2011 is the first year of the 12th Five-Year Plan, but electric power supply has become a bottleneck of China’s economic development.Therefore, it is urgent to carry out power grid construction. From the beginning of 2011 till now, China has made a huge investment to build state-level smart power grid, and new aluminum alloy transmission conductors or smart power grid will play an active role in the construction boom.

Recently, SGCC held Interim Infrastructure Work Conference & Smart Substation Construction Conference 2011 in Changchun, urging the industry to accelerate smart power transmission & transformation construction and fully carry out smart substation construction.

Recently, Liu Youwei, deputy director of Strategic Development Research Center of China Electric Power Research Institute indicated in an interview that SGCC will build approximately 5,000 smart substations during the 12th Five-Year Plan period. Massive construction of smart substations will visibly drive upstream and downstream companies to develop rapidly in nearly 100 fields and benefit related industries including aluminum alloy conductors.

In a time when energy conservation and consumption reduction are advocated, new materials tend to gain more favor in the market, so new aluminum alloy conductor is expected to play an important role in the smart power grid construction boom.

It is reported that aluminum alloy conductors,especially high-strength and heat-resisting aluminum alloy conductors, is used in many countries. High-strength aluminum alloy conductors are mainly used in medium & heavy icing area

and cross-line area to increase the span between iron towers for power transmission, reduce number and footprint of such iron tower,and ultimately improve wire electric conductivity; while heat-resisting aluminum alloy conductors is mainly used in areas with moderate demand for capacity expansion, short supply of line corridor, developed economy, great gap between power consumption peak and valley as well as a short construction period.

Huang Chongqi, an academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering and an expert in the field of electric wires and cables, observes that China boasts strong capabilities of technological development and production of highstrength aluminum alloy conductor and heatresisting aluminum alloy conductor. However,these products are mainly for export rather than domestic market due to certain economic factors.

Between August 27 and 28, in the New Power Transmission Conductors Green & Innovative Technologies Exchange held in Guiyang, participating experts exchanged views on application ideas of heat-resisting aluminum alloy conductors, applications of super steel core mid-strength aluminum alloy on large span,application of steel core aluminum alloy conductors in icing areas as well as application of super steel core high-strength heat-resisting stranded conductors on large span in the current situation. Experts approved the new aluminum alloy series transmission conductors and participants fully understood the application trend of aluminum alloy conductors.

The situation of inadequate application of highstrength aluminum alloy and heat-resisting aluminum alloy conductors will be likely improved and is expected to increase the market share in the field of power grid construction during the 12th Five-Year Plan, greatly benefiting leading enterprises including Zhongtian TechnologiesGroup.