Aging utility poles in Minnesota: Xcel ramps up pole replacement efforts

(FOX 9) – More than two-thirds of power transmission towers throughout the territory Minnesota They’re at least half a century old, and records show their failure rates increase sharply with age, a problem exacerbated by climate change, experts say.

These realities have prompted Xcel Energy to intensify its efforts to regularly inspect and periodically replace aging equipment before it fails. Xcel has about 500,000 poles statewide with an average age of 54 years, four years beyond what the utility considers its “useful life.”

“Age isn’t really that important in terms of determining what needs to be replaced and what doesn’t,” said Michael Lamb, senior vice president of Xcel Energy. “We are building assets to last for decades.”

Context

While the utility strives for equipment to last for decades, they don’t always do it that long.

Records show that after poles reach 40 years of age, failure rates increase and continue to increase every decade. The biggest jump occurs when the number is between 60 and 70, when the failure rate nearly triples, from just over five percent to more than 15 percent.

“You’ll be looking at things that can suddenly fail. They can fail quickly,” said Dr. Mahmoud Kabalan, director of the Center for Microgrid Research at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.

Cabalan said the aging power grid poses threats that are difficult to predict, especially in more severe weather conditions than those we have faced in recent decades.

“Once they get old and exceed a certain limit, they can be destroyed by a strong storm,” he said. “You just don’t know when it’s going to fail. It may remain operational and within specifications, but a severe storm—a severe ice storm—or high winds could cause those poles to fail.”

Weather change

Experts said climate change is the single threat facing the power grid both in Minnesota and across the country.

“As weather events become more severe, the number of power outages increases,” Cabalan said. “So there is a strong correlation between severe weather and power outages.”

Lamb agreed that severe weather remains a major threat to the network.

“Climate change is a big challenge that we need to prepare for,” he said.

There is at least one solution to the problem of weather-related outages, but it has significant drawbacks.

Why not run more wires underground?

At the October 1 vice presidential debate, Gov. Tim Walz asked during a discussion of infrastructure, “How can we ensure that we protect by burying our power lines?”

Although they can be placed underground, in most cases this is not practical as the cost is too high for most consumers.

Running overhead lines underground can cost up to $500,000 per mile in suburban areas and up to $5 million per mile in urban areas, according to Xcel.

“It’s not only a cost to the utility company, which ultimately goes into our price, but also to our homeowners,” Lamb said.

He also noted that underground lines are not immune to service interruptions and often take longer to repair.

Xcel regularly inspects and replaces supports as necessary. The utility places technicians on the ground and flies drones to inspect them from all angles. In 2023, the company inspected nearly 56,000 of its 500,000 poles, replacing 11 percent of them.

Xcel announced Thursday it will invest $13.2 billion between 2025 and 2030 in the region that includes Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, more than half of which will go to improving aging transmission and distribution systems. Xcel also received a $100 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, which it plans to use to fund efforts to strengthen tower tops in a program expected to launch in late 2024.

“It’s in our DNA to keep the lights on for our customers, and we really feel their disappointment when they go out,” Lamb said.