California’s Undergrounding Conundrum
Source: Politico | By Noah Baustin
GROUND RULES: Just about everyone agrees that burying power lines underground would be the best way for utilities to reduce wildfire risk. The only problem: It’s too expensive. California regulators are set to vote Thursday on a new rule to govern how utilities reduce the risk of their equipment sparking wildfires. It would set a cost-benefit ratio for utilities to calculate when it makes sense to spend money on undergrounding versus cheaper methods like tree-trimming and insulating above-ground lines.
Undergrounding-happy utilities aren’t happy with the math. “That method of calculating the [benefit cost ratio] is very disadvantageous to undergrounding,” said Matt Pender, Pacific Gas & Electric’s vice president of undergrounding and system hardening. It wouldn’t be able to do that under the California Public Utilities Commission’s proposed ratio, which would pencil out for only about a third of those miles, he said.
