Houston's vulnerability highlights need for modernized power grid technology

When Hurricane Beryl struck Houston in July, it resulted in significant damage to trees and utility poles, leaving over two million households without power. A week later, 250,000 Texans were still without electricity amid the summer heat, leading to at least three fatalities from heat exposure. This event highlighted the vulnerabilities of Houston's above-ground power grid.

The U.S. relies heavily on overhead power lines instead of underground ones, contributing to a fragile grid system. According to the Edison Electric Institute, underground power lines are significantly more reliable than overhead ones. Yet, less than 20% of U.S. power lines are buried compared to higher percentages in countries like France (40%), Germany (70%), and the Netherlands (90%). The high cost of burying power lines is a major deterrent as it can be five to ten times more expensive than overhead alternatives.

In response to these challenges, the U.S. Department of Energy has initiated an ARPA-E Program called GOPHURRS—Grid Overhaul with Proactive, High-speed Undergrounding for Reliability, Resilience, and Security—allocating $34 million for projects aimed at developing efficient undergrounding technologies.

"Modernizing our nation’s power grid is essential to building a clean energy future that lowers energy costs for working Americans and strengthens our national security," stated U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.

One project receiving $3.3 million in funding involves collaboration between Hawaii-based Oceanit and the University of Houston researchers Xuqing Wu, Yueqin Huang, and Jiefu Chen. They aim to develop an advanced subsurface sensing system using unmanned aerial vehicles and machine learning for safer underground power line installation.

"Advanced subsurface sensing and characterization technologies are essential for the undergrounding of power lines," said Jiefu Chen from UH. "This initiative can enhance the grid's resilience against natural hazards such as wildfires and hurricanes."

The project seeks to create a prototype capable of providing real-time images during horizontal directional drilling or HDD operations.

"If proven successful," Chen added, "our proposed look-ahead subsurface sensing system could significantly reduce the costs of horizontal directional drilling for installing underground utilities."

Chen focuses on electromagnetic antenna design; Huang leads geophysical signal processing; Wu integrates machine learning into real-time modeling efforts.