As global electricity demand rises, aging transmission infrastructure is straining under the load. Expanding urban centers and the shift to renewable energy require that more power must flow between suppliers and consumers efficiently. While stringing new overhead power lines seems the easiest option, progressive cities and counties worldwide have discovered massive advantages to putting cables underground instead. Advances in boring technology now allow for faster, cheaper underground line installation with minimal surface disruption. From improving grid resilience to enabling smarter city planning, the people at Commonwealth say that underground transmission enhances how power infrastructure integrates across communities.
Underground Cables Make Grids Storm-Proof
In many regions, overhead cables and pylons have remained essentially unchanged for decades. This dated design makes electric grids vulnerable to extreme weather events which have become more frequent lately. Trees falling, storms and associated flash floods can easily damage surface lines leading to extensive outages over vast areas. Burying cables avoids almost all weather risks and prevents lengthy blackouts during emergencies. Because cables are protected below-ground, faults are contained locally allowing grid operators to quickly reroute power remotely. With climate change set to intensify extreme weather patterns globally, migrating grids underground is the only sensible long-term reinforcement strategy.
Undergrounding Removes Eyesores in Urban Areas
From a visual and public safety perspective, dense thickets of utility poles and overhead wires commonly seen are a public eyesore, especially in metropolitan centers. Tangles of crisscrossing lines mar scenic views and vistas that would showcase the grandeur of modern cities instead. Taking the cable mess underground preserves urban sightlines and enhances aesthetics considerably without functional structures obstructing facades and horizons. Singapore has no overhead cables marring its futuristic cityscape. In smart cities, placing cables underground supports the creation of pedestrian-friendly spaces by maximizing usable area while ensuring safety.
Unlocking Land Use Efficiency with Underground Cables
Burying transmission infrastructure also allows urban planners to unlock land use efficiency stemming from mature power grid planning. Constructing conventional above ground electrical networks requires securing lengthy narrow easements in perpetuity along arbitrary paths of installation. This hinders governments undertaking road widening or property development at a later stage. In contrast, planned underground cable reserves support changing area priorities for generations without impeding imminent infrastructure goals. Once installed, underground systems remain undisturbed for decades, eliminating recurring line maintenance expenses or land access conflicts.
Burying Cables Aligns with Renewables Targets
As pressure to adopt clean energy mounts, electricity grids must keep pace in order to distribute all the extra gigawatts that unprecedented volumes of utility-scale solar and wind will produce. However, finding sufficient land corridors to erect the additional high voltage transmission towers needed gets complicated given existing line networks and competing priorities like farmland conservation or public protest. Going underground sidesteps legal wrangles around right of way and lengthy permitting processes above-ground projects entail. Large, interconnected pipeline tunnels can also incorporate auxiliary infrastructure such as access pathways for human operators and supplemental cabling to strengthen network robustness. Constructing deeper allows thermal heat dissipation needed for very high voltage DC line efficiency over great distances.
Conclusion
Modernizing power transmission infrastructure by progressively moving cables below ground delivers multi-dimensional perks spanning resilience, sustainability and smarter urbanization for long-term public welfare. While upfront installation costs exceed conventional poles and wires, the lifetime savings and avoided losses during outages justify burying investments for future-focused cities and counties. When planned holistically, hidden grids form the backbone over which vibrant communities and clean energy ambitions can thrive together over the coming decades. Given the merits, forward-looking utilities worldwide have begun underground programs to uplift urban living standards sustainably.