Exclusive: Buried power lines are cutting outage times for all Richmonders
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Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios
Dominion Energy has buried more than 570 miles of power lines in the Richmond region in recent years.
Why it matters: New data from the region's power supplier shows all Richmonders are experiencing shorter outage times as a result.
The big picture: Dominion's been working to convert overhead power lines to underground ones in its most outage-prone areas for roughly a decade.
- The company's Strategic Underground Program was created to address the number one cause of power outages: downed trees hitting power lines, something happening more often because of climate change and aging infrastructure.
- Today, around 2,500 miles of Dominion's Virginia power lines have been converted to underground, or about 13% of its lines, more than halfway to its 4,000-mile / 20% of lines goal.
Zoom in: That includes 570 miles of converted lines in the Richmond region and 379 miles just in Richmond, Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico, Dominion spokesperson Craig Carper tells Axios.
- Plus, roughly 300 miles have been converted to underground in Northern Virginia, with more than 175 miles in the works.
The intrigue: And now Dominion has data to show that the buried lines are reducing "the times that all of our customers spend without power," Carper says.
- Specifically, undergrounding has helped cut outage times in half for all Dominion customers during major storm restorations (like a hurricane or Derecho) that last longer than 72 hours.
- That's mostly because crews don't have to respond to those once outage-prone areas as often, Carper says.
Stunning stat: The average outage time for Dominion customers whose lines have been buried (or for people "down line" from buried lines) has dropped from 675 minutes (a little over 11 hours) to just 2 minutes.
- Yes, 2 minutes.
Of note: Dominion's Mainfeeder Hardening program, which upgrades old wooden poles and cross arms, has helped reduce outage times, too.
- The customers who've gotten some of Dominion's new 8,000 poles and 9,500 cross arms spend an average of 30% less time without power compared to those with the old poles, Carper says.
The bottom line: Dominion's data shows that buried power lines are helpful at keeping all Richmond homes electrified, even ones where the lines are still above ground.