Aluminium wire technology comes a long way but consumers still sceptical

Aluminium wire technology has come a long way over the past several decades. The lightweight metal is now an absolutely suitable and reliable alternative, especially for medium-voltage (MV) cables.

Aluminium cables score over copper cables in many respects. The cables made from aluminium can be significantly cheaper. Installation of aluminium cables reduces cost by about 15-20 percent because they are much lighter. A 1,000 foot long 750kcmil aluminium cable weighs just 704 pounds.

 

However, for there to be large-scale substitution, there would have to be a major price divergence between aluminium and copper. But if the price of copper were to rally dramatically, a massive wave of substitution that would happen in a very short period. This is because the aluminium products already exist so there’s not going to be an innovation lag. Wire producers can simply start feeding their machines with aluminium.

In most part of the world, consumers still remain hesitant to move away from copper. At the recently ended Aluminium Wire and Cable conference in Detroit, experts opined that large scale R&D investment is required to further upgrade the conductivity of aluminium cables. But then, an intricate price metrics is associated with the market psyche which will detremine the next substitution wave from copper to aluminium cables.