Silicon Valley Power (Santa Clara, California, U.S.) has dramatically boosted its transmission capacity with the installation of a lightweight 60-kV conductor along a 3-mile (5-km) city corridor. Use of the 3M aluminum conductor composite reinforced (ACCR) line allowed the municipal electric utility to almost double power-flow capacity from 850 A to over 1550 A without enlarging towers or the right-of-way in this residential and commercial area of the city.

Silicon Valley Power joins a handful of utilities in the U.S. and five other nations in using the aluminum matrix conductor to relieve anticipated transmission bottlenecks while minimizing environmental and economic impact.

“Using the cutting-edge matrix conductor minimized disturbance for our customers while accommodating the growing demand for power capacity in the area,” said John Roukema, director of Silicon Valley Power. “Employing the latest technology also means less maintenance and more reliability, and we have plenty of capacity for rapid response to customers' increases in load requirements over the next 15 to 20 years.”

For information, visit www.3m.com or siliconvalleypower.com.