Hawaiian Electric Lawsuit Is More Evidence That Electric Grids Across the U.S. Need Updating
Source: TIME.com | By Simmone Shah
While the exact cause of the wildfire remains unknown, Hawaiian Electric is not the first electric company to find itself facing potential liability in the aftermath of climate-related disasters. As electric companies across the U.S. begin to take steps to reduce the risks of utility-fueled fires, experts tell TIME that modernizing the electric grid and planning for extreme weather events—including having power turn-off plans and preemptively updating utility equipment—needs to be a priority in an increasingly changing climate. …
“Undergrounding is an effective, but extraordinarily expensive mitigation [strategy,]” says Katy Morsony, staff attorney at the Utility Reform Network (TURN), a utility consumer advocacy organization in California. “It needs to be used strategically, so that it's providing the most risk reduction where it's deployed.” …
TURN has been advocating for covered conductors, which Morsony says provide multi-layered insulation to protect lines from accidental contact with trees and brush. Morsony says the covered conductors protect against a number of different wildfire causes and are faster to install and more cost-effective than undergrounding.
