Consumers Energy will be carrying out work to bury power lines in four Michigan communities over the next two months, with the goal of meeting a commitment to bury 10 miles of lines this year through its Reliability Roadmap.
“Consumers Energy is delivering on our promise to bury more power lines. This helps make the power grid stronger and, importantly, will help keep the lights on for customers, even during the most intense storms,” said Chris Laird, Consumers Energy’s vice president of electric operations. “This is only the start. We plan to take on more upgrades like this next year and in the years after that.”
Consumers Energy crews are working in Allegan and Allendale (Ottawa County), and are about to start in Hillsdale and Saugatuck, burying overhead power lines and protecting them from Mother Nature. In all, the energy provider is spending $3.7 million through a pilot program this year, including a recent project near Standish in Arenac County.
Within the next five years, Consumers Energy plans to bury 1,000 miles of power lines as part of its Reliability Roadmap. Other tactics in the roadmap include increased line clearing, new technology, iron poles, and a robotic dog. Also included is a new wildfire risk mitigation plan – Consumers Energy calls it the first such plan by an energy provider in the Midwest – which is meant to protect customers from increased wildfire risk if the National Weather Service issues a “red flag warning.” The plan includes prioritized tree trimming, equipment upgrades in wildfire risk areas and more effective monitoring.
“Burying power lines is an important part of our game plan, but it’s worth understanding it’s not the only approach,” Laird said. “We’re excited to bring these projects to more and more communities and, when burying lines isn’t the best option due to cost or other reasons, we want to use other tools in our toolbox to better serve the nearly 2 million homes and businesses that count on us.”
Undergrounding powerlines is a resiliency tactic employed by transmission and distribution utilities across the country, particularly in areas that experience frequent extreme weather events or wildfires. But the practice comes at a cost: in California, undergrounding a distribution line is 10 times more expensive than building a new overhead line, while a buried transmission line can be 6-10 times more expensive.
Existing distribution lines, however, are especially cumbersome and expensive to bury due to existing pipes and cables that exist beneath the surface. Undergrounding of transmission lines is a last resort, again, due to exorbitant costs and effective alternatives (transmission lines are typically only buried in dense urban areas).
Consumers Energy recently agreed to pay $1 million after state energy regulators investigated complaints of malfunctioning electrical meters, violations of rules on estimated billing and significant delays in providing new electric and gas service.
In May, Consumers Energy announced it purchased 1,200 iron utility poles, a $3.5 million investment, in an effort to make overhead power lines more resilient. The utility says these poles are stronger, lighter and longer lasting than their traditional wooden counterpart, as they are engineered to resist fire and the effects of Michigan’s harsh weather, and are not vulnerable to wood decay, woodpeckers, insects or other wildlife.
Additionally, Consumers Energy previously announced it would invest nearly $24 million in smart technology this year to prevent power outages. Nearly 3,000 line sensors – the most that Consumers Energy has ever installed in a year – and over 100 automatic transfer reclosers (ATRs) are being deployed throughout Michigan.
Consumers Energy is Michigan’s largest energy provider, providing natural gas and/or electricity to 6.8 million of the state’s 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties.
