,\u201d Coleman said. \u201cThen we go back after the fires have occurred that year and say \u2018How did the model do? What was our predictive capability?\u2019 By and large we\u2019re seeing where fire occurs in places where we generally expect fire to occur. However, we\u2019re seeing this emerging pattern too where we\u2019re seeing a lot of fire starting to occur in places where historically it\u2019s been very, very low probabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the regions with these low probability fires is the west slope of the Cascade Mountains, and Coleman said one of the concerns with this is the amount of biomass and fuels on the mountain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Miller presented next, beginning her talk with wildfire resiliency within BPA and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe base of everything is making sure our system is up and functioning the best it can, that\u2019s looking at regular system hardening – so upgrades as planned, regular maintenance to both assets and vegetation,\u201d Miller said. \u201cOn top of that is situational awareness and a big piece of that is working with our partners at PNNL to provide wildfire risk models and meteorologists on staff that work closely with us through \u2018quote unquote\u2019 wildfire season – there\u2019s no dates on that, but also throughout the year to alert us of any weather that could be coming in or forecasted that could harm our system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Miller said that as of August 20th, BPA has not had to conduct a public safety power shut off or deenergize any power lines. She also said that BPA is looking to use new technology to continue to mitigate fires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA couple highlights we have within our program is first vegetation management,\u201d Miller said. \u201cThat is at the very core of how we attempt to be as safe as possible. We only have the ability to control within our right of ways that we have legal rights to. So vegetation outside our right of way is a huge risk for us for falling into the lines, into structures, into assets in general and could spark a fire. We actively work with the Forest Service in multiple regions to determine needs not just next to and adjacent to our right of ways, but in the forest surrounding them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Highlighting the importance of collaboration, Miller said that working with local and international partners helps gain and share information between entities to ensure safety moving forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Heilman was the final presenter of the panel and spoke on power transmission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSome of the other things I\u2019m trying to do a better job with helping, is explaining fully how the technology is going to work really well,\u201d said Heilman. \u201cRight now, I feel there\u2019s a bit of urgency. I want to be there to have a conversation to say, \u2018Let\u2019s just think about it,\u2019 because I\u2019ve seen some folks make some mistakes with expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This panel highlighted the urgency of maintaining safety standards while investigating and innovating new solutions to approach the problem of potential fire hazards and the best ways to keep people and the power grid safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n