We will be carrying out work to bury power lines in four Michigan communities over the next two months, meeting a commitment to bury 10 miles of lines this year through our Reliability Roadmap.
“Consumers Energy is delivering on our promise to bury more power lines. This helps make the power grid stronger and, importantly, will help keep the lights on for customers, even during the most intense storms,” said Chris Laird, vice president of electric operations. “This is only the start. We plan to take on more upgrades like this next year and in the years after that.”
Our crews are working in Allegan and Allendale (Ottawa County), and are about to start in Hillsdale and Saugatuck, burying overhead power lines and protecting them from Mother Nature. In all, we are spending $3.7 million through a pilot program this year, including a recent project near Standish in Arenac County.
Within the next five years, we plan to bury 1,000 miles of power lines as part of the Reliability Roadmap. That’s our long-term commitment to restore power to all customers within 24 hours, even after the most severe storms.
Other tactics in the Reliability Roadmap include increased line clearing, new technology, more durable iron poles and even a robotic dog.
“Burying power lines is an important part of our game plan, but it’s worth understanding it’s not the only approach,” Laird said. “We’re excited to bring these projects to more and more communities and, when burying lines isn’t the best option due to cost or other reasons, we want to use other tools in our toolbox to better serve the nearly 2 million homes and businesses that count on us.”
