Power utilities, the ultimate users of new generation power conductors, need to look for products with longevity and efficiency, even if it means higher initial capital costs.
By 2016-17, which is the end of the XII Plan period, over 3 lakh mw of power generation capacity will be operational. Power generated from this huge capacity will need to be transported across the country using efficient transmission, sub-transmission, distribution and rural electrification lines. This is going to be a mammoth task.
It is important that Central and state utilities, as well as private players, concentrate on making efficient lines that will enable at least 85-90 per cent of the electricity generated to be gainfully utilized by consumers from different sectors. It is estimated that over 8 lakh tonnes of power conductors will be manufactured annually, using aluminium, aluminium alloys and other materials.
Quality of conductors will play a paramount role in efficient transmission of power. Currently, quality of power conductors has to conform to BIS standards and occasionally to international standards. “Quantity with Quality” has become the slogan of the day since the stakeholder community is beginning to realize that a substandard power conductor, though a little cheaper in terms of entry cost, becomes a big liability on the power system of the country in terms of transmission & distribution (T&D) losses.
Power utilities are becoming conscious of the overall operating cost (lifecycle cost) of the transmission line instead of merely looking at the initial capital cost of the asset. This new thinking can open floodgates for manufacturers who can meet this growing power conductor demand of quantity, with quality.
Evolution of Technology
The technology of producing power conductors has undergone a significant metamorphosis over the past decades. Till the 1940s, India was using mainly copper power conductors. Scarcity of copper, and also because of its “strategic material” status, inspired power engineers to look out for alternate materials. It was then that the young silvery metal was found to fit snugly into the needs, and that too very efficiently. Its abundant availability (India has the fifth largest bauxite reserves in the world) was a huge added advantage.
Aluminium conductors however happened to be fragile and hence USA started producing aluminium conductors with cores of galvanized steel, calling them as ACSR (aluminium conductor steel reinforced). In parallel, Europeans started alloying aluminium with metals like magnesium and silicon to produce high-strength AAAC (all aluminium alloy conductors) that were found to be more efficient.
India started with ACSR in a big way during the 1940s and forty years later, Galada Power & Telecommunication Ltd pioneered the development of AAAC at its Hyderabad plant. Currently, India consumes both ACSR and AAAC conductors.
Cheap material, national loss
It needs to be noted that ingress of impurities in aluminium used in the manufacture of power conductors results in a drop in conducting properties, defeating the very purpose for which the conductor is used on transmission lines. Impure aluminium happens to be a cheaper option but it is very detrimental from the national point of view.
India’s primary need, from the technological perspective, is therefore to use the correct grade of raw material, namely aluminium and aluminium alloy wire rods, to ensure efficient transmission and distribution of electricity. Technological evolution is a must at both primary and secondary wire rod production facilities to make available 8-10 lakh tonnes of wire-rods annually, which will go into the making of conducting wires, and in turn, in power conductors.
It is sad to learn that today almost 50 per cent of aluminium wire-rods do not meet stringent quality norms. The main reason for this is that deployment of technical manpower in the wire-rod industry is virtually non-existent! Scrap addition is also rampant and production for profit and only profit has become the key word.
What is the way out?
Simply put, the use of quality power conductors can immediately bring down failure rates, drastically reducing India’s overall T&D losses. It must also be appreciated that power needs have multiplied and right-of-way for new lines is becoming a big impediment. Keeping this in mind, new generation conductors, line designs, structures and fittings must be equipped to handle increased power transfers, even at elevated temperatures of even 200-250 degrees C. This has become the need of the day.
Now, if such conductors are imported, utilities will need to pay an exorbitant price, which may not be feasible. The solution therefore is to develop few types of power conductors locally.
Once again Galada Power is exploring the possibility of such conductors, in close cooperation with national R&D establishments, government agencies and ministries concerned. The project has a timeframe of 3-5 years. It will be possible thereafter to procure thousands of tonnes of new-generation conductors to meet the growing demand of power, and also to contain T&D losses.
Encouragement by all related institutions can hasten up the process and enable production of 4-6 different types of new generation conductors within a reasonable timeframe.
New thinking
The utilities will be the ultimate users of new generation power conductors need to be part of the development process. In other words, they should look for products with longevity and efficiency, even if it means reasonably higher capital costs.
Practices like open tendering where there is hardly any criteria for technical qualification will need to be modified. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and power R&D establishments will need to take up this project as a National Project. Funds will need to be made available for indigenous development of these new-generation power conductors.
While new lines will have to be erected using these conductors, ageing power lines also need to be replaced with a family of new-generation power conductors.
Roadmap to success
Technologically-competent manufacturers with proven track record need to be carefully selected by the ministries concerned, government R&D establishments and funding institutions. It needs to be a project based on the public-private partnership (PPP) mode. Milestones have to be determined soon after selection of these participating manufacturers. Facilities for developing new-generation power conductors need to be funded expeditiously and established in a time-bound manner, say within 18 months.
Intense research and development be carried out in making industrial scale production of such alloys wire-rods which will become raw material for new generation power conductors. Specific lines need to be identified to take this development to conclusive stage where new or upgraded lines at different voltages, under different environmental conditions will have to operate with new generation conductors to meet the challenge.
It would be preferred to develop 4-6 types of new generation conductors that will enable meeting specific requirements of geographically-diverse regions. The aforementioned National Project, when realized, can result in savings of trillions of rupees worth of electricity that is today going down the drain due to inefficient power conductors.
[D.C. Galada is Managing Director, Galada Power & Telecommunication Ltd, and President, Cable & Conductor Manufacturers Association of India (CACMAI)]