Why can't all high-voltage wires be buried underground?

Apr 19, 2022
Although it is made of steel, high-voltage wires are not as strong as you think. A super typhoon can make the power grid scarred.
Why can't we bury all the high-voltage wires in the ground like the urban underground cables, so that we can never be afraid of typhoons?
At present, there is still no effective insulation material for EHV transmission as the outer insulation layer of wires, so EHV wires are all bare and cannot be buried on the ground.
There are distributed capacitors around the wires, and current can leak out through these capacitors, which on the one hand increases the consumption; On the other hand, there is a danger of electric shock when any animal approaches.
Air is an insulator, but the earth is a conductor. In the air, just put the wires directly there, but in the ground, add layers of insulation shells to the wires, otherwise the electricity in the wires will not go far, and there will be little leakage left.
Compared with overhead lines, underground cables have complex structure, high technical requirements, and difficult manufacturing and construction. Besides, the cables are buried underground, so it is not easy to find faults, and it is also difficult to repair and maintain them.
Generally speaking, the cost of underground cables with the same voltage level will be several times or even dozens of times that of aerial high-voltage lines. No one wants a power outage, but the power supply company can't hide from the ground. Once something goes wrong, it is necessary to dig three feet to check and repair the cable.
First of all, they have to go through the formalities of excavating the "underground passage"; Then, they have to work overtime to dig tunnels; Then they have to check the underground cables one by one to find out the fault points; Finally, we can prescribe the right medicine for the fault point. It's all the big guys' time, and the power supply is also very wrong. They really want to reply to the telegram quickly.
To sum up, there are both safety problems and economic problems when high-voltage lines are buried underground.
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