Mar 21, 2025
Is the investment needed to transition to underground transmission in the Southeast worthwhile?
As this post is being written, the 2025 hurricane season is less than three months away. It will not be too much longer before discussions of underground power transmission begin again in earnest. It happens every year. So here's the question: is the investment needed to transition to underground transmission in the Southeast worthwhile?
Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and the Gulf States face nature's ferocity every summer. The vast majority of hurricanes either never reach land or do minimal damage. But a major hurricane can wipe out the local grid and its infrastructure, keeping people in the dark for weeks at a time.
It is easy to see the attractiveness of underground transmission after hurricanes like Milton and Irene. And yet, those states most prone to violent hurricanes don't seem to be in a rush to get their transmission lines buried. What's the deal?
The Norm for New Developments
According to a 2022 report from Gulfshore Business, Florida developers have been varying transmission lines in new developments since the 1980s. As for existing neighborhoods and urban districts, moving transmission lines underground has been a slow go. Why? Because the process is extremely costly.
At least one utility that Gulfshore Business spoke to referenced a 2006 study suggesting that retrofitting existing neighborhoods could lead to an 80-125% rate increase for local customers. That may not be a big deal to utilities able to pass construction costs off to customers, but if you've lived in Florida all your life and the worst you've experienced is losing power for 2-3 weeks every couple of years, paying twice as much for electricity every month is a hard sell.
The transmission line problem in the Southeast is a bit different compared to the problem in California and other western states. Out west, it is believed that transmission lines significantly increase the risks of wildfires. If such assessments are accurate, power lines could be the direct cause of devastating fires.
In the Southeast, suspended power lines are not being blamed for anything. The idea behind underground transmission is to save money and prevent unnecessary outages during hurricanes.
The Benefits Should Be Obvious
The benefits of underground transmission in the Southeast should be obvious. When strong storms roll through, underground transmission lines remain connected and deliver power. You need fewer repair crews in the aftermath. You have fewer downed poles that need to be replaced, fewer roads blocked by fallen poles, and so on.
Keeping the power on is not just convenient. It also keeps things moving in the aftermath of a hurricane. Imagine a community that has fully transitioned to underground transmission. The lights stay on in all the houses. But electricity also continues feeding grocery stores, gas stations, medical clinics, and on and on. The worst the community needs to deal with is cleaning up storm debris.
The Downsides of Underground Transmission
Of course, underground transmission is not perfect. It has its downsides, especially in the southeast. In a state like Florida, the water table is extremely high. Just one crack and a piece of conduit could mean an entire transmission line being submerged in water indefinitely.
When things do go wrong, and they ultimately will, underground transmission lines are more expensive to repair. So would Southeast states see cost savings in the long run? Common sense says they would, but there is a nagging possibility that they might not.
In just a few short months the 2025 hurricane season will begin. Here's hoping the southeast is spared this year. But if not, expect the conversations about underground transmission to heat back up again.
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