4 ms·

The US uses overhead wires everywhere, because it's cheaper to install than underground wires. But then you're subject to damage from trees, wind, icing, etc. E

• oh_sigh 8y ago
  No, not everywhere. Most of NYC uses underground wires. My neighborhood in Colorado near Boulder built in the 60s uses underground wires as well.
  • mschuster91 8y ago
    Underground wiring is far more efficient in big cities, as the major cost part is "miles of trench digged" and in a city the ratio of "customers per mile" is waaaay higer than in rural areas, thus reducing "investment per customer". In addition this wiring is at the maximum 110 kV, you do NOT want a 380 kV feed in a major city. These things require a shitload of clearance, talk about 40m wide and 4m deep trenches!
• amluto 8y ago
  There is no fundamental reason that a tree hitting an overhead wire needs to make a giant arc. Sure, fancy protection equipment in a substation is expensive, but long distance underground wiring is very expensive. Also, IIUC, underground wiring has much higher capacitance per unit length, which can be an issue.
• Johnny555 8y ago
  Is the overall uptime really worse? (I'm really asking, I don't know the answer to that question) Overhead wiring is more prone to failure, but faster to fix -- a car knocked down a power pole in my street, in a few hours, the utility replaced it with a new one and strung up new wires. In contrast, a construction crew drove a pipe through an underground power line near work, it took nearly 2 days and a street closure before they restored power. Much of california is prone to earthquakes, I'm not sure whether overhead or underground power would fare better in a quake.