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NHDraven t1_jc5rcrz wrote

Reply to comment by decayo in What is the deal with the NH grid? by decayo

New England doesn't want to spend money to retrofit underground utilities. Instead, they want to pump massive money into spot repairs.

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draggar t1_jc68jei wrote

This just isn't New England. I lived in south Florida for 10 years and all the older neighborhoods have above-ground wiring and the areas won't spend the money to put them underground, even though hundreds of poles and countless wires will go down with each hurricane - and the newer areas with underground lines are usually quick to get their power back since there's no individual repairs.

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RelativeMotion1 t1_jc6kic7 wrote

At $2 million per mile, there would need to be an awful lot of spot repairs to justify that.

Not that it doesn’t sound nice; power lines and poles gone, ROWs clear and open. Just don’t see how the cost would be justifiable, especially given the likely effect on rates.

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Andromeda321 t1_jc6o1k9 wrote

It’s one of those things that are exceptionally region dependent. I lived in the Netherlands for example and all the power lines were underground due to sandy soil, power went out maybe once in the five years I was there. But I can tell you right now, NH soil sure isn’t like it was there!

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RelativeMotion1 t1_jc6oyyj wrote

Yeah the $2m/mi figure is an average, and I suspect it would be more in many parts of NH due to difficult terrain and the prevalence of rock.

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AKBigDaddy t1_jc7gys1 wrote

It would be an incredibly long term investment- you're not going to see an ROI for likely 20+ years. But it would pay for itself long term. And in the mean time it would provide residents with far more reliable service.

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