Northern Michigan Utilities Bury Power Lines as Only 20% of U.S. Grid Runs Underground
Updated
Updated · NPR · May 19
Northern Michigan Utilities Bury Power Lines as Only 20% of U.S. Grid Runs Underground
10 articles · Updated · NPR · May 19
Northern Michigan utilities are expanding efforts to bury more power lines, betting underground cables will cut outages as severe weather grows more frequent.
About one-fifth of U.S. power lines are currently underground, even though buried lines are significantly more reliable than overhead systems.
The push comes as climate change drives stronger weather events across the country, adding pressure on utilities to harden grids against repeated disruptions.
As burying power lines could triple electricity bills, are we trading reliability for affordability?
While America battles weather, is Europe’s grid defense against hybrid warfare a warning we should heed?