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Over the last few years, Power Grid Company of Bangladesh Ltd (PGCB) has completed several transmission line upgrades using high-performance, energy-efficient ACCC® Conductor. Last month, PGCB completed their first greenfield ACCC® Conductor project in Barisal, Bangladesh.

The new 45.6 kilometer 230 kV double circuit Patuakhali - Payra transmission line used over 575 kilometers of Hamburg size ACCC Conductor manufactured by Sterlite Power using CTC Global's patented (8.76 mm) ACCC Core. The project included 134 new lattice structures with spans ranging from 87 to 527 meters, traversing varied terrain including wetlands.

China National Cable Engineering Corporation served as PGCB's EPC firm who were further supported by subcontractors Hanbaek and Islamic Engineering Mullah Traders.

Ningbo Dongfang Machinery provided installation equipment and Dervaux provided ACCC Conductor hardware. Training and field support was provided by CTC Global's Regional Service Manager, Samudi Sampangi and ACCC Master Installers Mr. N. J. Balaji and Mr. Mukesh Kumar Jha.

*This story first appeared in CTC's Global's September Newsletter but was inadvertently published as a 'reconductor' project. We apologized for our error.

Over the last several years, California has experienced several major fires during dry and windy conditions that have been attributed to overhead power lines. Utilities in California have been deemed responsible and are paying dearly. While the entire State mourns the loss of life, homes and damage caused by these devastating fires, most of us recognize that dry, windy conditions are beyond the control of our electricity suppliers and understand why they are beginning to use power outages as a strategy to reduce the risk of starting more fires. 

 

While overgrown vegetation around distribution lines may be a primary factor, reduced wire ('conductor') sag may also help reduce the likelihood of short circuit events and fires.

 

Taking a closer look: As bare overhead conductors carry increased levels of electrical current, their electrical resistance causes the wires to heat up. This heat results in expansion of the steel core and conductive aluminum wires resulting in conductor sag. Traditional steel-reinforced aluminum wires, known as ACSR, exhibit substantial sag under heavy electrical load conditions.

 

The modern high-capacity, low-sag ACCC Conductor uses a hybrid carbon fiber core that does not stretch when heated. This attribute not only prevents thermal sag, it also allows the conductor to carry twice as much power. Its ability to carry more power without thermal sag may allow grid operators to reroute power around high risk areas to reduce the number of people and businesses impacted by preemptive outages, in certain instances.

 

A second tier benefit - also observed by some utilities - is that the ACCC conductor's composite core has a very high heat capacity, meaning that it can take a lot of heat for short periods of time without concern. With equal importance, the ACCC Conductor's fully annealed conductive aluminum strands are not impacted by heat - meaning that, if exposed to intense heat caused by fires under the transmission lines, the ACCC Conductor's wires are not weakened. These factors can not only reduce the likelihood of starting fires, they can also help ensure that impacted lines can be placed back into service very quickly.

 

While climate change is increasing the severity and frequency of these types of events and utilities are working hard to combat these factors, the ability to restore power quickly is key. These points underscore the critical need to use modern technology such as the ACCC Conductor.

For more information please contact CTC Global at [email protected]

To support Iberdrola's new combined cycle natural gas electric power plant and adjacent 230 kV substation, Iberdrola, with the help of Grupo Grytsa and El Roble Construction, completed the installation of 47 kilometers of Drake size ACCC Conductor on the new double-circuit, double-bundled 230 kV Topolobampo transmission line and 230 kV substation at Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico.

 

ACCC Conductor for the project was provided by Conductores Monterrey (Viakon) and hardware was supplied by PLP Mexico. 

 

Iberdrola's new power plant will produce roughly 665 MW, which will help CFE accommodate growing demand for electric energy in the region. The use of ACCC Conductor will help ensure reliability and efficiency in the coming years.

 

To date, Viakon has delivered over 1,700 kilometers of ACCC Conductor for projects in Mexico, Columbia, Chile, Panama and Brasil.

Earlier this month, October 22 - 24 in Scottsdale AZ, CTC Global sponsored and participated in the 11th Annual Transmission Summit West. The summit this year was held concurrently with the Mountain West Renewables Conference. The summit title was "Initiating Transmission Investment, Expansion, and Planning to Take on the Renewable Future" and the agenda was rich with issue identification and some potential solutions for integrating more renewable into the western transmission system. 

CTC Global's David Townley, Director of Public Policy, served on a panel that explored "Increasing the Efficiency of the Current Transmission System". The point that Townley made was that having every transmission capital project include energy efficiency criteria along with capacity and cost at the project design stage was one way of getting more efficiency built into the transmission system. 

Minnesota's Energy Office with the state regulatory office implemented such a policy directive to the utilities in Minnesota earlier this year. During the conference, Townley had discussions with several policy and regulatory officials from the western states about initiating a discussion within their state of just such a policy. Several states, east and west, have expressed interest in exploring a T&D energy efficiency policy which would reduce T&D system losses more rapidly than without the policy. 

The states would expect reduced T&D system losses to bring lower energy costs to electricity consumers, reduce the amount CO2 released into the air, and reduce the amount of new clean energy generating plant capacity that will need to be built to serve customer loads. 

For more information on the T&D Energy Efficiency Policy Initiative contact David Townley [email protected]   

Learn more about CTC Global, why the ACCC Conductor has been selected for over 700 projects by over 250 Utilities and how the advantages we offer are helping improve the quality of life for millions of people, worldwide. This is a 45 minute interview, but delivers several very impactful messages by a great company leader.

Watch Video:  CLICK HERE

LINK  The new web-based version has all the features found in the Excel version, which has been replaced and will no longer be supported. The new version is designed to make it easier to use, and it also has some new features. Having CCP online will make it easier to keep it up-to-date with new wire files and other data, and to add improvements as they are made. Users will always know they have the current version every time they log in. CCP is also compatible with tablets.

All data required for calculations is entered on one page. Representative ACCC® Conductors are automatically selected based on the "base" conductor selected. Some fields are automatically entered based on earlier entries or saved user preferences. For example, latitude is entered from a web app based on the project location, and currency conversion is provided using real-time web app information. The user can edit most input data, including default and automatically selected data. Registered users can save multiple projects, recall them, modify them and save them as new projects or overwrite the existing projects.

CCP comparison output is displayed on a separate page. Frequently changed input used for sensitivity analysis is conveniently provided on that same page to minimize toggling between pages. Registered users can export reports that break out sections of the output to PDF and Excel files.

Registration to use CCP requires only a valid email address and password. Users may also use CCP as a guest however, saving and export features are only available to registered users.

Thank you for using our CCP. We welcome your feedback. For technical support, please contact [email protected]