Northern Colorado city confident in underground electric grid amid seasonal storms

On Sunday evening and throughout the day Monday, most Colorado residents along the Front Range experienced strong wind. The gusts were so strong it blew away some people's outdoor furniture, while others had to cut back outdoor activities.

However, due to Colorado's climate and geography, strong winds often come with heightened risk of fire. Following the Marshall Fire in 2021, many have turned their attention toward their utility companies to assure their power stays on while also making sure fires do not spark from poles.

"The weather has been windy; that's for sure," said Kraig Bader, electrical engineering manager for the city of Loveland.

Bader said the city has worked extensively to try and make sure its power grid is not as vulnerable to weather events.

"A lot of the municipal utilities in Northern Colorado have been thinking about (how their lines can be impacted by weather or impact the community) for a while," Bader said.

If you drive throughout Loveland, odds are you won't see many powerlines above ground. If you do, it is likely they are not lines that are owned and operated by the city's utilities.

"The vast majority of (Loveland's power lines are) underground. About 87% of it is underground," Bader said. "That is much more resilient to weather events like this."

Bader said the 13% of their power lines that are above ground are fixed with smart systems that help further assure faults in the system do not cause fires as easily.

"Where we do have overheard lines, where geography and terrain make it difficult like up in the Big Thompson canyon, we try and build it with some intelligent protection systems to keep problems from getting worse if something should happen during weather events," Bader said. "If they do sense a fault, they do open to protect the line."

Bader said the team with Loveland is able to track the system and monitor it for any faults. They also have systems that attempt to reestablish power through the line in the chances a fault was the result of something minor like an animal rather than a downed powerline from the wind.

"What it does is it tests it with a very brief and very controlled current to see if there really is a fault there," Bader said. "If there is, it doesn't close back in."

Those with the city of Loveland said their largely underground grid allows them to operate through Colorado's wide range of weather with less concern of a major issue.

"The underground systems are well known for being very resilient tow weather events," Bader said. "Not just wind events but heavy snow, ice and things like that that can be detrimental to overhead lines. So having an underground system is amazingly helpful for reliability and resiliency."