⚡ Why can't Houston just bury its power lines?
After Hurricane Beryl ravaged Houston and left over 2 million residents without power Monday, the city began to play a familiar song and dance with the energy provider, CenterPoint, slowly and incrementally interfacing with the company to restore downed power lines while residents endured a citywide heat advisory. The hurricane, only a Category 1, left many wondering how Houston, with all its power, could not keep on its own lights.
Unlike past power failures, Houstonians did not lose power because demand outpaced the Texas grid's capacity, but because of blown transformers and the good old-fashioned rivalry between falling trees and aboveground power lines.
Some, including Houston city councilmember Abbie Kamin, have called on the city to bury more power lines as a result, as cities such as Colorado Springs and Anaheim, California have done in response to their own extreme weather events. Buried power lines have an aesthetic benefit as well, although that has never been much of a motivating factor for Houston.
But is that doable in Houston? Read here: https://lnkd.in/gR5xDe-z