Bob Goodfellow has spent 30 years in underground design and construction projects and is currently working on the Los Angeles subway system. His company Aldea is working with Petra to test its early systems.
“It was like nothing I had ever seen before,” Goodfellow said. “There’s been talk a lot about things like nuclear powered tunneling machines, contactless tunneling and the like, but those are just talking prototypes. As far as I know, these are the first people to try to commercialize it in a real way. “
Petra has been operating in stealth mode since 2018. Initially, Abrams said, the founding team thought plasma could be an ideal way to cut through rock. But the approach runs into problems, including the size of the device, how the plasma is supplied and what to do with the magma pools created by the excavation.
“We ended up melting a lot of rock and creating lava, and when we created the lava, it was effectively keeping our system on track,” she said.
Petra CTO and Tesla co-founder, Ian Wright, joined the company about a year ago to work on energy consumption to power a plasma torch but began to shift the team away from the plasma torch approach . Wright said he frequently answers questions about the Boring Company, a tunneling company co-founded by Elon Musk, but Wright says he plays no role in the Boring Company.
Utilities use a variety of methods to lay underground power lines or cables. On the street, people often use a saw with a giant blade to cut through asphalt or concrete. In less crowded places, dynamite or other explosives detonate rocks, or excavators break rocks into smaller pieces. Drilling can be done with a conventional drill head and a chemical mix, and the reamer can tunnel as as big as a highway or as small as a few inches.
John Fluharty is a plumbing contractor for utility companies and a member of PDi2, a company that researches and supports ways of undergrounding and delivering electricity. He says burying power lines is typically five times more expensive than running them above ground; Hard rock installations can cost up to 20 times more than overhead lines. But when they are installed, the maintenance costs will be much lower than that of the above ground lines.
Concerns about climate change have increased concerns about burying power lines. In order for the United States to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, the Princeton University researchers conclude, the nation’s electricity grid would have to carry 60 percent more electricity, including increased wind and solar capacity. four times. Technological advancements allow power lines carry more electricity can also help tackle climate change and promote wind and solar farm projects.
Advocates say moving utilities underground makes more sense in a world where extreme weather can threaten people’s ability to access electricity, especially in prone locations. fire or storm. High-voltage power lines have caused numerous fires in recent years, including a 2018 fire in Northern California that killed 84 people. Pacific Gas & Electric, which pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with that fire, recently committed to placing 10,000 miles Underground power lines in central and northern California.
