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Post by AussieMeg on Jul 28, 2021 0:52:36 GMT
We had yet another wild and windy night here last night, and a lot of people lost power due to trees coming down on power lines. We had a big storm last month which caused power outages - we were out for three or four days, and others in suburbs near me were out for over a week.
It got me thinking about how ridiculous it is, that in the year 2021 we still have overhead power lines. My suburb is about 35-40 years old, and has over head power lines. One of my friends moved out to a new suburb about 20 years ago, and they have underground power.
I just googled, and read that underground power is compulsory in new, outer suburban subdivisions. Also, less than 7 per cent of Australian homes are served by underground power (although that figure was from an old article, so it might be a bit more now). And Australia has relatively low levels of underground power lines compared to other industrialised nations. Yay us!
So I am curious to know how many people here have overhead power lines, and how many have underground power.
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Post by myshelly on Jul 28, 2021 0:57:29 GMT
I tried to google what percentage of the US has underground power lines and all I could find is a statistic that 25% of new construction has underground power lines, so overall it must be a very small percentage.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jul 28, 2021 0:58:23 GMT
I checked other because in our area we have both. Our subdivision has underground but neighboring areas have overhead lines. When we were looking at houses there were a few that we rejected because they were too close to major overhead power lines.
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Post by bc2ca on Jul 28, 2021 0:59:00 GMT
We have underground at home but older parts of the city still have overhead. Anything new is underground.
It isn't unusual for wildfires to get started here during the Santa Ana wind storms because of downed wires so in high risk areas the power company shuts down parts of the grid now.
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Post by katlady on Jul 28, 2021 1:01:04 GMT
I live in an area built up from the mid-90’s, so everything is underground. Older areas still have overhead lines. It is expensive to bury the lines in areas that are already built up.
We also have those huge transmission lines that are overhead. Those are the ones that cause lots of fire problems during windy days. Many of those are in areas that are difficult to access, so burying them would be very difficult.
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Post by Linda on Jul 28, 2021 1:06:06 GMT
the new house has underground, the old house (we haven't sold yet) had overhead.
Underground has definite advantages as far as wind storms etc... but repairing underground is a major pain - it took six+ weeks and digging up what appeared to be all or most of our subdision's wires to fix the fact that our house wasn't grounded.
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Post by lisae on Jul 28, 2021 1:13:11 GMT
Overhead lines. Our energy provider has just been trimming trees in our area to reduce the risk of falling limbs on lines. They mowed down and cleared a field of brush on my neighbor's property under a line coming to my house. I don't know why. Those weeds were never going to grow up and be a threat to their power lines, but it looks a lot better.
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Post by christine58 on Jul 28, 2021 1:13:39 GMT
Underground from the pole (at the road) to my house
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Post by Merge on Jul 28, 2021 1:19:10 GMT
Overhead lines in my neighborhood and most older neighborhoods (ours is about 65 years old). Neighborhoods in the suburbs, and some newer ones in the city, have buried lines to the houses/in neighborhoods but overhead along major thoroughfares, if that makes sense.
It’s ridiculous because we live in hurricane country and lose power all the time. But apparently also very expensive to bury the lines in such wet, swampy ground.
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Post by auntiepeas on Jul 28, 2021 1:23:18 GMT
The city I live in has had a fully underground electricity network for about a decade but I think we were relatively early to make the change.
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Post by freecharlie on Jul 28, 2021 1:27:40 GMT
We have underground in my neighborhood, but above ground gets it here.
My parents have overhead, theirs just went out because a squirrel blew the transformer
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Post by **GypsyGirl** on Jul 28, 2021 1:30:31 GMT
Older 1950's neighborhood with overhead power lines. When we bought in 1991, we did hire an electrician to bury the line that goes from the back of the detached garage to the house. Our main power lines are the old school style strung from wooden pole to wooden pole. Newer neighborhoods have mostly underground, but you also have to watch out for those rows of enormous towers. We looked a few houses that backed up to those when we moved here and said no thanks.
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Post by CardBoxer on Jul 28, 2021 1:32:05 GMT
Underground - our community of about 60,000 was built in the 1960s.
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Post by Baseballmom23 on Jul 28, 2021 1:35:34 GMT
What is crazy here in Southern California (and possibly elsewhere) is that SCE is mandated to set funds aside to underground overhead lines. Money is allocated to each city. When I worked as a government bureaucrat every time we would propose a project, SCE had a reason why they couldn't do that specific area. And then if you don't use your allocation within a certain time period, you would lose the monies. I got to the point where I asked them where was a good place to do a project and they would tell me it was my city's decision. Very frustrating.
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Post by AussieMeg on Jul 28, 2021 1:38:40 GMT
It isn't unusual for wildfires to get started here during the Santa Ana wind storms because of downed wires so in high risk areas the power company shuts down parts of the grid now. Ah yes, that's another point I didn't mention in my OP. The massive Black Saturday bushfire in my state in 2009 was caused by power lines that came down in the 100km/h + winds. Those fires killed 173 people and almost wiped out entire towns. Underground has definite advantages as far as wind storms etc... but repairing underground is a major pain - it took six+ weeks and digging up what appeared to be all or most of our subdision's wires to fix the fact that our house wasn't grounded. Hmmm, I didn't think of that. My parents have overhead, theirs just went out because a squirrel blew the transformer I think the same thing happens here with possums occasionally. |
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Post by whipea on Jul 28, 2021 1:42:25 GMT
At least 3/4 of the county is underground. Only the older areas, meaning from the 1920's to the 1960's have above ground.
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Post by Spongemom Scrappants on Jul 28, 2021 1:43:19 GMT
Our neighborhood was developed beginning in the mid 1970s so it's all overhead lines still. They do come along every few years and trim back trees and branches that could be problematic for the lines.
I like the look (and practicality) of it all underground, but it's not particularly common where I live.
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Post by AussieMeg on Jul 28, 2021 2:10:48 GMT
And then there is the additional issue of trees planted beneath the overhead power lines. Why the local councils ever planted big trees under powerlines is beyond me. And they will not cut down any trees, come hell or high water. This is the result, when they have to prune around the power lines. How ridiculous does this look?!  |
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Post by elaine on Jul 28, 2021 2:16:58 GMT
When we moved into my neighborhood 18 years ago, most power lines lines were overhead. We had frequent power outages during storms. For the past 10 years they have all been underground and we have only had brief outages of less than 10 minutes.
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May 18, 2024 10:00:26 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2021 2:18:30 GMT
Other because it is both.
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Post by ~summer~ on Jul 28, 2021 2:22:45 GMT
The house I grew up in and that my parents live in - an older neighborhood they moved them under ground. My house they are above ground.
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Post by leannec on Jul 28, 2021 2:41:25 GMT
I'm in Canada ... my house was built in 1988 ... we have underground power lines  |
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Post by miaow on Jul 28, 2021 3:03:06 GMT
Ours are underground and I am sitting in the dark because our power has been out for two hours…undetermined cause with no estimate of restoration time. A month ago we were out for 40 hours. Again, no reason. It is frustrating!
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Post by LavenderLayoutLady on Jul 28, 2021 3:11:59 GMT
Overhead, and bad storms knock our power out every year.
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Post by dewryce on Jul 28, 2021 3:17:39 GMT
Within the neighborhood, which was started in 2006 or 2006, everything (phone, cable, fiber, electric) is underground. Getting to our neighborhood is a different matter and it just depends where. Because of that we do occasionally lose power due to issue with the power lines getting to us. But mostly it’s when there is an issue with the underground hubs or whatever they’re called.
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Post by melanell on Jul 28, 2021 3:27:20 GMT
I chose "other" because I have what seems like quite the silly situation. The lines are buried on our property. But the lines are above ground at the street. So basically, the lines come off the street and right into the corner of our yard. I guess it helps the tiniest amount, technically---I mean something could *possibly* happen to the lines in the very short distance between the road and the corner of our roof (We're fairly close to the road.), but it seems very unlikely, which is why it feels silly to me.  (ETA: Our home was built in 1989.) |
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Post by workingclassdog on Jul 28, 2021 3:33:48 GMT
Underground in my neighborhood. We built this house in 2001 and most of the area round me is about the same. I can tell you on one hand how many times the electricity has gone out. Maybe four.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2021 3:35:38 GMT
Are you talking transmission, sub-transmission or distribution? Outages vary greatly depending on the event. It complicated and expensive and whether investor-owned or a non-profit provider we pay for it.
Best case it for local zoning to require sub-transmission and distribution to be placed underground if they aren't already, IF it's financially feasible and there is adequate right of way.
Transmission is costly and there is little besides aesthetics as a benefit. I won't go on with the details, but hopefully technology/cost will improve over time. Also the move towards more distributed systems should lessen the need for the very high voltage to an extent.
No matter the type of system, proactive and semi-aggressive vegetation management is absolute key. It can be shown over and over that this is the case. Issue is it's costly and many folks are resistant to trimming/removal of vegetation.
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Post by PLurker on Jul 28, 2021 3:35:45 GMT
I had to think about it as I haven't been here long and to be honest not something I've taken notice of.
No overhead 8n my subdivision/area but it is newer, my place being built in 2003. There is power lines overhead just outside the subdivision in the farm/rural area. Which how it was in my old place, a farmhouse built before the beginning of time. 😉
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Post by workingclassdog on Jul 28, 2021 3:36:02 GMT
And then there is the additional issue of trees planted beneath the overhead power lines. Why the local councils ever planted big trees under powerlines is beyond me. And they will not cut down any trees, come hell or high water. This is the result, when they have to prune around the power lines. How ridiculous does this look?! Oh Meg that made me laugh REALLY out loud!! That is so silly |
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(ETA: Our home was built in 1989.)
