Ben Monjay W9JRB@abbynormative Local service lines can be put underground but as you go up in voltage, it becomes increasingly difficult and expensive to put lines underground. Sometimes, the type of soil also makes it impossible to underground lines. HV Transmission lines cannot be put underground.
⚳ rapid unscheduled assembly ⚳@that_guy_from_Oregon @abbynormative HV transmission lines can absolutely be put underground, it's just expensive.
@coregaze @abbynormative You are talking millions of dollars per mile and there are 15000 miles of HV line in Cali. LADWP recently completed a 60,000 foot line that cost $130 million dollars ($2166 per foot!).
When it's $10k per mile to string them on a pole, it doesn't make sense to do it to stave off a few hours of outages per year. Your rates would quadruple.
To underground all of Cali would probably cost North of $200B
@that_guy_from_Oregon @abbynormative Well not with that attitude.