3 ms·

Thanks for the detailed reply! Does any of this calculus change when you're talking about really rural areas, like in the desert of Australia? My guess is that

Thanks for the detailed reply! Does any of this calculus change when you're talking about really rural areas, like in the desert of Australia? My guess is that would mean higher cost of sending someone out to fix a pole (point against poles), but also lower likelihood of running into existing infrastructure (point in favor of digging).

mschuster91 4y ago
No idea to be honest. For power at least, running it buried is no good idea at all because capacitive losses are larger, so at least as long as an area has a grid connection it makes sense to "dual use" the already existing poles. Based on popular memes I can imagine, especially in Australia, that it might not be a good idea to bury lines in the open desert because you will get animals burrowing and chewing through the cables.