Power cable to the people's republic.

An Irvine, Calif., company marketing a high-capacity electricity cable has been trying to break into the transmission and distribution field for some time. It reports that lately it has been making some headway, including an order for about 40 miles of line, which will likely be shipped to China

So far, cable from the company, Composite Technology Corp., has been installed in more than a dozen places across the United States, from Phoenix to Niagara Fails. The most recently electrified installation is a section of the electrical system in Salt Lake City.

Composite Technology calls the cable ACCC, for "aluminum conductor composite core."

According to the company, its cable makes use of a glass and carbon composite core to reinforce an aluminum conductor, unlike conventional power line cable in which the aluminum conductor is reinforced with steel. The composite core is lighter and smaller than the steel reinforcement in conventional power lines, Composite Technology said. As a result, ACCC resists sagging better than steel-reinforced lines, and can carry twice the current through the same-diameter cable.

For instance, its 1.108-inch-diameter, or Drake, cable has an aluminum area of 1,020,000 circular mills, or 1,020 kcmil, compared with 795 kcmil in a steel-reinforced cable of the same diameter. A circular mill is a standard unit for measuring the cross-section of wire and is equivalent to the area of a circle 0.001 inch across.

ACCC is rated for 1,905 amperes and the steel-reinforced line for 905 amps.

One of the manufacturer's talking points is that its product will increase capacity in established systems. Although the cable can carry more electricity, it is the same size as the wires it is intended to replace. The company admits that its cable costs significantly more per linear foot, 2.5 to 3 times as much as various steel-reinforced alternatives, but argues that an installation of its product avoids' the cost of new towers or poles because it can use the ones already in place on established rights of way.

Utah Power, a unit of PacifiCorp, earlier this year began to deliver power to customers over a new 6.7-mile section of line in Salt Lake City. The section contains 150 structures to carry the lines, and Utah Power said that it needed to replace seven structures when it rewired.

Using a modeling program provided by Composite Technology, Utah Power estimated that the new installation will accommodate projected usage demands for the next 15 years.

The order from China for cable and related hardware is valued at $1.1 million. The cable will be used in two regional high-voltage transmission projects, Composite Technology said. Some of the conductor will be used in a new transmission line, and the rest as an upgrade to an established line. The order was placed by Jiangsu Far East Group, a Chinese cable manufacturer, for delivery to the Xiamen and Fuzhou Power Bureaus.