The reliability environment for transmission providers has changed. NERC is now implementing legally enforceable reliability standards, and compliance has become more complicated, with penalties for noncompliance that can reach up to $1 million a day.  This paper looks at a subset of these new standards – facilities ratings, transmission planning and special protection systems – and how an advanced 3M conductor technology, 3M Aluminum Conductor Composite Reinforced (3M ACCR), can help simplify compliance and make it more cost effective, while protecting the reliability of the system.

Delivering the power that drives our economy and ensures our safety and well-being is the function of the transmission grid.  However, the industry faces a rapidly changing playing field where efforts to ensure grid reliability may be seen as constraining transactions from intermittent renewable resources and wholesale contracts.  At the same time, reliability oversight is increasing, a vocal public decries the siting of new lines, and economic conditions make investments that impact rates difficult to accept.
 Therefore, it is critical for utilities to reassess the full spectrum of tools available to them.  This white paper examines one example -- upgrading existing lines using advanced conductors – that can help optimize asset use and increase capacity quickly and cost effectively, while minimizing impacts on property owners and the environment.