ACCC® Conductor Technology Combats Corrosion

For most of us involved in transmission line design and engineering, few of us consider corrosion as a tier one issue. However, in many parts of the world corrosion negatively impacts transmission line conductors which can lead to very high maintenance costs, poor reliability, costly outages and frequent conductor replacement.

With the advent of CTC Global’s high-capacity, low-sag ACCC Conductor, corrosion issues have been widely addressed and mitigated in many parts of the world. A few extreme examples include ocean crossings in Indonesia, Malaysia and Mexico. Similar installations in the South Eastern United States adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico where corrosion is a huge problem are also good examples.

In any case, the ACCC Conductor’s composite core is impervious to corrosion that often takes a toll on conventional steel-reinforced ACSR and ACSS conductors. In fact, in some areas, “ACSR” is also (lightheartedly) pronounced “A-C-no-R” because of its poor resistance to corrosion in harsh environments.

While many utility experts have plenty of field stories to share, academics, such as the members of the National Science Foundation’s Center for Novel High Voltage / High Temperature Materials & Structures, based at Denver University have also done accelerated aging tests of various conventional and composite core conductors to assess the impact of corrosion.

In these tests, it became very clear that the ACCC Conductor’s composite core was the clear winner in the conductor war against corrosion. For more information, please visit www.ctcglobal.com or contact [email protected]

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