NEW MEXICO (KRQE) — Local researchers are looking at ways to prevent power lines igniting wildfires as well as the potential damages those fires may cause electric grids. On Monday, Sandia National Labs Researcher Brian Pierre presented to lawmakers how wildfires impact the electric grid and the ways they are looking to prevent outages.
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Pierre says the lab’s wildfire electric grid security program is broken up into four areas: pre-fire, during, post-fire and planning for future fires, with hopes to make it easier to turn power back on for families and businesses after the fire is put out. There’s also the issue of power lines sparking fires.
Pierre says some larger utility companies around the US are looking to move underground in high fire risk areas in order to avoid the problem altogether. “If there’s an abnormality they are quickly going to quickly identify it and de-energize that section of the line,” said Pierre.
According to Pierre, Sandia is also developing a pyro kit which would help create an interactive map showing fire risk, and run scenarios to find a solution.
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