As devastating wildfires continue to burn across the western U.S. and Canada this summer, they’re taking a serious toll on the electrical grid. Every year, wildfires, some sparked by birds or even high winds, cause significant damage to grid infrastructure.

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This story was originally published by Canary Media and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.​

In Wisconsin, utility Alliant Energy has called off a project meant to reduce power outages in disadvantaged and tribal communities, after the Trump administration terminated a federal grant that would have supported it.

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A process key to protecting our nation’s electrical grid is getting smarter and faster thanks to a team led by Sandia artificial intelligence researcher Georgios Fragkos.

Georgios, Sidney Wright and Birk Jones with the Communications and Cybersecurity for the Energy Edge team, known as C2E2, have been working on a system that uses generative AI and large language models to both detect and locate cyber-physical threats to the electrical grid.

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Sandia is engaged in multiple research and development efforts that use AI to secure the electric grid against intentional and natural threats, as well as problems created by aging infrastructure and unprecedented load growth. In addition to C2E2 and DERMS, which was featured in the June 18 edition of Lab News, projects in this portfolio include:

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