1MM customers out of service for weeks! All 8 transmission lines serving New Orleans are down and the generation is tripped off.
In the short run, we need to support the line crews that will risk life and limb rebuilding a tangled mess of wood, steel and wire to give electricity back to their friends, neighbors and customers in Louisiana and beyond.
In the long run, and from this article…..”Experts say after making immediate repairs, the utility should consider undergrounding some critical lines.” Does it take an expert to realize that we cannot continue to replace, time and time again, the same T&D OH lines after every HILP event or major storm?
Planners and engineers should “strategically” evaluate the lines that are 1) the highest risk of failure 2) take the longest time to access and repair and 3) impact the most customers and then….put them underground.
At what cost? Let’s include “all” the replacements over the years and the lost GDP for the impacted region. Then, like PG&E’s new CEO says with regard to underground and fire mitigation …“It’s too expensive not to do it. Lives are on the line” https://lnkd.in/gP4HPgCm
What think you?
