Path Power

Burying power lines protects the grid from wildfires and storms, but trenching and directional drilling are slow, costly and tear up roads. Path Power, a Berkeley startup, built a boring tool that travels underground on its own, steering as it goes and installing conduit as it moves, without the drilling fluid that directional drilling depends on. We modeled the tool in close detail and followed it below the surface, from the hammer that drives it forward to the turns it makes along the route, so utilities and investors can see the whole process clearly.