Technical and Economic Analysis of Aluminum Conductor with Multi-stranded Composite Core and Its Application

It is anticipated that significant expansion of power systems will continue in next decade in China. Given constrains of limited transmission corridors, alternative augmented capacity wire is highly expected, with larger transmission capacity, excellent lower sag, lower losses, stronger corrosion and wind resistance. The paper developed an innovative overhead augmented capacity wire, aluminum conductor with multi-stranded composite core (ACMCC), based on stranded continuous carbon fiber. Its technical characteristics and cost benefit analysis were detailed, with comparison to other augmented capacity wires. ACMCC has been applied in several transmission lines in China Southern Power Grid. Field application showed that ACMCC may be one of the most promising wires because of its excellent properties, conductor structure reliability and fitting installation convenience.