Itron and PG&E Advance Strategic Collaboration to Address Wildfire Mitigation with Grid Edge Intelligence
PG&E's electric research and development budget partially funds the collaboration through the Electric Program Investment Charge program.
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Rhea-AI Summary
Itron (ITRI) and Pacific Gas and Electric Company are expanding their wildfire-mitigation collaboration with a scaled pilot of grid-monitoring devices. Building on an initial proof-of-concept, the companies are validating fault prevention and location technologies in high fire-risk areas of PG&E's service territory. Grid Edge Intelligence uses sensing devices and local data analysis to detect, locate and classify potential electrical faults.
Initial installations are underway in Santa Cruz, with approximately 3,000 devices planned for the first phase and approximately 10,000 planned through 2027. PG&E plans to scale to hundreds of thousands of devices by 2030 under the broader collaboration. Itron says the technology can support earlier intervention and reduce outage frequency and duration; the deployment remains a pilot validating the technology at scale.
Positive
- Minor pointInitial Itron device installations are underway in Santa Cruz, advancing the collaboration beyond its initial proof-of-concept.
- Minor point. Forward-looking: it has not happened yet and may not happen.Deployment plans cover approximately 3,000 devices initially and approximately 10,000 through 2027 in high fire-risk communities.
- Minor point. Forward-looking: it has not happened yet and may not happen.PG&E plans to scale to hundreds of thousands of devices by 2030 under the broader collaboration.
- Minor pointThe collaboration receives partial funding through PG&E's electric R&D budget under the EPIC program.
Negative
- Minor pointFault prevention and location technologies remain in a scaled validation pilot, rather than a completed rollout.
News Explained
The collaboration is partially funded through PG&E’s electric R&D budget under California’s Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC), a public-purpose program for investor-owned utilities to demonstrate technologies and evaluate safety, reliability, affordability, sustainability and equity.
Details
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Key Figures
- First-phase devices
- approximately 3,000 devices
- Planned for high fire-risk communities
- Deployment through 2027
- approximately 10,000 devices
- Planned total deployment
- Scale by 2030
- hundreds of thousands of devices
- PG&E's planned scale under the collaboration
Key Terms
saifi technical
saidi technical
AI-generated analysis. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.
Expanded Deployment of Itron Grid Edge Intelligence Delivers Unprecedented Fault Classification to Reduce Wildfire Risk and Improve Reliability
- Itron and PG&E are advancing grid edge intelligence to help reduce wildfire risk and improve grid reliability in California communities.
- Grid edge intelligence provides real-time visibility to detect, classify and pinpoint potential faults across the distribution grid.
- Actionable insights support earlier intervention, faster crew response, and fewer and shorter outages.
LIBERTY LAKE, Wash. and OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI), the intelligent infrastructure provider for modern energy and water management, and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) have made significant progress advancing their strategic collaboration to transform the energy landscape by protecting California communities from wildfire risk using Itron’s Grid Edge Intelligence (GEI) solutions.
As part of their collaboration, Itron and PG&E are validating advanced fault prevention and fault location technologies at scale to improve identification, location and classification of grid conditions that can directly lead to wildfire ignition conditions and other critical safety concerns. The companies are building on an initial proof-of-concept and advancing to a scaled pilot by deploying thousands of Itron grid edge sensing endpoints to high fire-risk areas in PG&E's service territory.
Unlike traditional approaches that infer grid conditions by manually correlating customer calls, alarms and other evidence across multiple systems, this purpose-built solution uses measured observations, real-time event detection and confidence levels to drive faster, more focused action. Using distributed intelligence and advanced grid waveform technology, Itron’s grid edge devices detect, classify and pinpoint fault indicators across medium-voltage circuits and low-voltage segments between the transformer and the customer’s home. The technology can identify potential issues before an outage, enabling PG&E to take preventive action and provide targeted alerts during high-risk events, such as a downed live conductor that could ignite vegetation.
“Through our work together with Itron, PG&E will enhance real-time visibility and continual monitoring of the grid that helps take the guesswork out of identifying potential issues impacting our equipment,” said Craig Kurtz, senior director of Continuous Monitoring at PG&E. “Continually ‘listening’ to the data signals originating from our grid enables us to proactively detect, locate and understand problems earlier so we can act before they lead to outages or potential ignitions. Together, we are improving grid safety, customer affordability and service reliability for our California communities, which is of the utmost importance to PG&E.”
“Itron and PG&E have a long history of working together, and with this strategic collaboration, we are showcasing how utilities can leverage their existing infrastructure with grid edge intelligence to improve grid management and enhance the customer experience,” said Don Reeves, senior vice president of Outcomes at Itron. “With this most recent project, we are addressing risks before they become outages or wildfire threats. By reducing the frequency and duration of outages, GEI can help improve SAIFI and SAIDI performance, strengthen customer satisfaction and support more reliable and affordable service for PG&E customers.”
By integrating waveform capture, peer-to-peer endpoint communications and edge analytics, Itron’s GEI portfolio can:
- Narrow fault location: Pinpoints fault location with high precision across both medium voltage and low voltage circuits.
- Classify fault type: Distinguishes between insulation degradation, equipment overload, failing conductors and other fault conditions.
- Enable proactive intervention: Flags and prioritizes emerging risks before they become active hazards, allowing crews to respond before a wildfire or outage occurs.
- Eliminate false positives: Intelligent classification optimizes field crew dispatch and response efficiency.
This combination of detection and classification is particularly critical in California's High Fire Threat Districts, where aging infrastructure and dry, windy conditions can turn an undetected arc or spark into a catastrophic wildfire within minutes.
“These fault indicators provide critical real-time inputs to drive faster crew dispatch upon detection, along with directed location information that reduces patrol time for crews. This results in faster preemptive responses that prevent outages, faster outage resolution, and a reduction in conditions that could lead to broader, more expansive outages and wildfires,” added Reeves.
Scaling Grid Edge Innovation
The first installations of Itron’s grid edge devices are underway in the Santa Cruz area with plans to deploy approximately 3,000 devices to high fire-risk communities in the first phase and approximately 10,000 devices planned through 2027. As part of the broader strategic collaboration to transform the energy landscape, PG&E plans to scale to hundreds of thousands of devices by 2030.
This collaboration is partially funded through PG&E's electric R&D budget under the public purpose program Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC). EPIC enables California investor-owned utilities to demonstrate new technologies and evaluate how they support safety, reliability and affordability, environmental sustainability and equity objectives for the benefit of all California electric customers. For more information about PG&E’s R&D and innovation efforts, visit www.pge.com/innovation.
About Itron
Itron is transforming how the world manages energy, water and city services. Our trusted intelligent infrastructure solutions help utilities and cities improve efficiency, build resilience and deliver safe, reliable and affordable service. With edge intelligence, we connect people, data insights and devices so communities can better manage the essential resources they rely on to live and thrive. Join us as we create a more resourceful world: www.itron.com.
Itron® and the Itron Logo are registered trademarks of Itron, Inc in the United States and other countries and regions. All third-party trademarks are property of their respective owners and any usage herein does not suggest or imply any relationship between Itron and the third party unless expressly stated.
About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG), is a combined natural gas and electric utility serving more than sixteen million people across 70,000 square miles in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit pge.com and pge.com/news.
For additional information, contact:
Itron, Inc.
Alison Mallahan
Senior Manager, Corporate Communications
509-891-3802
PR@Itron.com
Paul Vincent
Vice President, Investor Relations
512-560-1172
Investors@itron.com
Itron, Inc.
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/itroninc
- X: www.x.com/itroninc
- Newsroom: https://itron.com/newsroom
- Blog: https://itron.com/blog
FAQ
AI-generated questions and answers. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.
How many Itron grid-monitoring devices does PG&E plan to deploy, and by when?
Deployment plans call for approximately 3,000 devices in the first phase and approximately 10,000 through 2027. Initial installations are underway in Santa Cruz. Under the broader collaboration, PG&E plans to scale to hundreds of thousands of devices by 2030.
How is the Itron and PG&E wildfire-mitigation collaboration funded?
The collaboration is partially funded through PG&E's electric research and development budget under the Electric Program Investment Charge, or EPIC. The program enables California investor-owned utilities to demonstrate new technologies and evaluate their support for safety, reliability, affordability and other public-benefit objectives.