PG&E develops new technology to predict outages during big storms

SAN RAMON, Calif. (KGO) -- There's likely to be power outages when big storms hit, but PG&E is working to make future outages smaller and shorter. Their work is already paying off.

Take rain and mix it with a lot of wind and there's a good chance the company's big blue trucks will be needed.

PG&E has an army of line workers but in order to know where to send them, they have a small army of meteorologists as well.

"We were able to develop a storm outage prediction model," acting Meteorology Supervisor Scott Strenfel said.

They don't just forecast the weather, they forecast the outages and build colorful maps that show where to send their trucks.

"We pre-position crews ahead of time so that we're ready to go right after the storm goes through," Emergency Response Vice President Barry Anderson said.

New sensing equipment can tell which homes have lost power because of new smart meters with radios inside them.

Then that forecasting software goes to work again.

"Based on where the circuit is being fed from, what is the probably device that is open causing that outage," Business Applications Director Gary Cassilagio said.

But beyond the computer models, PG&E does expect testing in the real world. Their indoor lab is a miniature model of an entire power grid squeezed into a small yard, where they can test equipment before sending it out into neighborhoods

"It's an outdoor yard, obviously, so we test in all sorts of weather conditions as well. We want to make sure everything works," PG&E spokesperson Joe Molica said.

Of course, the Bay Area doesn't get every kind of weather. That's what the dome is for. PG&E can make their own precipitation in there.

"We can even replicate lightning at this lab and put equipment through its paces. We want to find out how hard we can use and abuse a piece of equipment before it breaks," Molica said.

There are new things to test every day. Smart appliances and solar power are getting more common.

Solar poses new challenges after a storm. "If there's a power outage, they could be still feeding into the grid. That could potentially still pose a problem for our crews working on the lines," Molica said.

But with hardware that now automatically routes power around the damaged lines, those crews can spend less time dangling in the air to make lights come back on.