The Chinese utility said that it needed extra capacity to meet the anticipated heavy power demand for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and did not have time to construct new towers.
This installation is expected to serve more than a half-million residents within two districts in the Chongqing City, in the Sichuan Province. In late 2007, Shanghai Electric became the first utility outside of the US to install the 3M Aluminum Conductor Composite Reinforced (ACCR), which can carry more than twice the power of conventional steel conductors of the same diameter, the company said.
Using existing towers, Chongqing Electric has installed a two-circuit line of approximately 5.5km, 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 reliability in difficult climates.
Wang Xinkuan, chief design engineer for Chongqing Electric Power, said: This is one of the hottest cities of China, with monsoonal weather, and we required a conductor that could be relied upon to carry more current under those conditions, and could be installed quickly and reliably within the existing infrastructure. Installation required only two weeks.
