Join us on August 19 and August 27 to strengthen energy security and regional energy resilience by mitigating wildfire.
August 14, 2025
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On June 12, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order (EO) 14308, Empowering Commonsense Wildfire Prevention and Response. This Executive Order emphasizes streamlining federal capabilities, encouraging local preparedness through partnerships and innovative measures, and modernizing wildfire prevention and response efforts. Please join the DOE’s Grid Deployment Office (GDO) and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to learn more about key trends and energy planning related to emerging wildfire risks, and how their work supports the objectives of this Executive Order.
August 19, 2025 at 1:00 pm EDT: Wildfire and Consequences for the Utility Business Model
The risks and costs associated with wildfire mitigation, liability, and cost recovery have the potential to pose an existential threat to the utility business model. In addition to direct damages to utility equipment and property, wildfire also poses a significant financial concern in the form of third-party liability and damages from ignition, with cascading effects to business practices.
This webinar will summarize research by PNNL on key trends for wildfire-related risks to the utility business model, such as insurance cost and availability, credit ratings, and cost of capital for all types of electric utilities. The webinar will also survey and offer statistics on the range of methods and mechanisms that utilities are taking to mitigate potential wildfire risks, as well as legislation that state policymakers are increasingly adopting to clarify utility responsibilities.
August 27, 2025: North Central Regional Wildfire Workshop
PNNL, in partnership with GDO, invites you to attend a one-day workshop focused on state energy planning for emerging wildfire risk across the North Central region (Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin). The workshop is structured to enable open forum discussions and peer-to-peer sharing through breakout sessions and informative presentations from state officials and subject matter experts. This event is designed especially for energy planning officials and regulators, emergency management agencies, land managers, Tribal representatives, and utilities.
Location: The Madison Concourse Hotel, Madison, Wisconsin
During the workshop, you will:
- Share and gather insights on changing and emerging wildfire risks to electricity systems.
- Interact in peer-led exercises on wildfire risk reduction, response, and resiliency strategies for the grid.
- Cultivate pathways for continuous regional collaboration with states and other stakeholders, experts, and industry.
- State government employees from the North Central region are invited to attend the Regional Risk Assessment workshop prior to the wildfire workshop. More details here.