How consumers benefit when ACCC® Conductors are installed on their electric power grid

Some benefits are obvious, others not so much…

Higher Transmission Line Capacity:

Increased line capacity offers numerous benefits to the consumer:

  1. It can reduce “congestion costs” by providing access to the least expensive sources of generation.
  2. It can provide access to the cleanest sources of generation to reduce air and water pollution and help combat climate change.
  3. It can accommodate load growth to support local economic development and attract new businesses.
  4. It can reduce the likelihood of blackouts by providing alternate pathways for power delivery during severe weather events.
  5. It can lower overall consumer costs as energy costs are passed through to consumers by the power companies and local businesses.
  6. It can help people stay employed – High energy costs have driven many businesses away and employment has suffered.

Improved Energy Efficiency:

The ACCC® Conductor’s ability to reduce line losses by 25% or more offers several consumer benefits:

  1. It reduces the amount of fuel required to generate electricity which reduces electrical fuel charges.
  2. It frees-up wasted generation capacity, potentially delaying or eliminating the need to build new generation.
  3. It reduces generation capacity costs that are generally passed through to consumers.
  4. It reduces water consumption by the generation facility which can be beneficial during drought conditions. (Did you know that a typical fossil fuel or nuclear generation plant consumes more than ten gallons of water for every kilowatt hour of electricity produced!!!)
  5. It reduces fuel consumption and associated emissions that can be harmful to the environment and linked with climate change.

Improved Reliability:

The ACCC Conductor’s greater strength, toughness and thermal stability offer numerous consumer benefits:

  1. It prevents the lines from sagging into trees and under-built structures which reduces the likelihood of starting fires and causing blackouts.
  2. It can handle very high levels of current to maintain grid stability and avoid blackouts when storms impact adjacent lines.
  3. Its high strength can withstand extreme winds and severe ice loads.
  4. Its ability to remain in service and prevent blackouts can help hospitals stay in operation, keep traffic signals and elevators working, and prevent other economic losses associated with blackouts. (*the major east coast blackout of 2003 cost consumers nearly $10 billion)

Resilience:

Resilience is the ability to anticipate, prepare for, and adapt to changing conditions to mitigate, to respond to, operate through, and recover rapidly from high impact disruptions.

  1. The ACCC Conductor’s high strength composite core retains structural integrity and can be returned to service quickly following hurricane, tornado or other events should the conductive aluminum strands be damaged.
  2. The ACCC Conductor’s low-sag attribute improves survivability during wildfires – staying higher about the fire zone – and enabling rapid return to service.
  3. Its higher electrical capacity improves the ability to operate through severe grid upsets from re-routed power flows to help keep the lines in service and support grid integrity.
  4. Consumers can expect reduced maintenance costs, improved service with fewer power interruptions, and shorter outage times following major disruptive events.

Summary:  

In an area/state/country where the utility has deployed ACCC Conductor, consumers can expect:

  1. Lower energy costs.
  2. Lower generating capacity costs.
  3. Lower Transmission & Distribution costs (*upgrading an existing line is much less expensive than installing a new line).
  4. Fewer service interruptions.
  5. Shorter service interruptions from major disruption events.
  6. Decreased air and water pollution and reduced GHG emissions.
  7. Many other direct and indirect economic and environmental benefits.

If we are going to build a modern grid – why wouldn’t we want to use modern technology?

Endnote:

The good news is that more than 250 Major Electric Utilities have installed over 100,000 kilometers of ACCC Conductor at over 800 projects in 52 countries. The ACCC Conductor is currently reducing CO2 emissions by 2.6 million metric tons per year (the equivalent of removing over 600,000 cars from the road). Improved efficiency is also saving over 2.6 million Megawatt Hours of Electricity every year which corresponds to the energy required to serve 240,000 houses – while also saving over 30 BILLION gallons of water that would otherwise be consumed by fossil fuel or nuclear power plants. If you’d like more details, please send an email to [email protected] Thank You!

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Loading...
Please wait... generating PDF