Wildfire Assessment and Resilience for Networks (WARN)

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Grid Deployment Office, Award Number DE-GD0000885.

CPI is a member of a consortium of 35 electric cooperatives selected to receive federal funding through the Wildfire Assessment and Resilience for Networks project, or “WARN.” Led by Holy Cross Energy in coordination with NRECA Research, WARN will provide more than $145 million in wildfire mitigation funding to co-ops across 17 states in the central and western United States to drive energy resilience in high-risk rural areas.

Project Information

The 2020 Santiam Canyon fire destroyed a large portion of CPI’s system serving the towns of Detroit, Elkhorn, Gates, Lyons and Mehama. CPI will complete the undergrounding of circuits serving members in the remote Santiam Canyon to reduce the likelihood of wildfire ignition and to protect the line during extreme weather events and wildfires. Electrical services that were not impacted by the Santiam Canyon fire in 2020 will also be converted to underground. This project will complete conversion of all facilities from overhead to underground in the Santiam Canyon fire area. The improved resilience will benefit members who rely on electric service for heat, water, and communication services. The estimated project cost including directional boring, labor, and materials is $2 million.

CPI serves 881 meters in Marion County and due to the catastrophic nature of the 2020 Santiam Canyon fire event, 100% of CPI members in the area were left without power. All proposed underground projects are located within the Santiam Canyon corridor.  Undergrounding power lines are a key element in CPI’s Fire Mitigation Plan and adheres to the goals of the State’s Enhanced Mitigation plan.  The Santiam Canyon is the highest rated fire danger zone in CPI’s 3,500 square mile service territory.

Benefits

The project will strengthen the electrical grid to CPI’s members during fires and other extreme weather-related events. The conversion to underground services will mitigate future natural disasters by hardening CPI’s electrical infrastructure.