To date, over 50,000 miles of the ACCC Conductor have been installed at over 700 projects in 50+ countries. For more information, please visit www.ctcglobal.com

1. Reasons why utilities are switching to high
performance overhead conductors
www.ctcglobal.com
Feb 2020

2. Introduction
CTC Global is a ACCC conductor manufacturing
company that was founded to develop, certify and
deploy advanced technologies to improve the
efficiency, capacity, reliability and resiliency of the
electric power grid.
Our primary product is high-capacity, low-sag CTC
Global ACCC Conductor solutions.
www.ctcglobal.com

3. In 2003, CTC Global introduced the ACCC®
Conductor. CTC replaced the steel core wires
in conventional ACSR overhead conductors
with a hybrid carbon fiber core. The carbon
fiber core is ~50 percent stronger and 70
percent lighter than steel.
To date, over 50,000 miles of the ACCC
Conductor have been installed at over 700
projects in 50+ countries.
www.ctcglobal.com

4. Mitigate Sag Violations
We all got the memo – after discovering several transmission lines that violated clearance limits,
NERC and FERC made it clear utilities needed to inspect their transmission lines and develop a
plan to mitigate excessive conductor sag.
A number of options were and are being considered which include re-tensioning, raising,
modifying or replacing existing structures, derating or installing high-capacity, low-sag conductors
such as ACCR, C7 or ACCC® Conductor
Here are some reasons why utilities are switching to high
performance overhead conductors
www.ctcglobal.com

5. www.ctcglobal.com
Improve Grid Reliability & Resilience
Eliminating sag clearance violations was the logical first
step. Recall the major east coast blackout of 2003.
More recently, on the west coast, high temperatures,
drought conditions, strong winds and horrific fires have
wreaked havoc with local utilities and their customers who
are now having to endure pre-emptive power outages to
reduce the risk of starting additional fires.
While sag is obviously a drag, it is not the only aspect of
improving grid reliability and resilience. High-performance
conductors are also enabling grid operators to reroute
power around areas where lines are being serviced or in
areas where the threat of fires or other events is
anticipated, because they can carry more current – without
exhibiting excessive thermal sag.

6. Increase Line Capacity
Increasing line capacity is extremely important for the N-
conditions described above. It is also important to our
changing mix of generation resource assets.
High-performance conductors – supplemented by substation
upgrades – can generally help double the capacity of existing
lines. In 2016, for instance, American Electric Power doubled
the capacity of two 120 circuit-mile 345 kV lines in the lower
Rio Grande Valley by swapping out double bundled ACSR
Drake size conductor with double bundled ACCC Drake size
conductor. The fact that they completed this mission while the
circuits remained energized won them the EEI Edison Award
that year.
www.ctcglobal.com

7. Improve Grid Efficiency
Discussions about 'efficiency' have generally revolved around
demand-side appliances and generation resources. In spite of
our nation's low D+ grid rating (as reported by the American
Society of Civil Engineers in 2012 and 2017), few
transmission engineers give transmission efficiency much
thought, because line losses are relatively low in the U.S. and
the recognized costs of losses are simply passed on to the
consumer.
However, when AEP upgraded their two circuits in Texas, not
only did they increase line capacity to accommodate load
growth, they also reduced line losses by a surprising 30
percent. Even with a relatively low "load factor," line loss
reductions were estimated to save 300,000 MWh per year. At
$50.00 / MW, that's $15,000,000 per year or $450,000,000
over 30 years (a simplified view).
www.ctcglobal.com

8. Environmental Attributes
As mentioned above, the ACCC Conductor's ability to
reduce line losses can translate into reduced fuel
consumption and reduced emissions, or at the very least
- enable an increase in clean energy delivery.
While these may seem like second or third tier benefits,
consider that many states have established CO2
reduction initiatives and that policy makers, regulators
and governors consider these 'high-value' topics. In
California, for instance, it's not unlikely that the Air
Resources Board (CARB) speaks from time to time with
CAISO and CPUC. It may be no coincidence that
'cleaner' projects received approval over other projects in
the queue.
www.ctcglobal.com

9. Contact Us
CTC Global
Phone: +1 949 428 8500
Fax: +1 949 428 8515
info@ctcglobal.com
www.ctcglobal.com

10. Thank You