America’s electrical infrastructure stands as both a testament to engineering vision and a symptom of its age. The millions of miles of transmission lines crisscrossing the country have powered growth and innovation for decades. But as the grid decays and clean energy ascends, the people at Commonwealth say that an overhaul from the ground up through underground transmission systems may light the path ahead.
Protecting wires below ground shields them from intensifying storms that have already left too many communities powerless. Forward-looking projects also showcase how advanced underground transmission can unlock more connectivity to accelerate renewable energy deployment coast to coast.
The Case for Going Underground
The advantages of underground infrastructure make sense on paper but face real barriers to deployment at scale. Still, the extreme weather and reliability benefits transmission lines gain when buried may shift the calculus:
Advantages:
- Protection from storms, floods, ice, wind, wildfires
- Elimination of vegetation and vehicle/animal interference
- Enhanced connectivity potential between distant clean energy hubs
Challenges:
- Installation costs up to 10x higher than overhead
- Sophisticated cooling systems required for buried cables
- Careful navigation around existing underground infrastructure
- Lack of large-scale project precedent and maturity
Innovation can counteract these drawbacks. This is mainly thanks to things like continued research, improving techniques like advanced boring machinery, and economies of scale. Government grants, collaborations with the private sector, and innovative funding models can also help offset these high initial costs.
Signs of Progress
The obstacles that stand in the way of widespread underground transmission adoption are formidable. Nonetheless, ambitious new megaprojects that are currently on the drawing board. This suggests the trend is gaining traction:
- The SOO Green HVDC Link proposes to transmit 8,000 MW of wind and solar generation from the Midwest to Chicago through 350 miles of high-voltage direct current cables buried underground.
- New York State recently approved the Champlain Hudson Power Express project to bring 1,000 MW of Canadian hydropower to metro NYC using long-distance underground and underwater cables.
- Towns like Columbia, Missouri are allocating tens of millions in budgets to slowly underground certain local distribution lines against storms.
While questions remain on scaling this concept nationally, targeted investments demonstrate powerful potential.
Connecting the Dots
Realizing a modern coast-to-coast grid requires binding everything together, from huge new transmission conduits to last-mile neighborhood lines. Strategically positioned underground links must ultimately interconnect into a larger whole.
Modern backbone transmission projects in early phases now will integrate more renewables down the line. Local areas proactively hardening distribution grids will form a patchwork of resilient endpoints able to accept that growing clean energy supply.
Careful coordination across sectors, utilities, contractors, and government agencies can unite these pieces over the coming decades. Constructing to common standards and designs leaves flexibility for later expansion. A unified vision for smart planning avoids redundant or competing infrastructure in limited rights of way underground.
The Outlook From Below
Industry experts compare modernizing America’s power infrastructure to the 50-year project to construct the interstate highway system. But while roads and bridges crisscross the land in plain view, the most vital electricity arteries of the future lie buried out of sight.
It is this invisible backbone that will enable the nation’s transition toward resilient renewable energy from coast to shining coast. Innovations often germinate underground before visibly disrupting the status quo above. The blueprint for America’s clean energy tomorrow is already etching itself beneath the surface.
Conclusion
The path ahead remains long and challenging. But each local project and budding megaproject today plants seeds for increasing interconnectedness tomorrow. From small towns rethinking grid economics to visionary builders redefining ultra-high-voltage transmission, the foundations are settling into place out of sight, where the true power of America’s future electricity has always belonged.