How to boost an aging grid
A May 2025 report from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has highlighted the need to search for alternative ways to enhance its transmission infrastructure due to a 25–55% increase in the cost of overhead powerlines. Here, HEINI KLOSTER, product owner for conductor cores at global composites manufacturer Exel Composites, explains how reconductoring electrical grids with carbon fibre conductor cores can help meet the increasing power demands of domestic devices, data centres and electric vehicles (EVs) at affordable costs.
Australia’s electricity grid is confronting significant challenges in scaling up transmission capacity to meet the demands of emerging technologies. Much of the nation’s transmission infrastructure is aging, with many lines exceeding 40 years in service. In 2023, Australia’s electricity consumption reached a record 267.82 billion kilowatt-hours (267.82 TWh), demonstrating the demand for substantial grid enhancements to ensure reliability, facilitate renewable integration and accommodate future growth.
Electrical infrastructure doesn’t come with a quick fix either. The average duration between granting permission for and commissioning of renewable power plants is around five years, whereas new electrical lines, with bases, towers and conductors, take eight to 10 years. Thus, grid owners need other options to be able to react faster to these changes and avoid untenable downtime and increase capacity by 25% by 2030, as required in Europe by the European Commission’s ‘Fit for 55’ proposals, for example.
Reconductoring existing electrical lines
One way to expand the transmission capacity of the existing network is to reconductor the lines. Reconductoring with advanced composite core conductors allows transmission system operators (TSOs) to transmit more electricity and reduce energy losses without altering structures, like powerline routes or towers. This approach will decrease project costs by minimising construction work.
Urban centres where extensive infrastructural work is most difficult, especially major cities, consume huge quantities of power through the day and night. Residential and commercial development around electrical lines prevents electrical contractors from building new lines, so maximising existing conductors’ transmission capabilities is the only approach to help supply meet demand.
Additionally, reconductoring requires less comprehensive planning permission than construction of new electrical lines. Fewer regulations control its execution, limiting the red tape involved and helping the push for fast upgrades.
Reconductoring with advanced conductors with carbon fibre cores also helps TSOs to tackle operational costs by reducing transmission losses by between 20 and 50%. Increased transmission efficiency links to sustainability, as less over-production is required to meet the demand.
Composite materials support reconductoring
Reconductoring means less work than building entire new transmission lines. It’s made possible with the help of advanced conductors. Using strong, lightweight carbon fibre composite as the conductor core allows use of a greater cross-section of annealed aluminium, which means increased flow for electrical current.
The increased flow of electricity raises the temperature of the conductor. In the case of traditional conductors, this makes the metals expand and causes lines to sag. The problems presented by sagging, especially in urban areas, are obvious and thus tightly regulated. Luckily, carbon fibre cores’ excellent tensile strength and very low coefficient of thermal expansion earns them the HTLS classification: high temperature, low sag.
Carbon fibre conductor cores are typically divided into single-wire and multi-wire categories. While single-wire cores are better known and still a slightly more economical option, TSOs are increasingly turning their interest towards the second-generation multi-wire cores for their safety and robustness.
Safety is an important factor, as the single-wire cores especially are more prone to break during installation, if not properly handled. However, the flexibility of the multi-wire solution is more similar to the traditional steel core conductors, significantly increasing safety during installation and use.
In manufacturing conductor cores, Exel Composites uses its expertise in pultrusion, a continuous manufacturing technique. The global manufacturer produces kilometres of thin rod of different shapes and sizes and reels them around wooden spools for shipping.
Demand for electrical power will not soon decrease in Australia or elsewhere in the world. By replacing aging steel core conductors with alternatives using carbon fibre, TSOs can boost power networks’ carrying capacity to serve increasing demand, be it from new data centres or modern homes, with less construction work.
To learn more about the potential of composite conductor cores, watch the short explainer video with Heini Kloster below:
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