Taking it underground

Believe it or not, our modern world is supported by an energy grid that was originally designed by Thomas Edison in 1880. Say it’s not so!

Indeed, Edison’s design was never meant to service the large energy-gobbling population of the 21st Century. Demand for electricity is expected to increase by as much as 40 percent in the next two decades – more than twice the population growth rate.

Finding reliable, more eco-friendly solutions is essential, and proving to be challenging.

Building wind turbines and solar farms in the middle of nowhere sounds great. But it’s not easy to move all that clean energy to the urban centers that need it. Everyone may want the electricity, but they don’t want to look at the giant wind turbines and hire-voltage wires on their properties.

One of the solutions is to run the cable along a light rail line. While it means that lines would be out of the way, the idea was never implemented in California because it was thought that putting a power supply near public transit would cause safety issues.

How about along railroads or highways? Most transportation departments don’t want lines being run alongside freeways in case road expansion is needed in the future, and railways don’t always solve the problem of accessibility.

So what does that leave? Going underground.

California has approved the construction of an underwater trench dug by water jets. Although the 53 miles of cable will be complicated and costly to build and maintain, politically it is an ideal solution because the fish won’t complain.