By the end of
2024, somewhere between $80 and $100 billion will have been dished out to cities,
power utilities, fiber companies and miscellaneous entities to solve a fraction
of America’s underground infrastructure needs.
Some may be
surprised by my use of the word “fraction” to describe the generous billions
Congress has doled out and will continue to do so through 2026 via the famous
Infrastructure Act. But when we examine all the justifiable and necessary
updates, replacement, health concerns, et. al. necessary to return the
country’s piping and conduit infrastructure to high performance standards,
hundreds of billions more will ultimately have to be invested over the next 20
years.
Still, this influx
of spending is much needed and appreciated by those receiving the funding. But
as my fickle mind has been following all the rush of severe thunder storms and
tornadic activity in May, I couldn’t help but wonder if and how underground
infrastructure improvements may be avoiding flooding, power failure and loss of
services?
After all, much of
the money being invested was the direct result of climate catastrophes that
compromise utilities and bring hardships to citizens. Just how well did the
infrastructure ride out the tornadic storms and heavy rains? Admittedly, that
will be an extremely hard metric to figure out. But in future years, as storm
surges hit the coasts, rivers rise and heavy rains pour down in inland areas,
we’ll begin to paint at least a spotty picture of how drainage systems have
reacted, and if stormwater mitigation techniques truly have been effective?
Another metric to
be weighed will be how effective electric utilities have been in hardening their
distribution and transmission lines. The Infrastructure Bill is providing
billions for this as the direct result of impacts and outages –
sometimes for months – on the electric grid. That includes Mother Nature’s
heavy winter blizzards or ice storms, not to overlook massive tropical systems
or powerful hurricanes. Or worse yet, just like has recently happened, scores
of tornados that make splinters out of utility poles.
The painful truth
that utilities hate to admit is that the only way to truly harden their systems
is to move them underground. That has never been a popular concept among power
and telecom utilities. Back in the early ‘90s as technology provided solutions
for under-grounding utilities, it was deemed far
too costly to transfer above-ground infrastructure underground, a mindset that
has largely carried forward for two decades.
It was simply easier
to set tall poles and send workers and equipment up said poles with heavy and
cumbersome equipment. It was never safer, just cheaper. Electric utilities
always assumed the ease of access to overhead lines would be the cheapest way
to maintain them, regardless of life cycle costs. Plus, going underground with
power lines into the great unknown was a scary thought.
Over the last
several years, those antiquated perceptions have begun to change. The fear of
going underground has dissipated. Lifecycle costs of constant maintenance to
overhead lines pile up – especially in stormy weather. Peace of mind for
communities is knowing that the underground plant is being preserved and service
interruptions are much fewer and of shorter duration.
Further, costs for
going underground have dropped sharply while avoidance of obstacles and other
utilities has been perfected. Several things have made that possible. Equipment
and technology, such as horizontal directional drilling, piercing tools,
vibratory plows, micro trenching, vacuum excavation, utility locating and other
technologies, have combined to make the art of underground installation smooth,
efficient and safe.
But perhaps the
best reason to go underground is for extreme lifecycle results. The impacts of
lightning strikes, ice storms, blizzards, tornados and hurricanes have been tremendously diminished.
Installing
electric distribution cable underground is no more costly or challenging than fiber.
However, power transmission lines can still be more costly due to heat that
needs to be shed from large cables. Innovative technologies such as thermal
grout or cooling conduits absorb or release heat build-up.
Also, the success,
effectiveness and economics of directional drilling has made tremendous
strides, allowing conduit to be installed through the optimal thermal zones.
Under the right circumstances, there is no longer any doubt that going
underground with transmission lines is the future.
What took many
decades of decay, due to neglect, will demand more than a one-time financial shot
in the arm to resolve. The question is are we as a nation going to continue the
investment to return our infrastructure to modern standards or continue our
spiral into third-world status? UI