UNITED KINGDOM / AGILITYPR.NEWS / November 16, 2020 / Independent cable innovator Tratos has won a multi-£millon contract to supply the Italian national grid with new-breed advanced conductors the company announced today.

Tratos, which has production sites in the UK and Italy and offices worldwide, will supply Terna Rete Italia, part of the Terna Group, with high-specification and purpose-built composite core carbon (polymeric) chord HTLS conductors.

These new-breed OHC-HV (overhead conductor – high voltage) conductors developed by Tratos offer state-of-the-art advanced performance for overhead lines. They are resistant to high temperatures and offer low cable sag – important in preserving performance integrity.

Based on a composite carbon fibre core acting as a support element and thermal resistant aluminium alloy as a conductor, its key additional advantages are found in its tailor-made design. These conductors are built to meet or exceed both customer requirements and the specification of conductors currently available.

Tratos CEO Dr Maurizio Bragagni said: “We are absolutely delighted to be working with Terna again. We are innovators used to working with big infrastructure organisations. It was natural for us to devote time to developing the answer to what we knew was a recurring question for those managing overhead electrical transmission cable networks: how to secure a consistent and reliable service that was safe and, in terms of cost, accessible. We came up with something that is beautifully engineered and offers a range of additional advantages.”

Terna manages safe energy flow along miles of HV (High Voltage) Italian electricity lines, ensuring supply continuity and balancing electricity supply and demand, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Rapid growth in the demand for electrical energy has led to an increased appetite for technical innovations that enlarge the levels of power transmitted and improved efficiencies within tight budgetary constraints. Previously existing solutions were few and costly. Queens Award for Enterprise: Innovation winner (2019), Tratos, spent four years designing and testing its ‘win-win’ alternative which offers the attraction of enhanced performance by replacing only the conductors in an existing line.

Northern Powerhouse manufacturer Tratos, with more than 40-years’ experience, forecast incoming industry challenges and took the decision ahead of time to invest in R&D to develop a completely new, more efficient, hybrid load carrying conductor for overhead lines.

The challenges were significant. Tratos began exploring ways to increase the current-carrying capacity of a conductor whose mass is not very different from a traditional ACSR (Aluminium Conductor Steel Reinforced) type while applying the same tension on the towers. 

Because that route leads to an unavoidable increase in operational temperature, which in turn leads to ultimate damage to the aluminium wires in traditional conductors, and an undesirable corresponding increase in cable sag, Tratos switched track.

Instead it looked to new and innovative materials to overcome the problems and found the answer with an alloy of aluminium-zirconium (Al-Zr).

This high conductivity material had a maximum tensile strength that compared to pure aluminium. More, because of its high thermal stability, its maximum strength remained unchanged at high temperatures.

Using this alloy, it was possible to build a conductor with high thermal limits, working at temperatures not attainable with traditional conductors.

Other innovative elements joined the new alloy to result in a high strength-to-weight ratio of the new hybrid core that allows for a smaller lighter conductor with better resistance to ice and wind load.

TERNA Rete Italia is a leading operator in an increasingly complex and technologically advanced electricity delivery market. It is involved in developing the National Electricity Transmission Grid as it faces new challenges, challenges that require innovative solutions. It is also charged with delivering major infrastructure development, which involves large-scale projects including, in the North, building the new 380 kV power line that will connect the power station in Trino, Piemonte, to the one in Lacchiarella, Lombardy.