Empresas Publicas de Medellin S.A. E.S.P. (EPM) in Apartado, Antioquia, Colombia, was faced with an urgent need to establish power delivery to the site of a new shipping port on the northern coast of Columbia at the Gulf of Uraba located at the southern tip of the Caribbean Sea. A section of the new 115 kV transmission line crosses over a highly productive banana plantation where Columbia’s Department of Civil Aeronautics had established stringent height limitations due to frequent crop duster plane activity.
EPM, supported by construction firm Ingeomega, selected CTC Global’s high-capacity, low-sag Helsinki size ACCC® Conductor to minimize structure height and easement width requirements while maintaining safe clearances to underbuilt roads, distribution lines and vegetation.
To minimize environmental impact, EPM used steel monopoles placed in key locations with spans between the structures ranging from 360 meters up to 500 meters. This compact transmission design strategy allowed EPM to reduce easement width requirements by 35 percent which saved 32 square kilometers of land.
The use of ACCC® Conductor and strong collaboration between EDP’s asset managers, design engineers, project suppliers, project managers, landowners and EDP’s contractor led to an outstanding outcome for all stakeholders. The project was successfully energized in May 2023.
German Hernandez, Regional Director of Business Development for CTC Global stated: “Although ACCC® Advanced Conductors are a mature and proven technology for improving transmission line efficiency and performance, it is a seemingly innovative technology in Colombia. EPM, trendsetter in innovation for the electric system, recognized how ACCC’s intrinsic benefits such as the conductor’s low sag, lightweight and the possibility of having larger spans, would allow them to use fewer steel poles along the transmission line pathway. This was also important because shorter structures could also be utilized. Their selection of ACCC Conductor also guarantees a reserve capacity for several years into the future.”
