Then when it goes awry CPUC and legislators stand far back and decry PG&E for negligence.
https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-pge-safety-investigat...
and:
>we just string the cables haphazardly wherever, through trees is just fine...
???
That's actually the same infrastructure as the rest of the nation. Or at least, that's what it's like every place in the US that I've lived. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Houston, etc etc etc.
Most power cables near people are buried, where it makes sense. Burying cables if expensive and the risk of wild fire is pretty low if brush and forests are maintained. However, we keep putting out fires instead of letting things burn down normally. Wild fires may be sparked by an electrician malfunction, but that's merely a symptom of the larger problem of poor natural resource management.
In a third world country, wires are draped across houses in a way that is very likely to cause problems. The situation in every part of the US that I've visited is better than every third world country I've been to.
But that's not where the fires start. They come from areas that are a) dense with sap-oozing pine trees that hunger for a fire to spread their seeds, and b) so remote that maintenance checks can't logistically occur often enough to effectively prevent dangerous situations.
As you might imagine, the expense of laying underground power lines to areas like these is way out of proportion to the benefit to residents. A colossal swath of northern and eastern California is forest, and replacing power lines across all of it would be a herculean infrastructure project that PG&E definitely cannot afford.
Yes, but mostly urban/suburban areas; AFAIK, the expense would be prohibitive for long-range transmission.
EDIT: don't click directly on the link or you'll be horrified by what you see. Instead, copy the link. JWZ doesn't think highly of HN.
My understanding is that underground cables are most beneficial in areas that experience high winds and ice buildup. They may not be as well suited to CA since underground cables are just as (if not more) susceptible to damage from earthquakes and flooding. Being underground also leads to much higher capacitance in the cable, which can reduce the amount of current and shortens the cable's maximum length.
The feed that comes to my house is underground.
In my backyard, along the fence, are electric wires up in the air to feed my neighbors.
So it's a mix...
Also sparking can occur at ground air interfaces for different reasons, so it isn't a 100% solution.
It still ages, and the high cost of inspection and repair means you're going to have problems. NYC has manhole fires all of the time.