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Rocks. Frost. Not all locations are amenable to underground cables. Here is a white paper that lays out all the tradeoffs and includes some costs. New constru
by gwright 6y ago
Rocks. Frost.
Not all locations are amenable to underground cables.
Here is a white paper that lays out all the tradeoffs and includes some costs. New construction costs can differ between overhead and underground by 2-10x. Conversion costs aren't negligible either.
https://www.eei.org/issuesandpolicy/electricreliability/undergrounding/Documents/UndergroundReport.pdf https://www.eei.org/issuesandpolicy/electricreliability/unde...
- zaarn 6y agoFrom the paper it seams that overhead cables are also >10x more frequently failing, so I think that'll balance out easily. Where I live, 99.9% of power is delivered via underground cables, I get power outages like once every 5 years. Brownouts are more often but usually not related to cable issues. America needs to catch up to the rest of the world there.
- gwright 6y agoI think that also depends on the location. Might be true in places with lots of trees. Not so true in other locations. It is complicated, as are most things.
- zaarn 6y agoIt's not complicated. Burying a cable costs more upfront and is cheaper int he long run. End of story.
- gwright 6y agoYou're being too simplistic. If it were that obvious there would be no need for white papers and it would have been done already. The actual cost of construction and maintenance are going to vary from place to base based on geology, existing infrastructure, weather, labor costs, regulatory oversight, cost of capitol, etc. So there is no one-size-fits-all solution.