It will happen because storm frequency and outages will rise throughout the century. It is a capital investment that will sharply reduce outages. Florida is on the verge of putting their long-haul power underground. Texas is primed for storms due to the high and growing humidity in the Gulf. Finally, capital costs - interest - is low. Both governments and big corporates pay very little to borrow so it is not onerous. May be it is time to make America great again. 😉

Nor does it have to be mandatory for all systems. But there should be at least one power network in the ground as well as one telco network.

Regards,

Roderick.

From: Jared Mauch <jared@puck.nether.net>
Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2021 3:38 PM
To: Mike Hammett <nanog@ics-il.net>
Cc: Rod Beck <rod.beck@unitedcablecompany.com>; nanog@nanog.org <nanog@nanog.org>
Subject: Re: Texas internet connectivity declining due to blackouts
 


> On Feb 16, 2021, at 8:25 AM, Mike Hammett <nanog@ics-il.net> wrote:
>
> It's cheaper to build 2x, 3x, 4x the aerial plant than to build 1x the underground plant.
>
> The actual cost per foot is more like 10x difference, but there are right of way, maintenance, etc. costs to factor in as well.
>

Labor is something in 8x but the permit/engineering cost is usually the same per foot, but the make-ready on poles can make underground competitive or more like 1.5x when you fully bake the costs.  Really depends on pole distances and quality.  O&M long-term is lower on underground vs aerial.

- Jared