Customer Installations
3M ACCR has been installed to meet challenges in a variety of locations, environments,
and ampacity requirements.
| 3M ACCR Installations |
Application |
kV |
Conductor Size |
| (kcmil) |
(mm2) |
|
TATA Power |
Mumbai, India |
Load growth
Dense population |
110 |
300 |
150 |
|
Xcel Energy |
Minneapolis, Minnesota |
Installation validation |
115 |
477 |
238 |
|
Hawaiian Electric Company |
Oahu, Hawaii |
Corrosive environment |
46 |
477 |
238 |
|
Western Area Power Administration |
Fargo, North Dakota |
Heavy ice and wind loads |
230 |
795 |
418 |
|
Bonneville Power Administration |
Washington State |
High temperature operation |
115 |
675-TW |
322-TW |
|
Western Area Power Administration |
Phoenix, Arizona |
Installation validation |
230 |
1272 |
642 |
|
Salt River Project |
Phoenix, Arizona |
High current operation |
69 |
795 |
418 |
|
Pacific Gas & Electric |
Santa Clara, California |
High temperature operation |
115 |
477 |
238 |
|
San Diego Gas & Electric |
San Diego, California |
EPRI test |
69 |
795 |
418 |
|
Xcel Energy |
Minneapolis, Minnesota |
Environmentally sensitive area
River crossing |
115 |
795 |
418 |
|
Arizona Public Service |
Phoenix, Arizona |
Dense population
Underbuilds |
230 |
1272 |
642 |
|
Western Area Power Administration |
Arizona/California Border |
High growth |
230 |
795 |
418 |
|
Shanghai Electric |
Shanghai, China |
Cost and time savings |
115 |
795 |
418 |
|
Platte River Power Authority |
Fort Collins, Colorado |
Increased reliability |
230 |
954 |
490 |
|
Aha Macav Power Services |
Needles, California |
Increased reliability |
69 |
300 |
150 |
|
Allegheny Power |
West Virginia |
Underbuilt facilities
Cost and time savings |
138 |
1033 |
525 |
|
British Columbia Transmission Company (BC Hydro) |
British Columbia |
River Crossing |
230 |
788 |
400 |
|
Alabama Power |
Birmingham, Alabama |
Underbuilt facilities
Load growth |
230 |
680 |
346 |
| Silicon Valley Power |
City of Santa Clara, CA |
Environmental and aesthetics
Reliability |
60 |
715 |
365 |
| Chongqing |
Chongqing, China |
Load growth
Time savings |
220 |
680 |
346 |
|
Companhia de Transmissao de Energia Eletrica Paulista |
Sao Paulo, Brazil |
Cost, time and environmental impact savings |
138 |
300 |
150 |
| Alabama Power |
Birmingham, Alabama |
Cost and time savings |
230 |
1033 |
525 |
| CPFL Piratininga |
Jundiai, Brasil |
Load growth
Cost and time savings
Social impacts
|
88 |
336 |
171 |
Figure 1: Locations of 3M ACCR Installations
TATA Power Company
TATA Power is installing 125 miles (200 kilometers) of 300 kcmil 3M ACCR on two lines near Mumbai, Borivali-Malad and Salsette-Saki. The lines were upgraded a few years ago from a single to a bundled ACSR, but they could not keep pace with the rapid demand growth in the area. In addition, residences had sprung up directly under the lines, and TATA did not want to disturb them, but did want to improve clearances over them.
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Xcel Energy
In 2001 Xcel Energy installed 477-kcmil ACCR in its 115 kV system in Minneapolis
to feed power from a generation plant to the network. It replaced a conventional
ACSR conductor to increase the ampacity while keeping the same clearance and tower
loads.
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Hawaiian Electric Company
Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) installed a similar 477-kcmil 3M ACCR on a 46 kV
line located on the North Shore of Oahu for the evaluation of ACCR corrosion resistance.
In particular, the installation tests the corrosion resistance of the conductor
on their 46 kV network while also increasing the ampacity along the existing right-of-way
by approximately 72%.
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Western Area Power Administration (Western)
Western is one of four power marketing administrations within the U.S. Department
of Energy, and serves nearly 700 wholesale power customers in a 1.3 million-square-mile
area, including some 300 municipalities, as well as public utilities and utility
districts, energy cooperatives, power marketers, irrigation districts, Native American
tribal communities and government agencies.
In 2002 795-kcmil 3M ACCR was installed by Western on the Fargo-Jamestown 230 kV
line near Fargo, North Dakota. The climatic conditions there exposed the cable to
high winds, extreme cold, ice loading and conditions conducive to aeolian vibration.
ACCR was installed on a 1-mile stretch of the circuit. The first two winters after
the line was energized were mild. However, in the winter of 2005/2006, ice built
up on the conductor, doubling the span’s mechanical loads. Despite the ice loading,
there have been no problems since the line was installed. The line data follows
the predictions made by models for sag, tension, and rating.
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Bonneville Power Administration (BPA)
In June of 2004 BPA installed ACCR 675T13-TW on a 115 kV line in Pascal, Washington
as a replacement for an existing Chuker 1780 kcmil (976 mm2) ACSR bottom phase.
The purpose of the installation was to test the operation of the compact trap-wire
ACCR at elevated temperatures. 3M provided its 675T13-TW conductor to BPA for installation
at their Pasco site as a replacement for an existing Chuker 1780-kcmil (976 mmm2)
ACSR bottom phase. The conductor was installed in June 2004, energized in August
2004, and has run continuously since then. Despite running at currents as high as
1,100 A, conductor temperatures did not exceed 80°C (computed). The mechanical
load versus NRS temperature data at low current level matches the predicted values
and has essentially been unchanged over time.
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Western Area Power Administration (Western)
In January 2004 Western installed 1272-kcmil 3M ACCR at its Liberty-Parker location
in Phoenix, Arizona. The conductor was installed as an evaluation/validation cable
for the installation of cable constructions with three layers of aluminum. The measured
conductor tension and sag agree with predictive models. The line has been loaded
to around 25% of its electrical rating since June 2004.
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Salt River Project (SRP)
3M ACCR has been installed in several locations in proximity to generating stations
in order to test the conductor under high current loads where it will see high ambient
temperatures. Conductors for these tests are sized so that they will operate at
their maximum electrical design loads. SRP installed 795 ACCR on a 69 kV line at
the expansion of their Santan generation plant in Gilbert, Arizona, in March of
2004. The 795 ACCR line delivers output of the Santan Expansion Project Unit 5b
(combined cycle natural gas fired generator) to the 69 kV switchyard. The location
is ideal to test 3M ACCR because it undergoes significant temperature swings and
high summer peak demand (high conductor temperature) in desert conditions where
ambient temperatures are very high.
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Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E)
PG&E in Southern California installed 3M ACCR on line segments near a substation
in Santa Clara.
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San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E)
San Diego Gas & Electric, in Southern California, installed 3M ACCR on short
line segments near a substation in Oceanside (just north of San Diego). The Oceanside
installation was funded in part by the California Energy Commission. The Electric
Power Research Institute (EPRI) will monitor the line’s performance. The test is
scheduled to run until 2008.
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Xcel Energy
3M ACCR received its first commercial application when Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy
installed it on a ten-mile (sixteen-kilometer) transmission line in the Minneapolis-St.
Paul region. Xcel Energy is using the conductor to increase the capacity of a transmission
line that extends from Shakopee to Burnsville. The upgrade is part of a US$100 million
expansion project at the utility’s Blue Lake peaking plant in Shakopee, which is
needed to ensure a reliable supply of power to Xcel Energy’s customers in the Upper
Midwest during periods of peak electricity demand. The line crosses an interstate
and two major highways at multiple points, as well as traversing several residential
and industrial areas.
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Arizona Public Service (APS)
APS installed 3M ACCR to increase capacity on a key overhead transmission line serving
Phoenix, a growing metropolitan area. The new conductor eliminated the need for
the utility to site, acquire right-of-way, and construct a new power line route
in a congested downtown business area.
3M ACCR was installed on a six-mile, 230 kV power line extending from a local area
power plant to APS’ downtown substation. The installation provides increased capacity
to service the fast-growing metropolitan area that experiences extreme summer heat.
In this application, 3M’s ACCR 1272-kcmil conductor was used to upgrade a line that
already had been upgraded once with ACSS.
The utility selected ACCR as a result of a twelve-month evaluation of various high
temperature, low sag conductors. 3M’s ability to supply a complete package, including
conductor hardware and installation support, was instrumental in the utility’s selection
of ACCR.
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The Western Area Power Administration (Western)
Western, which delivers about 40 billion kilowatt-hours of hydroelectric power annually
in fifteen western and central states in the U.S., chose 3M ACCR to replace a key
conventional power line in western Arizona.
3M ACCR is installed on a twenty-mile stretch of the Topock-Davis 230 kV line, which
parallels the Colorado River along Arizona’s western border with California. The
area of service includes fast-growing communities such as Lake Havasu City and Bullhead
City in Arizona; Laughlin, Nevada; and Needles, California.
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Shanghai Electric Power Company, Ltd
On October 14, 2007, Shanghai Electric became the first utility in Asia to install
and energize 3M ACCR. Shanghai Electric, a publicly owned utility whose major shareholders
are China Power Investment Corp. and East China Power Development Company, serves
the Shanghai metropolitan area with more than 2,800 megawatts of generating capacity.
Shanghai is the largest city in the People’s Republic of China, and the eighth largest
metropolis in the world. Shanghai Electric deployed 3M ACCR to shorten construction
time and save costs while increasing capacity on a key 10-mile line serving the
growing demand in the city of Shanghai.
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Platte River Power Authority
To ensure adequate transmission capacity during summer peak demand hours, Platte
River Power Authority will install the 3M ACCR as a replacement conductor on a key
three-mile segment of a line that links Fort Collins and Loveland, extending from
the Timberline Substation southward along the Union Pacific railroad right-of-way
to the Harmony Substation.
Platte River Power Authority generates reliable, low-cost and environmentally responsible
electricity for its owner communities of Estes Park, Fort Collins, Longmont and
Loveland, Colorado, for delivery to their utility customers. Its facilities are
located along the Front Range and northwestern Colorado in addition to near Medicine
Bow, Wyoming. Installation is scheduled for Fall 2007.
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Aha Macav Power Services
Aha Macav Power Services, a utility owned and operated by the Fort Mojave Tribe
in the Southwest, is the first Native American utility to deploy 3M ACCR.
Under an agreement with the Western Area Power Administration (Western), Aha Macav
installed a new four-mile 3M ACCR line linking a new substation in Arizona to a
switchyard in Needles, CA, a city on the western bank of the Colorado River.
The new line substantially boosts power capacity and reliability for Needles and
the surrounding area, which have been plagued by frequent electricity outages in
recent years, often during periods of extreme high temperature. The Fort Mojave
Tribe, whose reservation encompasses portions of eastern California, southern Nevada
and western Arizona, is one of only a handful of tribes served by its own utility.
Installation of the 3M ACCR was installed in March 2008.
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Allegheny Power
Allegheny Power, a division of Allegheny Energy Inc., installed 3M ACCR to upgrade
a 138 kV line linking the Bedington and Nipetown substations along Interstate-81
in West Virginia. The 1.7-mile upgrade boosted transmission capacity on a line some
50 miles northwest of Washington, D.C. The 138 kV line shares structures with three
other lines for most of its length, including two under-built 12 kV lines, has a
flow of 2,200 amps and is expected to peak at a temperature of 200°C. The line is
built on self supporting steel poles with drilled pier concrete foundations.
3M ACCR gave Allegheny the ability to leave the under-built 12 kV circuits in service
during construction and to avoid structure replacement. It also sags neatly with
an adjacent 954 ACSR conductor on the same structure.
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British Columbia Transmission Company
BCTC, the operator of the transmission system for the British Columbia province, installed 3M ACCR on two segments of the
Vancouver Island Transmission Reinforcement (VITR) Project to minimize the disruption to the ecology of diverse and
sensitive waterways. Larger towers to accommodate larger conductors or double bundling would require bringing heavy
equipment into remote areas by barge; installing new foundations and towers; digging out the existing footings and then
transporting the aggregate. Moreover, one of the segments goes through part of a provincial park where preserving the
sightline was important. Using 3M ACCR, the transmission utility was able to meet these goals.
In addition, they were able to install the conductor through unusually long spans, avoiding adding towers to the line.
One segment, the Sansum Crossing, included a 5,800 foot (1,770 m) single span. The second segment, the Montague Crossing,
was a 6,000 foot (1,830 m) multi-span installation.
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Alabama Power
Alabama Power Company, a subsidiary of Southern Company, will install 3M ACCR to
upgrade a 1.7 mile line at their Miller Steam Plant, in Jefferson County, Alabama,
approximately 25 miles northwest of Birmingham.
Alabama Power's upgrade, utilizing 3M ACCR 1033 kcmil 54/19 Curlew, will boost transmission
capacity on a line that goes through and loops around the Miller Steam Plant. The
upgrade is part of Alabama Power’s ongoing, multibillion-dollar environmental initiative,
designed to reduce emissions from the company's power plants while continuing to
meet the growing demand for power. The new 230 kV line, scheduled for installation
this spring, will be rated to carry up to 2,000 amps and is expected to peak at
a temperature of 200°C.
The existing line crosses below three 500KV line and above one 230KV line and is
supported on five existing lattice steel structures. The 3M conductor provides the
required capacity, while utilizing the existing structures and maintaining or improving
the existing clearances to ground and other obstacles. As a result, significant
savings were achieved in both time and cost by eliminating the need for the design,
supply and construction of new towers.
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Silicon Valley Power
SVP, the municipal utility of the City of Santa Clara, California, is located in the heart of the Silicon Valley area,
where reliability is paramount for serving high-tech industries. Equally important are using existing structures and
minimizing the disruption to both residential and business neighborhoods. This second installation of 3M ACCR will also
be on an existing 60 kV line, from Keifer Receiving Station to Norman Avenue Junction, as well as two new sections from
Norman Avenue to the new Palm Substation and back. The project also has to accommodate a 12 kV line running under the
installation and a 115 kV line crossing above the installation in 2 locations, as well as multiple railroad and highway
crossings. 3M ACCR’s strength to weight ratio and durable hardened aluminum will give them the needed reliability and
additional capacity using only the existing structures. The conductor can also be installed without disrupting
neighborhoods or the adjacent lines and facilities.
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Chongqing Electric Power Corporation
Chongqing Electric needed extra capacity to meet anticipated heavy power demand for the summer Olympics in Beijing and did not have time to construct new towers. Using existing towers, Chongqing Electric installed a two-circuit line of approximately 3.4 miles (5.5 kM), linking the Shuinian and Shuangshan substations. Chongqing is in a subtropical region with high humidity and frequently extreme summer heat, and 3M ACCR was chosen in part because of its proven reliability in difficult climates.
This installation will serve more than a half million residents within two districts in Chongqing City, an ancient city with a population of approximately four million located on the Yangtze River in southwest China, within Sichuan Province.
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Companhia de Transmissao de Energia Eletrica Paulista
Companhia de Transmissao de Energia Eletrica Paulista (CTEEP) installed 300 kcmil
3M ACCR to upgrade a 138 kV transmission line crossing an environmentally sensitive
river bed. CTEEP, which is principally owned by Grupo Empresarial ISA (ISA Group),
one of South America's largest electricity and telecommunications providers, supplies
almost all of the electricity consumed in the State of Sao Paulo and 30 percent
of the electrical power consumed nationwide. The line boosts capacity for power
transmission for the Jupiá Electrical System. The line crosses the nearly mile-wide
Parana River and is subject to strong winds and extremely high temperatures. “3M
ACCR was determined to be the most cost-effective, proven solution available,” says
CTEEP engineering manager Caetano Cezario Neto. The installation was completed in just 6 days.
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Alabama Power
Southern Company subsidiary, Alabama Power, installed 3M ACCR to replace a key 10-mile (16-kilometer) line in northeastern
Alabama. The line was upgraded to meet contingency requirements resulting from the addition of generation to serve summer
peak loads. 3M ACCR was chosen for this project to avoid replacing approximately half the transmission structures and
installing eight additional structures, significantly reducing construction time and allowing the line to be taken out
of service for this project without impacting grid reliability. Alabama Power Company supplies electricity to 1.3
million homes, businesses and industrial facilities.
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CPFL Piratininga
CPFL, part of CPFL Energy Group, used 3M ACCR to expand transmission capacity in Várzea Paulista and Jundiaí (SP),
Brasil. Because part of the existing line was located in an urban corridor with houses on both sides, installing new
towers was deemed too risky, as the conductor ran over buildings and access to the line for foundation and structural
work was difficult. Installing 3M ACCR provided the needed upgrade capacity without the need to construct new
towers, accelerating and simplifying installation. CPFL Piratininga also chose 3M ACCR for its reliability.
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