N
N9WOS
- Jan 1, 1970
- 0
I was watching one of those discovery channel shows talking about the
crumbling of American infrastructure. One of the things they covered was the
power reliability problems in Deerfield IL. To the point that they sued the
power company. They talked about old power lines being the problem, and
showed pictures of old above ground poles. But I really think they missed
the actual problem with the system in Deerfield.
The primary cause of the outages in Deerfield is the underground part of the
system. Not the aboveground part.
Deerfield is on of those communities that went to the expense of having most
of the wiring put underground in a lot of the developments. It was direct
burial installation. The problem is, it is over 20 years since the power
lines were installed, and they are reaching end of life. The only answer to
fixing it is, you have to completely rip everything out and replace it.
There power company has already replaced several miles of underground line,
but that is just a fraction of what is there. If they do replace all of the
lines, it will keep everything running for about another 20 years, then they
rill have to repeat it all again.
End of life for overhead lines is 50 to 60 years. Some are still in service
long after that in dry areas. The industry is finding out that the end of
life for buried lines seems to be 20 to 25 years.
Some places I had read about were even more depressing. They stated that it
would take them 20 years to replace all the lines. Which, given the 20 year
lifespan, means that when they finish, they will instantly start back at the
beginning again. Or basically, continuous perpetual replacement of the power
system.
From what I have seen, power companies have seem to accept that fact,
because they are putting the power lines in conduit for most of the newer
installations. That allows them to pull the lines and replace them without
having to dig up the land in-between. But the idea of pulling and replacing
everything every 20 years is not hopeful in regard to power prices. Because
every customer pays for that work with their power bill.
And it will also mean more scheduled outages, because you can't relplace
them while the system is live, so when you pull the wires and replace them,
everyone is out of juice.
And that doesn't help the countless places that have already had their lines
directly buried over the last 20 to 30+ years. All those communities are on
a runaway train headed right for endless power problems, and major
excavation and replacement of their systems.
A lot of the people wanted underground lines so they could have trees
without fighting the power company, but in a round about way, they are going
to have to have those trees removed to replace the underground lines in 20
years. So there is no way to win.
With all the communities pushing for underground lines, are we, as a country
setting are selves up for a lot of power related headaches in the future?
crumbling of American infrastructure. One of the things they covered was the
power reliability problems in Deerfield IL. To the point that they sued the
power company. They talked about old power lines being the problem, and
showed pictures of old above ground poles. But I really think they missed
the actual problem with the system in Deerfield.
The primary cause of the outages in Deerfield is the underground part of the
system. Not the aboveground part.
Deerfield is on of those communities that went to the expense of having most
of the wiring put underground in a lot of the developments. It was direct
burial installation. The problem is, it is over 20 years since the power
lines were installed, and they are reaching end of life. The only answer to
fixing it is, you have to completely rip everything out and replace it.
There power company has already replaced several miles of underground line,
but that is just a fraction of what is there. If they do replace all of the
lines, it will keep everything running for about another 20 years, then they
rill have to repeat it all again.
End of life for overhead lines is 50 to 60 years. Some are still in service
long after that in dry areas. The industry is finding out that the end of
life for buried lines seems to be 20 to 25 years.
Some places I had read about were even more depressing. They stated that it
would take them 20 years to replace all the lines. Which, given the 20 year
lifespan, means that when they finish, they will instantly start back at the
beginning again. Or basically, continuous perpetual replacement of the power
system.
From what I have seen, power companies have seem to accept that fact,
because they are putting the power lines in conduit for most of the newer
installations. That allows them to pull the lines and replace them without
having to dig up the land in-between. But the idea of pulling and replacing
everything every 20 years is not hopeful in regard to power prices. Because
every customer pays for that work with their power bill.
And it will also mean more scheduled outages, because you can't relplace
them while the system is live, so when you pull the wires and replace them,
everyone is out of juice.
And that doesn't help the countless places that have already had their lines
directly buried over the last 20 to 30+ years. All those communities are on
a runaway train headed right for endless power problems, and major
excavation and replacement of their systems.
A lot of the people wanted underground lines so they could have trees
without fighting the power company, but in a round about way, they are going
to have to have those trees removed to replace the underground lines in 20
years. So there is no way to win.
With all the communities pushing for underground lines, are we, as a country
setting are selves up for a lot of power related headaches in the future?