We are committed to delivering more reliable, resilient energy for every customer.” “Burying the lines is just one tool we can use in our growing toolbox to prevent outages from impacting our customers.

“We can’t control the weather, but we can control how we prepare for more extreme storms,” said Chris Laird, Consumers Energy’s vice president of electric operations. This pilot will help us learn even more about how to bury lines in ways that keep costs as low as possible, allowing us to bury additional lines in the future.” “Historically the costs to bury lines have been too expensive, but we have driven down the cost per mile to be equivalent to above-ground hardening costs. “We know burying power lines will help make the grid stronger, especially during violent storms that are hitting Michigan more frequently,” said Greg Salisbury, Consumers Energy’s vice president of electric distribution engineering. Buried lines also reduce or eliminate downed wire electrocutions, fire hazards, vehicle collisions, and falling poles, improving public safety.īased on results from other states and energy providers that have moved overhead lines underground, Consumers Energy estimates it can improve resiliency 90 percent along circuits where lines are buried.

The pilot will study real-world resiliency improvements that result from burying power lines, and how those improvements compare with other approaches to improving electric service for nearly 2 million Michigan homes and businesses.īuried power lines are protected from common outage causes, including lightning, high winds, tornadoes, heavy snow, ice and falling tree limbs. The program is meant to help the company better understand how to bury power lines in a cost-effective way to strengthen Michigan’s electric grid and reduce outages. (ABC 4)- Consumers Energy today announced it is proposing a targeted undergrounding pilot program pending approval from the Michigan Public Service Commission.

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