Gridware Study Finds Active Grid Response Technology, Enabled by Gridscopes, Improves Power Reliability While Mitigating Wildfire Ignitions

First Ever Empirical Evaluation by Gridware and Project Scientist Cody Warner, Haas Business School, University of California, Berkeley, Reflects Active Grid Response (AGR) Technology Impact on PG&E’s 80 Riskiest Circuits Covering More than 5,000 Miles of Powerlines

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gridware, a leading provider of grid monitoring technology through Active Grid Response (AGR), today announced the results of a comprehensive research partnership with Cody Warner, project scientist, Haas Business School, University of California, Berkeley, entitled Quantifying the Economic Value of Active Grid Response in High Fire-Risk Areas.

With a focus on wildfire mitigation costs and improving reliability, the collaboration produced two rigorous studies measuring the efficacy and economic impact of AGR technology deployed within Pacific Gas and Electric’s (PG&E) service territory in California.

While this study empirically validated AGR’s impacts on wildfire in California, the benefits of AGR extend to all hazards and regions. While high-impedance faults in the Eastern USA do not typically lead to a wildfire ignition, they often show up as customer outages or dangerous live-wire-down events. As storms become more frequent and severe, fault identification and localization enable triaging, crew staging, and ultimately faster reenergizations.

Key Findings:

The researchers utilized four years of high-resolution ignition and outage data (2022-2025) and employed a differences-in-differences (DID) methodology to compare ignition avoidance and reliability impacts in high-risk areas monitored by Gridware against unmonitored control groups. The empirical evaluation conducted by Warner demonstrated that Gridware’s AGR platform significantly improves both safety and reliability.

• Wildfire Safety: During fast-trip enablement, Gridscope-monitored circuits experienced a further 48% reduction in ignitions, as the technology was able to catch any high impedance faults too sensitive for fast-trip settings.
• Grid Reliability: AGR technology drove a median 16% reduction in outage duration (CAIDI) per circuit protection zone.
• Addressing Danger Zones: In areas plagued by frequent outages, the improvement was even more pronounced, showing an average 24% reduction in outage duration per customer.

Benefit-Cost Analysis

The authors also conducted a benefit-cost analysis (BCA) of major wildfire mitigation strategies across PG&E’s 80 riskiest circuits covering more than 5,000 miles of lines. The study found that operational strategies leveraging AGR deliver significant economic returns and are broadly applicable:

• AGR & Operational Strategies: A strategy combining AGR with operational measures, such as EPSS (Fast Trip settings), produced a benefit-cost ratio of 3.3.
• Marginal Value: When isolated, the marginal benefit-cost ratio of adding AGR to these operational strategies is 13.4, highlighting its prudency.

Tim Barat, co-founder and CEO for Gridware

“The study shows the impact of AGR on wildfire ignitions and customer reliability. Mitigating dangerous events across the grid by deploying AGR is now a critical tool for utilities and provides real benefits for customers while also keeping rates affordable. The results signify the innovation and multi-year effort achieved by PG&E in making the grid safer in Northern California. While this study focuses on wildfires, our utility partners, Duquesne Light Company (DLC), based in Pittsburgh, Pa., and Con Edison, based in New York, N.Y., are leading the charge on the East Coast deploying AGR to combat the faults and outages associated with more frequent and severe storms.

Visit Gridware.io for more information.

For additional context about AGR and the study.

• Link to blog post from CEO Tim Barat: https://www.gridware.io/news/quantifying-the-economic-value-of-active-grid-response-in-high-fire-risk-areas-a-study
• Press kit link with images and data graphics: https://app.box.com/s/4urkwt2rib1ugl9562f6cojwjc4v0qqn
• Link to AGR page: https://www.gridware.io/active-grid-response

About Gridware

Gridware is a grid‑technology company dedicated to improving safety and reliability on the electrical transmission and distribution systems. Its technology monitors the physical, mechanical, and environmental conditions of utility infrastructure to identify issues early, reduce outages, and support faster restoration. Gridware is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with growing international engagement and it is backed by leading technology investors. Learn more at www.gridware.io.