The transition to renewable energy can only succeed if grid capacity increases substantially. WSP has found a method to support accelerating the energy transition. The electricity grid is overcrowded, while power demand is only increasing. For a successful transition to sustainable energy, grid reinforcement is necessary. A colossal task, which will take many years with current resources and manpower. Since grid congestion is already causing problems now, that time is not there. The process can be accelerated by deploying aluminium conductor composite core (ACCC) conductors. These are lighter than traditional aluminium-steel conductors and can handle higher temperatures, allowing them to transport twice as much electricity. Expanding grid capacity then no longer comes down to erecting completely new pylons, but only to replacing conductors.
Thermal hysteresis ACCC conductors for faster current transfer
The transition to renewable energy can only succeed if grid capacity increases substantially. WSP has found a method to support accelerating the energy transition. The electricity grid is overcrowded, while power demand is only increasing.
For a successful transition to sustainable energy, grid reinforcement is necessary. A colossal task, which will take many years with current resources and manpower. Since grid congestion is already causing problems now, that time is not there.
The process can be accelerated by deploying aluminium conductor composite core (ACCC) conductors. These are lighter than traditional aluminium-steel conductors and can handle higher temperatures, allowing them to transport twice as much electricity. Expanding grid capacity then no longer comes down to installing completely new pylons, but only to replacing conductors.
Yet it is not simply a matter of replacing one type of conductor with another. Due to the plastic deformation of aluminium, the stress-strain behaviour is not linear, as with conventional aluminium-steel conductors. Existing modelling tools can help, but do not meet the need for specialists to have maximum insight into the margins of uncertainty in the modelling themselves.
WSP designed a special model that incorporates the entire load history of the conductor into the design process. This is all about thermal and mechanical hysteresis, explains WSP physics programmer Dennis Grimminck: previous deformations affect the current state.
With the model, the stress gradient can be predicted with great accuracy, which is important for determining how, for example, suspension chains should be attached. 'With the advantages of requiring less steel, less maintenance and lower costs,' says Grimminck. The method, developed by the Dutch branch of WSP, has now been tested in practice.
Grid operators clearly see benefits in ACCC conductors, but an applied calculation model that takes history into account was lacking until now. The model is now ready for use.
source: The Engineer May 2024
