3M's new Aluminum Composite Conductor Reinforced (ACCR), an overhead power conductor that doubles the electrical transmission capacity of conventional conductors of the same diameter, will receive its first commercial application early next year, when Xcel Energy (Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.) installs the ACCR on a 10-mile (16-km) transmission line in the Twin Cities region.

Xcel Energy is using the conductor to increase the capacity of a transmission line that extends from Shakopee to Burnsville. The upgrade is part of a US$100 million expansion project at the utility's Blue Lake “peaking” plant in Shakopee, which is needed to ensure a reliable supply of power to Xcel Energy's customers in the Upper Midwest during periods of peak electricity demand.

3M's ACCR is intended as a solution to thermally constrained transmission bottlenecks that have increasingly plagued electricity grids in recent years, causing brownouts and blackouts.

The product has been extensively tested in the laboratory and field-tested for the past four years, including at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy, and at locations operated by Xcel Energy, Western Area Power Administration (in North Dakota and Arizona) sites, the Salt River Project, Hawaiian Electric Co. and Bonneville Power Administration at a site in Washington state. The power line has been proven under a broad range of extreme conditions, such as saltwater corrosion, high winds, vibration, and extreme heat and cold.
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