Utilities Enhance Strategies and Technology to Combat Wildfire Threats Amid Aging Infrastructure and Rising Energy Demands.

Utilities are under increasing pressure due to aging infrastructure and high energy demand, and external threats such as cybersecurity and weather-related events. The industry is adopting new business models, safeguards, and technology to combat wildfire threats. The National Interagency Fire Center predicts that 2.6 million acres will burn nationwide in 2023, compared to 7.5 million acres in 2022 and more than 10 million acres by 2020. Despite this, wildfire mitigation will remain a priority for utilities. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) has recommended that high-risk electric utilities in high fire-threat areas have plans or strategies to address and mitigate the threat of electrical infrastructure or equipment causing ignitions that could lead to wildfires. Utility companies are using operational technology software solutions to improve grid reliability. Similar solutions are already being used by utilities to mitigate other reliability challenges such as unpredictable energy demand and high penetrations of distributed energy resources.