After the storm outages, can more of Houston’s power grid go underground? (2024)

HOUSTON – Five days after a storm rummaged several neighborhoods in Houston, thousands are still dealing with the aftermath.

More than 100,000 Houstonians were still without power because of a storm last Thursday. The next day, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said it could take weeks for the power to be restored in some Houston area neighborhoods.

Houston Mayor John Whitmire brought in outside workers to assist with the load of getting everyone back online but the help just isn’t enough.

Restoring power in Houston has been difficult because it’s not just that the overhead utility poles were damaged or destroyed, but also the overhead connections between the utility pole-bound transformers, adding complexity to the heavily damaged homes and businesses as well.

So, many are posing the question. Could more of the power grid be buried underground to possibly prevent situations like this from happening in the future? According to CenterPoint, in the Houston area, there are currently 21,763 miles of underground distribution lines and 26 miles of underground transmission lines -- which is a huge chunk of the city.

Losing power is something Houstonians are privy to. In 2021, much of central Texas experienced a devastating winter storm, which left a similar effect - thousands without working electricity for weeks.

In one of our neighboring states, Florida, since Hurricane Irma in 2017, the state has since taken its power grid underground. However, putting the power grid underground wouldn’t prevent every blackout, according to experts.

“It’s simple to draw a conclusion that if we have an overhead power line, whether it be a distribution circuit in your neighborhood or whether it be a transmission line, that if we just put it underground, that would solve all the problems, right? That’s the common urban understanding. The problem with that or several is that anything that’s electrical, that’s a transmission or a distribution circuit can be put underground. The ones in your neighborhood and the older neighborhoods of Houston are distribution circuits that take the power to the houses. Often the new subdivisions are underground, right? But the costs of that are often paid by the subdivision owner. And so, if you take an existing distribution system, for example, in a residential area and want to put it underground, there are multiple problems, including notwithstanding the simple cost, cost of putting something that exists overhead, tearing down that infrastructure, and putting it underground. So cost is very substantial for distribution circuits. However, transmission circuits, are extraordinarily expensive, far more so than than the ones behind your house,” said Don Russell, an engineer who teaches at Texas A&M.

So, what’s the issue?

The cost.

Burying power lines is particularly challenging in densely developed areas due to the intricate network of existing infrastructure, including internet cables, sewer pipes, and natural gas lines. Additionally, floodplains present a significant obstacle because electricity and water are incompatible.

The estimated cost is in the billions, according to researchers.

In 2023, the former chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Texas, Peter Lake, said the two biggest reasons why more cities don’t use underground power lines were the increased cost and the difficulties repairing them.

“Just like anything they come with pros and cons,” Lake told KXAN in 2023. “The primary benefit is that when we have ice on trees and branches are falling, if the lines are underground, then outages are less of an issue. The downside of underground power lines is the extraordinary increase in cost.”

After the winter storm in Texas, Austin, the state’s capital considered burying power lines but said it ran into several obstacles, including the cost.

According to Lake, underground lines cost roughly $1 million per mile.

“In addition, maintenance on underground power lines is also challenging,” Lake told KXAN in 2023. “Instead of having somebody in a truck on the side of the road up in the bucket work in a powerline, you’ve got to dig up the street, you got to dig up yards, which of course is more disruptive to homes and families.”

When a 2002 snowstorm left millions of customers in North Carolina without electricity, a disaster preparedness task force studied the option of undergrounding the state’s entire power distribution system but found that it would take a quarter century and cost an estimated $41 billion, according to an article written by CNN.

Also, since Houston is prone to flooding at times, underground lines may pose a different obstacle. Entergy Corporation, which provides power services to Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi said subsurface flooding can damage underground powerlines, and repairs could take longer since the problem areas would require more work and underground digging.

We’ve gotten a lot of questions from viewers about why more power lines aren’t underground. Drop a comment and let us know your thoughts.

Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston - All rights reserved.

After the storm outages, can more of Houston’s power grid go underground? (2024)

FAQs

Has the power grid in Texas been fixed? ›

Is the Texas Electric Grid Fixed? No, the Texas electric grid isn't fixed, if by fixed you mean guaranteed to work perfectly in all weather conditions. But there have been some improvements on the Texas grid after the storm of 2021 that should increase its reliability in extreme weather conditions.

How to fix a Texas power grid? ›

How Will Texas Solve Its Grid Problem? Winterizing natural gas and wind power against extreme cold may be Texas's best bet against future electricity blackouts. Diversifying their power sources may also help create a more reliable supply of energy.

Why did Texas electricity grid fail? ›

Although the doomed interdependence between natural gas production and electricity resulted in dozens of fatalities in 2021, the crux of the Texas electricity crisis lies in the over-reliance on natural gas instead of renewable energy.

What country has the weakest power grid? ›

South Sudan ranked as the least-electrified country in the world in 2021, with only 7.7 percent of its population having access to electricity.

Who owns the power grid in Texas? ›

The deregulated power grid in Texas means no one company owns all the power plants, transmission lines and distribution networks, and about 60% of Texas customers choose between dozens of power retailers on an open market.

Where does Houston get its electricity? ›

While most of the electricity in Texas comes from fossil fuels, we also have more wind farms that produce electricity from wind than any other state in the country. In fact wind accounts for more than four-fifths of the electricity generated from renewable resources in Texas.

What could cause the power grid to go down? ›

Transmission failures ― Failures with transmission systems, while rare, can have significant consequences if they spiral into larger issues. Many failures are caused by weather events, but it's also possible for issues such as equipment failure and computer glitches to contribute to these events.

Is the Texas grid ready for winter? ›

The question is: Will the Texas power grid be ready? ERCOT said it does not expect emergency conditions this winter and it expects to have adequate resources. Our energy expert, Ed Hirs, said if we get extreme weather, there could be problems.

What year did the power grid go out in Texas? ›

The Timeline and Events of the February 2021 Texas Electric Grid Blackouts. In February 2021, an extreme winter storm event caused a massive electricity generation failure in the state of Texas, which resulted in a loss of power for more than 4.5 million homes.

How did Texas keep the lights on in the recent deep freeze? ›

Power was out for days in some areas. Since then, state officials have weatherized pipes and gas equipment and also shored up wind turbines and other equipment. Grid operators have also issued calls for conservation during those crucial morning hours.

Is Texas Power Grid operator approved for a 40% budget increase? ›

The Texas electric grid operator's budget will grow 40% next year, adding nearly $119 million to its current $287 million budget. Much of that will come from charging higher fees to companies that sell power to consumers.

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