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Underground transmission wires are $$$. The rule of thumb for charging a 345kv line is about 1 MVAR/mile. Underground lines are at least an order of a magnitude higher per mile so you need a lot of inline reactors.
PG&E gets a guaranteed ROI from any infrastructure investment. I’m sure they would put lines underground if the costs were not astronomical. As for opening a line precontingent, thats pretty dumb. I can’t blame them though for not wanting to get sued again. I wonder how your grid operator (cal iso) is handling all of this?
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