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1) Aluminium has less weight.
2) Aluminium is cheaper.
3) It has high mechanical strength than copper.
4) It has more surface area/diameter to reduce inductance effect in transmission lines.
We can divide the answer into two categories :
First , for the overhead lines OHL ,definitely Aluminium is much cheaper and much lighter and this light weight helps designing simpler poles and towers.
Second for UG cables in range of MV and LV aluminium is dominant because of the price (cheaper) especially when reliability is not a big factor in distribution projects . But in HV and EHV Copper is the dominant because the reliability is a big factor moreover, these projects (transmission projects) have big budgets.
Aluminium has the following
1- cheaper in cost
2- lighter in weight
3- supporting structure not need to be strong as in copper conductor
4- reduce electrical stress
4- the line is corona free
it is all about cost equation
aluminium is more cheaper than copper , more lightest in weight and good conductor after copper
that's make the aluminium conductor more reliable and not worth for thieves
Aluminium is cheaper. But it s less tensile strength. So Aluminium conductors with steel reinforcement is used in high voltage lines. They are known as ACSR conductors. Usage of Aluminuim in place of copper has another advantage in high voltage lines. Since the conductivity of Al is lesser than Cu, the area of cross section of the conductor required is more. This reduces the potential gradient on the conductor surface. So the occurrence of corona in high voltage lines is reduced.
it has a good conductivity less efficient than copper , but on the other hand due to the economic reasons aluminum is chosen because it has lower price.
Due to its low cost and higher condutivity .
No doubt that the conductivity of Copper is better than that of Aluminium (conductivity of Copper is 5.96x10^7 Siemens/m while that of Aluminium is 3.5x10^7 Siemens/m) but still Aluminium is commonly used in transmission lines due to following facts:
1. Aluminium is almost 2 times lighter than Copper conductor. Therefore, if Copper is used instead of Aluminium in Transmission Lines, then the support infrastructure and transmission towers would be of more weight and strength and hence costly. (Density of Aluminium is 2.74 g/cm^3 & density of Copper is 8.64 g/cm^3).
2. Copper conductor itself is costly than Alumium.
3. For the same conductivity, Aluminium will have a larger cross-section area than that of Copper. Due to larger corss-section, potencial gradient onthe surface of conductor reduces which in result reduces corona effect.
4. Risk factor increases with use of Copper conductor in transmission lines.
Alumium has a low tensile strenght and therefore steel is added to increase its strength.
Thanks for invitation
due to:
1- Cheaper than copper
2- easy to manufacturer and shape
3- thifes don't take it
