Insight on the recent materials advances for manufacturing of high-voltage transmission conductors

Transmission conductor forms the essential pathway where electric power traverses from the generating centre station to the distribution sub-station. Some glitches in power delivery have been attributed to that occasioned by defective transmission conductors. Challenges accruing from transmission conductors can be handled proactively by designing and developing robust conductors. This review was aimed at studying the challenges witnessed in power transmission, ways of ameliorating them, and prospective conductors for future power transmission. In the study, it was observed that lightning, bush fire, short-circuiting, and grid overload are some of the challenges in the transmission grid. It was also observed that aluminium conductor composite core (ACCC) and aluminium conductor composite reinforced (ACCR) are the two best transmission conductors existing presently based on ampacity and efficiency. It was concluded that Al-based composites of CNTs, graphene, BN, Si3N4, and TiC could perform more favourably than the existing transmission conductors. It was recommended that these new materials should be studied further to verify their applicability in transmitting electric power.