Undergrounding Powerlines: The New Challenges and Risks

As power companies grapple with increasingly volatile weather patterns and catastrophic wildfires, many are turning to radical new strategies. In a significant step towards climate resilience, California utilities are embarking undergrounding thousands of miles of powerlines in high fire risk areas. It's a bold move that promises enhanced safety, improved reliability, climate resilience, and sustainability. However, as with all significant advancements, the process introduces new challenges and risks that need thoughtful consideration.

While this process is set to reduce wildfire risk and improve service reliability during wind events, it requires massive construction efforts and long-term planning. Utilities must navigate numerous technical and physical obstacles, such as varying soil conditions, groundwater, and existing underground infrastructure - such as water and gas lines, sewer systems, and telecommunication cables.

Additionally, routine inspection and maintenance of the underground lines could be more complex and challenging than their overhead counterparts, demanding innovative techniques and tools. Underground cables tend to have a shorter lifespan than overhead lines, due to insulation degradation, damage from poor heat dissipation, ground movement, water ingress, or physical damage during installation that might not be noticeable.

When issues arise, identifying and repairing faults with underground cables is more complex, time-consuming, and costly than with overhead lines. The need for excavation often leads to prolonged outages during repairs – which can lead to serious economic damage if not properly managed.

The economic burden is another crucial consideration. While underground power lines promise long-term benefits, the upfront cost is much higher than traditional overhead lines, often up to 10 times more. This financial challenge could affect electricity prices, posing potential affordability issues for California customers – who are already subjected to some of the highest power costs in the country.

Right-of-way management is another challenge for undergrounding power lines. The process often requires complex negotiations with multiple property owners to secure easements, which can be time-consuming, costly, and may face resistance. Furthermore, the economic implications of obtaining and managing ROWs can significantly escalate the project's overall expense, including costs for legal work, compensation for property owners, and ongoing ROW management. Finally, the existing ROW for overhead lines may not be compatible with underground cables due to other subterranean utilities, soil conditions, or roadways. This mismatch can necessitate re-routing power lines, obtaining new ROWs, or coordinating with other utility providers, contributing additional layers of complexity to the project.

While undergrounding power lines represents a significant stride towards climate resilience and wildfire prevention, it is not a cure for all of a utility's challenges. In fact, it introduces a new suite of complex problems that can be equally demanding. High upfront costs, demanding infrastructural overhaul, maintenance difficulties, shorter cable lifespan, and complex rights-of-way negotiations are just a few of these newly introduced challenges. Undergrounding can be part of the solution, but it is not without its own set of substantial trade-offs.

Utilities must weigh these against the benefits, keeping in mind that this strategy alone will not suffice. A comprehensive approach that incorporates several different strategies, all tailored to the unique needs

and constraints of each region, will be needed to tackle the challenges that power utilities face in our rapidly changing world.

EKN Engineering is uniquely positioned to help utility companies facing the challenges of undergrounding power lines. Our robust permit management services streamline the approval process, ensuring all legal and regulatory requirements are met efficiently and accurately. We utilize our state-of-the-art solutions in Asset Health and Asset Monitoring to specifically identify and prioritize the most fire-vulnerable power lines for undergrounding. Our assessments aim to strategically reduce wildfire risks, focusing on areas where such intervention will have the most significant impact. Our work verification services offer rigorous quality control, ensuring the work done across the transmission and distribution infrastructure meets the highest standards so that undergrounding is only performed when absolutely necessary.

Through these specialized services, EKN Engineering provides utilities with the tools to overcome the new challenges associated with undergrounding power lines, fostering improved safety, reliability, and climate resilience.