Long-distance transmission lines have barely changed in a century, says Jason Huang, chief executive officer of TS Conductor Corp. The Huntington Beach, California-based company has been recognized as a BloombergNEF Pioneer for developing a new kind of wire that weighs less, carries more power and can be cheaper to install. That’s a big deal, because efforts to add carbon-free renewables to the power grid have been hindered by a lack of transmission lines to deliver the energy.
Conventional conductor — that’s the technical name for this kind of wiring — has a steel core surrounded by strands of aluminum. TS Conductor uses a carbon-fiber core instead that’s stronger, thinner and about 80% lighter. That lets the company pack more aluminum in the same size wire so it can carry as much as three times more power.
Huang sees his innovation as an under-appreciated, but much-needed, component of the green energy transition. Installing miles and miles of transmission lines across public and private land can be a paperwork nightmare, and some projects can take up to a decade to line up all the approvals. It’s a lot easier, he says, to replace the wires on existing transmission lines with his new-and-improved version. It’s also a lot faster, and that’s critical.
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