National Grid is Utilizing an Underwater Tunnel to Improve Reliability
National Grid has gone off the deep end. Okay, so maybe not quite. But the company has successfully constructed a tunnel underneath the Buffalo River to “modernize and improve” its electricity infrastructure. Let’s take a deep dive (pun intended) on this one!
Details of the National Grid Tunnel Project
The company launched the project, the first of its kind the company has ever pursued, in November 2017 at an estimated cost of $11 million. Amazingly, the project took less than a year to complete, wrapping up in July 2018.
The tunnel is 422-feet long, and was installed about 18 feet below the river’s floor. The river itself is up to 25 feet deep, so overall the tunnel was erected about 43 feet below the surface of the water. The tunnel is six feet in diameter, and it is wedged between 2 shafts situated on each side of the river, each of which is about 3 feet in diameter.
The impetus for doing this was to accommodate an increased level of demand in and around Buffalo in recent years due to a spike in economic growth and construction activity. The tunnel will house new electrical cables, enabling National Grid to connect new buildings to service quickly. The alternative approach of stretching cables across the river was rejected because the cables would be exposed to the elements, not to mention be a bit of an eyesore.
National Grid used a 29-ton, remote-controlled tunnel-boring machine supplied and operated by German company Herrenknecht AG to dig the trench, a device that has been compared to a giant coffee grinder. All told, the machine excavated about 8,000 tons of riverbed material. Aside from the excavation, the tunnel itself was built using a pipe-jacking method. Click on the link above for the technical details.
Overall, I think this is a very interesting concept! Anything that can support the reliability and modernization of the grid clearly goes hand-in-hand with emergency preparedness, and I for one am all for it!
