High-Performance Transmission Conductor is Improving Grid Efficiency

CTC High Performance Transmission Conductors
Are Improving Grid Efficiency

www.ctcglobal.com
Oct 2020

Introduction

CTC Global is an ACCC conductor manufacturing company that
was founded to develop, certify and deploy advanced technologies to
improve the efficiency, capacity, reliability and resiliency of
the electric power grid.

Our primary product is high-capacity, low-sag CTC Global ACCC
Conductor solutions.

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CTC the electric power transmission
business

Most of us associate the word “efficiency” with
improvements in generation equipment, transformers and
demand side appliances.

While new more efficient components in many cases are
more expensive than the less efficient units they replace,
their higher prices have generally been easy to justify due to
their reduced operating and lifecycle costs.

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‘Smart Grid’ Strategy

‘Smart Grid’ strategy was developed to help decrease peak load
demand by shifting certain tasks to off peak hours. Recharging
electric vehicles, being one example.
What’s surprising is how little any of us actually think about the
efficiency of the grid itself that connects our appliances, homes
and electric cars to generation. Most of the wire used for this
currently consists of aluminum strands wrapped around a steel
core. This wire is called “ACSR” (Aluminum Conductor Steel
Reinforced) and the technology is more than 100 years old.

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A new conductor design was created

It was named “ACSS” (Aluminum Conductor Steel Supported). It’s very similar to ACSR, but the aluminum strands
were pre-annealed in the factory. This allowed ACSS to operate at higher temperatures to accommodate
increased loads.
The problem with ACSS is that at higher operating temperatures, line losses climb exponentially. The other
problem is that as the wire heats up due to electrical resistance, its high coefficient of thermal expansion causes
it to sag which can lead to sag-trip outages. The major east coast blackout of 2003, for instance, was caused by
excessive conductor sag.

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To Mitigate Conductor Sag

In the wake of the major east coast blackout – a number of companies including 3M and Composite Technology
Corporation (now CTC Global) introduced “HCLS” (High-Capacity, Low-Sag) conductors.
The ACCR core is actually a fiber reinforced aluminum, so its electrical resistance (and efficiency) is greatly
improved over conventional steel core that offers very poor conductivity. The CTC Global product “ACCC”
(Aluminum Conductor Composite Core) uses a non-conductive carbon and glass fiber core.
Because CTC Global’s ACCC core is so much lighter than steel, the design incorporates an additional 28 percent
more aluminum without a weight or diameter penalty. The added aluminum content (and improved quality)
serves to lower electrical resistance and therefore effectively reduces line losses by 25 to 40 percent or more
compared to steel reinforced alternatives.

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While many leading executives have stated:

“It’s cheaper to save a Nega Watt than it is to produce a Mega Watt,” in the case of delivering power, this is also
very true. To put this in even greater perspective, a CO2 reduction of 80,000 Metric Tons is the equivalent of
removing nearly 17,000 cars from the road.
If you clip this down into a one-mile section, that will equate to a CO2 reduction of 667 Metric Tons or a
reduction of 140 cars per mile. Assuming a reconductoring cost of $300,000 per mile, this would equate to a
one-time cost of $450 per Metric Ton using a high-performance conductor. Though things are changing quickly,
the feds currently offer a $7,500 rebate for purchasers of electric cars. That equates to a government
investment of $1,579 to save one Metric Ton of CO2 not including the cost of the car on top of it.

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Contact Us

Website: www.ctcglobal.com
Phone: +1 949 428 8500
Fax: +1 949 428 8515
Email: [email protected]
Thank You