Nashville examines costs of burying power lines after storm outages
Extended power outages following January’s winter storm have renewed discussion in Tennessee about expanding underground electric infrastructure as a means of improving grid resilience.
In Nashville, severe weather and ice accumulation damaged overhead distribution lines, leaving some residents without power for more than a week, Fox17 Nashville reported. The outages have prompted questions about why more of the region’s electric infrastructure is not buried below ground.
Nashville Electric Service (NES) noted that current local ordinances require underground electric installation for new subdivisions and that the utility has continued expanding underground facilities where feasible. However, converting existing overhead distribution systems to underground lines presents significant engineering and financial challenges, Fox17 Nashville reported.
Utility officials said large-scale undergrounding would require rebuilding distribution networks and modifying service connections at homes and businesses, costs that would ultimately affect ratepayers. The debate reflects broader infrastructure resilience considerations facing utilities nationwide as extreme weather events continue to test aging electric distribution systems.
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