PG&E Corporation joined Lockheed Martin, Salesforce, and Wells Fargo recently in announcing the launch of Emberpoint LLC, a next-generation wildfire solution.
Officials said Emberpoint will help first responders detect, prevent and fight wildfires, using artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, and integrated command-and-control technologies. The companies said the technology would allow agencies and utilities access to state-of-the-art systems without the burden of development costs.
“It’s time to change the way we think about wildfires and bring the best of American technology and know-how to this growing threat to lives and property. Devastating wildfires are on the rise and this new partnership brings four leading companies in the aerospace, electrical power, tech, and financial industries together to address this national problem,” Lockheed Martin Chairman, President and CEO Jim Taiclet said. “Building on Lockheed Martin’s leading-edge capabilities in space and ground-based sensing systems, autonomous air and land drones, and command and control systems, EMBERPOINT™ aims to combine these skills along with those of our partners to address what is a true national security mission.”
Lockheed Martin will contribute its layered approach to prediction and detection, as well as military-grade autonomous response and suppression capabilities which will allow firefighters with the ability to identify wildfire ignition and to intervene earlier.
PG&E said it will contribute its wildfire mitigation experience, and its track record of deploying effective risk management programs across geographically-diverse communities, subject to regulatory approvals. Salesforce said it will contribute to the digital foundation for Emberpoint that will integrate disparate data streams into a unified, real-time response engine. Wells Fargo said it would help supply access to funding for the venture through a capital investment.
“This partnership underscores our commitment to ending catastrophic wildfires,” PG&E Corporation CEO Patti Poppe said. “We plan to seek regulatory approval to pair Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s on-the-ground experience with our partners’ advanced technology, and properly scale how we identify risk, prevent incidents, and protect the people and ecosystems we serve for the benefit of all society—while staying fully focused on providing safe and reliable energy to our customers. Today’s announcement marks the next step in a broader, multi-phase effort to end catastrophic wildfires.”