Filed with the CPUC in response to SDG&E’s 2008 application A.08-12-021 to turn off power under Santa Ana conditions, filed 3/27/2009 on behalf of MGRA. Turning off the power increases other types of risk – including fire risk. Benefits of turning off the power during high-wind conditions have to be weighed against costs & risks, which should result in an optimal shut-off threshold.

The analysis for MGRA continues, with powerline contributions from the October 2007 fires, an anomalously high number of power line fires in San Diego County, implications of another 230 kV fire in 2007, and some inconsistent SDG&E wind calculations.

Testimony to the California Public Utilities Commission Regarding the Sunrise Powerlink Project

SOURCE:  UNION-TRIBUNE:  http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2009/may/10/puc-should-deny-plan-outright/?uniontrib

By:  Diane Conklin and Joseph Mitchell, May 10, 2009

The shut-off plan is widely disliked — not because it can’t work but because it works for SDG&E instead of for its customers.

Proposed decisions were issued in August. Comments and reply comments opposing the shut-off plan were filed on behalf of MGRA. The cost/benefit analysis initially proposed by M-bar Technologies and Consulting, LLC and other issues raised in our filings were cited as a key reasons for the Commission denial of the SDG&E shut-off plan.