| Resource Type | Report |
| Author / Source | Jared Leader, Mac Keller, and Solange Camacho (Smart Electric Power Alliance) |
| Publication Date | May 2026 |
| Location | United States |
| Initiative Type | Technology, Policy, Program |
| Project Complexity | Advanced |
| Recommended For | Board, Staff |
View Full Document Requires basic contact and company information to access
Estimated reading time: 30+ minutes
Why This Matters for Rural Electric Co-ops
This Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) framework maps how wildfire mitigation technologies fit together across the full wildfire risk lifecycle. For co-ops specifically, the report notes that rising wildfire mitigation costs are driving up their borrowing costs through lending institutions, and that wildfire mitigation plan (WMP) requirements are starting to reach them in some states.
A co-op can use the framework to structure or benchmark its own mitigation plan and build a defensible investment case, whether or not its state requires one. One caveat worth noting is that the five profiled technology providers funded and partnered on the paper, though SEPA states it does not rank or recommend vendors, and more than 20 utility, regulatory, national-lab, and consumer-advocate advisors shaped the work.
Key Takeaways
| › | The core finding is that the gap is integration, not missing technology, so a co-op should prioritize tool purchases that connect data rather than fund standalone pilots. |
| › | Its six-stage lifecycle gives cross-functional co-op teams, from planning to operations to external affairs, a shared structure and common language for wildfire decisions. |
| › | Co-ops including Sho-Me Power and Northern Lights cut risk sharply without a formal capital program or state mandate (one a 13-times return, the other an 88% hazard-tree reduction). |
| › | Appendix C provides a checklist of what strong WMPs include and the questions regulators and advocates ask, giving a co-op board a ready framework for reviewing its own plan. |
Implementation Considerations
- Regulatory or Governance Considerations: WMP requirements are expanding to co-ops in some states, while others remain voluntary. A co-op should confirm its own state's rules and can use the report's questions to structure a plan whether or not one is mandated.
- Staffing or Technology Requirements: Getting value from the framework means integrating data across vegetation, asset, weather, and detection systems, which is analytically demanding. The report notes co-ops often reach readiness through regional partnerships rather than standalone infrastructure.
- Time-Sensitive Information: The wildfire technology market and the state-by-state regulatory map are both moving quickly, and this is a May 2026 snapshot. The five profiled tools are examples rather than an exhaustive or endorsed list, so verify current tools and state requirements before relying on them.
Notable Examples
- Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA): National nonprofit that convened the partners and advisors and authored the framework.
- CORE Electric Cooperative: Colorado co-op updating wildfire risk mapping and asset-level forecasting ahead of any state mandate.
- Tri-State G&T: Generation and transmission co-op using risk modeling and daily reporting that voluntarily filed a WMP in Wyoming.
- Sho-Me Power, Holy Cross Energy, and Northern Lights: Co-ops showing meaningful risk reduction within existing budgets, including a 13-times return on fuel-prioritized vegetation work and an 88% hazard-tree reduction.
- Technology partners: Overstory, eSmart Systems, Pano AI, Rhizome, and Technosylva, the five providers that funded and are profiled in the report.
View Full Document Requires basic contact and company information to access
Estimated reading time: 30+ minutes
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