Friday, June 02, 2006
Buenavista does Underground Cabling
Photo: InfoIcod Noticias
Real exciting news is this (she says, sarcastically), but I do see this as a positive move in the right direction.
The report covers roadworks to put electricity cabling, for a supply to new houses in the El Molino neighborhood of Buenavista del Norte, underground. So what you ask, understandably.
The overhead cabling - that has been the norm here - is one of my pet hates.
Firstly, from the purely aesthetic point of view, because if you attempt to take a photo of some landscape or a row of pretty old houses, inevitably, it will be marred by untidy strings of cables, as ugly as Widow Twankey's washing lines.
Whilst I know that is not an urgent reason for removing them, it is a very important one on an island which relies on its beauty to attract tourism.
More important is the danger - to helicopters in particular - with one very tragic accident in recent years and one near miss that I saw with my own eyes. There is actually a yellow rescue helicopter circling over the valley as I type. We see them frequently and they are essential on this island, because, given the terrain, they are often the only effective way to deal with emergencies; fires, accidents, etc.
And this is 2006. People do want and expect a reliable supply of electricity. Villagers do not want to light their homes with candles or operate their TV's off generators cobbled from old car engines, as they did 30 years ago.
The overhead arrangement used here is simply NOT suitable for the island. We've seen the extreme of this, with the rusted pylons brought down by Tropical Storm Delta last year, however, electricity supplies are interrupted here each and every time there is rain with any amount of wind - which, in winter, in the north, is very frequently indeed. The reason being, that the cables are too close: the wind blows them together, the water conducts and produces a short.
This is not the first time that we have had roadworks in the district recently as a result of putting cables underground. It will probably sound funny to most of you, but when they were doing so in the main road through the valley, despite months of minor traffic hold ups, it was a sight that made me happy.
Yeah, it's a pity they can't just install solar panels on everyone's roofs (better yet if they were invisible!), but if we must have "progress" and "mod cons", then better that it be done in a way that is in everyone's best interests.
Obras de canalización en la calle La Velazca de Buenavista del Norte
