It's Time to Bury Those Ugly Power Lines!

 Besides the ruining of beautiful landscape, there seems to be a growing pushed to bury those power lines.  

FEMA 2021 

"In light of the frequent storms, burying the line proved to be a good investment. Installing underground lines costs more initially than overhead lines, but the underground lines are less prone to damage and disruptions, and maintenance is less expensive. In early 2010, Kruse (Lynn Kruse, manager of operations for Dakota Energy Cooperative) estimated the cost of installing one mile of overhead line might be $18,000, compared to $24,000 for one mile of underground line. He explained that the cost for the underground wire fluctuates because it is tied closely to the costs of metals that are used for the wire and petroleum products that are used in the insulation.

The cumulative cost of replacing it after each storm would have been far greater than the cost of burying it once."

Starting the trend to burying lines

Cities like San Antonio, TX; Colorado Springs, CO; New Castle, DE; Saratoga Springs, NY; Williamsburg, VA; Tacoma, WA; and Frederick, MD, have led the charge in adopting comprehensive plans to relocate their wires, and embrace the advantages that come with taking this step.

A 10-year plan approved by the Florida Public Service Commission. FPL estimates that between 300 and 700 power lines will be placed underground annually from 2021 to 2023. 

FPL’s Storm Secure Underground Pilot Program, launched in 2018, replaces overhead neighborhood power lines with underground lines to improve resiliency during hurricanes and severe weather and also enhance reliability during day-to-day conditions. By the end of 2021 they completed about 600 neighborhood projects.

California power utility Pacific Gas & Electric Co. is working on burying 10 thousand miles of power lines in an effort to prevent igniting fires with its equipment and avoid shutting down electricity during hot and windy weather.  This will cost 30 billion and take 10 years to complete.

As of 2006, Fort Collins Utilities (Colorado) had placed 100% of that city’s electrical wires underground. It was the culmination of an 18-year-long program. 

Dominion Energy, based in Virginia, and WEC Energy Group of Wisconsin are each planning line-burying projects of 5,000 miles of underground wires at an estimated price tag of about $2 billion and also take 10 years to complete. 

What's it going to take for more to jump on board?

There are a lot of up front costs.  Either the taxpayers will foot the burden or the customer will foot the bill.  

Investors want to know they're going to get a return on their investment.   There will probably need to be some tax incentives or some federal grants to get more companies willing to start an ambitious project like this.