The Energy Thread

[Moliere]

More expensive than wildfires?

Probably. In Houston a study was done after Hurricane Ike because the mayor wanted to make the system more reliable and underground lines are much more reliable than those on poles. They found that burying lines cost at least 6-7 times more but usually much more, especially in urban areas. The cost is about $20 per foot for above ground and up to $400 per foot to bury. Plus, maintaining buried lines is much more expensive. Houston ultimately decided that going without power for 7 days after a hurricane is worth the trouble when compared to paying an electrical bill that is 4-5 times higher.

I can only imagine how much it would cost for CAlifornia to bury their high voltage transmission lines in some of the very rural and mountainous areas. The cost would be astronomical, especially once you add on the environmental studies/impact that Cali would obviously require.

The question is also who is going to pay for it? The rate payers already don't pay enough to properly maintain the system so will they pay exponentially more to bury the lines? They won't even pay more to properly maintain the system and they are already paying much higher rates than most states.

[Uncle Ted]

To any given HOA it would be.

The problem is a lot more complex than that. There is plenty of culpability to go around, including to the CA leg that mandated PG&E spend a lot of its resources on renewables without allowing it to raise rates enough to pay for spending on maintenance at the same time. PG&E is poorly run but is also restricted from making its own choices.

Deregulated power in Texas has its problems as well. There are like 40 power companies to choose from. I have to keep switching power companies about every six months so I can keep getting the best rate. It's a PITA.

[Uncle Ted]

Burying lines is expensive

Not to mention the ground in California doesn't seem all that stable.

[creekster]

More expensive than wildfires?

To any given HOA it would be.

The problem is a lot more complex than that. There is plenty of culpability to go around, including to the CA leg that mandated PG&E spend a lot of its resources on renewables without allowing it to raise rates enough to pay for spending on maintenance at the same time. PG&E is poorly run but is also restricted from making its own choices.

[Pelado]

Burying lines is expensive

More expensive than wildfires?

[Moliere]

The state of California mandated that PG&E pay for any sparked fires. So even though the hot, dry, windy weather is an act of God, if PGE opted to keep the lights on, it would bear 100% of the risk of the attendant fire. I would make the same call they did. Can't people see the correlation between the weather and fires?

Why don't HOAs and PODs and cities get together and bury their power lines?

Burying lines is expensive

[Katy Lied]

The state of California mandated that PG&E pay for any sparked fires. So even though the hot, dry, windy weather is an act of God, if PGE opted to keep the lights on, it would bear 100% of the risk of the attendant fire. I would make the same call they did. Can't people see the correlation between the weather and fires?

Why don't HOAs and PODs and cities get together and bury their power lines?

[The_Tick]

Waking up to day 3 with no power...we might get in back by Saturday.

[Moliere]

That is where all the oil fields are. Maybe they just burn off all the methane "waste" up there.

There were a couple months this past summer that copmanies in the Permian were paying people to take the gas. It was pretty crazy. The biggest tragedy in this whole thing is that natural gas is so abundant but no one seems interested in using it was a bridge fuel to renewables. If we had better CNG infrastructure, green house gases would plummet and energy would be crazy cheap. Keep in mind that oil companies oftentimes still have to pay royalties to interest owners on the gas that is flared, even though the copmanies don't even sell the gas.

[Jeff Lebowski]

That is where all the oil fields are. Maybe they just burn off all the methane "waste" up there.

Whoa. That is nuts.

[Uncle Ted]

What in the world is happening in North Dakota?

That is where all the oil fields are. Maybe they just burn off all the methane "waste" up there.

[snowcat]

Yeah, no kidding.

[ATTACH]9814[/ATTACH]

What in the world is happening in North Dakota?

[Jeff Lebowski]

This looks promising:

https://techxplore.com/news/2019-10-...EqLtS5fVA2_a3Q

Scientist have developed a lithium ion battery that charges at an elevated temperature to increase reaction rate but keeps the cell cool during discharge, showing the potential to add 200 miles of driving range to an electric car in 10 minutes. If scaled, the design is one potential strategy to alleviate concerns that all-electric vehicles lack sufficient cruise range to safely reach a destination without stalling mid-journey.

[Uncle Ted]

What the hell is PG&E thinking turning the power back on?

PG&E says its power lines may have started 2 fires in California over the weekend

• Pacific Gas & Electric Co. power lines may have started two wildfires over the weekend in the San Francisco Bay Area, the utility said Monday.
• The news comes even though widespread blackouts were in place to prevent downed lines from starting fires during dangerously windy weather.
• The fires began in a section of town where PG&E had opted to keep the lights on. The sites were not designated as a high fire risk, the company said.

[...]

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/29/pge-...e-weekend.html

[Uncle Ted]

Power outages are giving California companies more reasons to move...