Overview
PacifiCorp uses Technosylva to advance their data-driven decision-making for wildfire risk reduction and fire behavior simulation modeling. They’ve established a meteorological and wildfire safety department to improve their understanding of wildfire consequences across their multi-state service area, and evaluate potential mitigation strategies including:
- Installing covered wires, fire-resistant poles and more
- Expanding vegetation management practices to address emerging risks
Decades of Data Will Help Rocky Mountain Power Better Predict Wildfires
Rocky Mountain Power is a division of PacifiCorp and part of Berkshire Hathaway Energy
Data-Driven Decision Making
To enable PacifiCorp’s evolution to a quantified risk assessment model, in 2023 the Company initiated implementation of Technosylva’s Wildfire Platform.
The platform is used to perform wildfire modeling and risk analysis that calculates metrics, including the probability of an ignition from a utility asset given certain conditions, the potential spread of a wildfire, and the consequences of a fire including potential acres burned, population impacted, number of buildings threatened, and estimated number of buildings destroyed.
Incorporating Historic Weather for Ignition Risk
PacifiCorp uses Technosylva to calculate the historical weather days that best represent when weather and fuel conditions can lead to an increased risk of ignition. This enables PacifiCorp to move to an annual review to identify new days that can be incorporated into the historical weather to account for changing weather conditions and vegetation over time.
Technosylva’s modeling capabilities, with meteorology team help, informs decision-making processes during PSPS events.
