The Unseen Revolution: Fixing the Grid from the Inside Out

MISSISSAUGA, ON – December 05, 2025 – While headlines often focus on massive solar arrays and towering wind turbines, a quieter, more profound innovation is reshaping the sustainability of our energy grid from below the ground. Alectra Utilities, Canada's largest municipally-owned electric utility, was recently honoured with Southwire’s 2025 Underground Environmental Stewardship Award, a recognition that pulls back the curtain on a game-changing practice: cable rejuvenation. This isn't just about maintaining wires; it's a strategic fusion of chemistry, economics, and environmentalism that offers a powerful blueprint for the future of infrastructure.

The Ticking Clock Beneath Our Feet

Beneath the manicured lawns and paved streets of countless North American communities lies an aging network of underground residential distribution (URD) cables. Much of this critical infrastructure, installed during the suburban boom of the 1970s and 80s, is reaching the end of its projected lifespan. The primary culprit for their degradation is a phenomenon known as "water treeing," where moisture and high voltage conspire to create microscopic, tree-like channels within the cable's polyethylene insulation, eventually leading to faults and power outages.

For decades, the standard utility playbook had a single, brute-force solution: dig and replace. This approach is not only enormously expensive but also highly disruptive. It involves trenching through private properties and public spaces, tearing up landscaping, and a significant expenditure of fuel, labor, and new materials. The carbon footprint of manufacturing new cables, transporting heavy equipment, and disposing of the old assets is substantial. It's a costly, carbon-intensive cycle that utilities have long accepted as a necessary evil to maintain grid reliability.

A Surgical Strike for a Sustainable Grid

Cable rejuvenation offers a starkly different, more elegant solution. Instead of wholesale replacement, this technology works like a form of preventative medicine for the grid. Developed in the 1980s and refined over decades, the process involves injecting a specialized, non-toxic dielectric fluid—such as Southwire's patented CableCure® fluid—directly into the conductor strands of an aging cable.

The process is remarkably non-invasive. Technicians access the cable through existing termination points, like transformers, and use pressure to push the fluid through the cable's core. Through capillary action, the fluid migrates into the insulation, where it chemically repairs the damage caused by water trees. It not only restores the cable's dielectric strength but can also enhance it, effectively converting the old insulation into a more robust material that prevents future water tree growth. A cable that was once on the verge of failure can be given a new lease on life, extending its service by an additional 25 to 40 years.

The economic and logistical benefits are staggering. Industry studies and utility reports, including from early adopters like Arizona's Salt River Project, show that rejuvenation can cost 40-60% less than a full replacement. For Alectra, this means its capital budget can stretch further, addressing more miles of at-risk cable and improving system-wide reliability more quickly. For customers, it means minimal disruption—no torn-up gardens, no heavy machinery rumbling down the street for days on end.

The 99.9% Reduction: Quantifying a Green Revolution

The true disruptive power of this technology, and the reason for Alectra's recent award, lies in its environmental impact—or lack thereof. The recognition from Southwire is based on a comprehensive Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) conducted in accordance with the rigorous ISO 14040 and 14044 standards, the global gold standard for environmental auditing. This analysis isn't based on estimates; it's a scientific accounting of every environmental cost from raw material to end-of-life.

The findings are nothing short of astounding. The LCA revealed that using cable rejuvenation in place of full replacement results in a 99.9% reduction in Global Warming Potential (GWP). To put that figure in perspective, Alectra's rejuvenation efforts to date have achieved greenhouse gas reductions equivalent to eliminating 51 million kilometres of vehicle travel or taking over 2,800 passenger cars off the road for a year. The program's carbon savings are equal to the annual absorption capacity of nearly 600,000 trees.

"Southwire is pleased to present this award to Alectra Utilities in recognition of its continued commitment to grid reliability, affordability and sustainability," said Denise Voss, SVP, Services and High Voltage at Southwire Company. "Alectra embodies that belief—and it is measured in carbon reduction, smarter capital deployment, and a grid that’s more dependable for their customers who rely on it."

Beyond Wires: A Strategy of Holistic Sustainability

For Alectra, which serves over one million homes and businesses in Ontario's Greater Golden Horseshoe, cable rejuvenation is not a standalone initiative but a cornerstone of a much broader ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) strategy. The utility has committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 and is systematically decarbonizing its operations. This award-winning program works in concert with other key efforts, such as the construction of LEED Gold-certified facilities, the operation of solar generation projects, and the recent addition of one of Ontario's first all-electric bucket trucks to its fleet.

"Receiving this award from Southwire is a meaningful recognition of the work our teams have done to extend asset life, reduce environmental impact, and deliver cost-effective service for our customers,” stated Elias Lyberogiannis, EVP of Asset Strategy & Operations at Alectra Utilities. “Cable rejuvenation has allowed us to maintain our underground assets while supporting Alectra’s sustainability and affordability objectives.”

This approach demonstrates a mature understanding of modern utility management: that environmental stewardship and fiscal responsibility are not competing priorities but two sides of the same coin. By investing in smart asset management, Alectra avoids massive capital outlays, reduces its environmental footprint, and enhances service reliability simultaneously. It's a strategy that has earned the company consistent recognition, including being named a top Corporate Citizen by Corporate Knights.

The impact is felt directly in the communities Alectra serves. In 2024 alone, the utility allocated millions for cable injection projects across its territory, including $5.3 million in Markham and $3.4 million in Barrie. These investments directly translate into fewer power outages and a more resilient grid, all while helping to keep customer rates stable by deferring the far greater costs of replacement. This focus on operational excellence and customer value is reflected in the utility's high customer satisfaction scores and its consistent performance in billing accuracy, which exceeds provincial targets. As utilities across the continent grapple with the dual challenges of aging infrastructure and the urgent need to decarbonize, this quiet, underground revolution offers a powerful and proven path forward.