Robotic wildfire hardening for the grid
Wildfires are increasing.
Communities are growing into fire country.
As towns expand into remote, heavily vegetated land where fires start easily and spread fast, the wildfire risk facing utilities that serve them has significantly increased. Power lines cause relatively few wildfires, but each one now puts more homes and lives at risk.
1 in 4
of California’s most destructive wildfires start at power lines
80%
of power-line ignitions happen on distribution lines
~50%
of power-line ignitions start with something contacting the wire
The riskiest miles are often the slowest and most costly to fix.
Bare wire in dry, wooded country.
Wind and vegetation make contact the biggest risk.
Utilities are investing heavily.
Undergrounding and covered conductor work, but reaching every high-risk mile takes years and a large budget.
Every mile in the queue is risk to manage.
Utilities hold the line with vegetation work and shutoffs until circuits can be hardened.
Harden the wire you already have.
Witching Hour's line-crawling robots cover existing conductor with durable insulation while the line stays energized.
50%+
cheaper per mile than covered conductor
Days
per mile to install, without new poles or permits
Covered-conductor
level risk reduction
0
customer outages; power stays on throughout
