spacer cable

[magoo2]

We're considering the use of spacer cable for some of our 15 kV circuits. We don't have any experience with it and I'm leary of just trusting the vendors (Hendrix and Southwire).

Can anyone share their experience with spacer cable, both good and bad?

We are a utility in the U.S.

 

[apowerengr]

In my experience either utilities love it or hate it. As for its performance it definately stays in service related to tree contacts or downed poles. The coating is hard to strip for connections - you can heat it with a flame-diffusing propane torch then cut and peel it. Lineworkers need to understand that you treat the conductor as if it were bare and energized since its not shielded. If lightning gets under the conductor coating spots in the conductor which are burned-open are hard to find. I have utility customers who use the "Hendrix" wire for jumpers in congested areas where they want more protection on the wire for animal or other contact mitigation including substation applications and field switches.

Overall in the right applications I think it works fine. I heard they make a 69kV version too although I've not yet had the opportunity to work with it.

 

[hdp]

magoo2,

I worked 14 years at a large municipal in the south and have been working in utility construction as an outside contractor for the past 13 years. In the contractor phase of my career, I have been involved in a large number of spacer cable projects. That said, the majority have been for an Illinois utility and all have been "chop and drop". As noted in earlier post, lightning can be a particular problem, especially when installed on steel structures. This has been experienced by utilities in the North East as well. You may want to look at how it affects coefficients of grounding and voltage rise on unfaulted phases. I know of instances where the voltage rise under fault conditions has been significant enough to fail surge arresters on the non-involved phases. My personal impression is that the operative guideline should be "space". If right of way is limited, this may be a viable option. It is not particularly vegatation resistant in my experience; it may stay in the air longer, but when it hits the ground, it is a royal mess.