Ice Free Power Transmission

Offentlig prosjektsammendrag

Norway is very vulnerable to icing on power lines, due to its high mountains, coastal climate, and freezing temperatures. Accretion of atmospheric ice on conductor, insulator and transmission tower affects their design features, integrity, and performance. Statnett reports that they have experienced one ice induced collapse/year in the last ten years, at the cost of approx. 20 MNOK/year in terms of lost revenue of non-delivered energy only. The actual cost of repairing can vary from 50% to 150% of the construction of the line. Statnett mentions that present anti-icing nano-coatings do not meets their standards, with respect to durability, manufacturing, costs, and other. Ice free power transmission aims to develop an anti-icing composite coating which will use the background magnetic field of power conductor, which otherwise would have been wasted. This coating will avoid the accumulation of very thin layer of ice, delay nucleation, and change ice adhesion characteristics, under extreme environmental conditions. The coating will be cost-effective, light-weight, durable, and can be applied easily on overhead power conductors in remote and difficult-to-reach areas. Using this kind of coating it would be possible to develop a self anti-icing conductor. Using the RFF Nordland prequalification project funding a TRL2 concept study of this coating was conducted in 2021. Experiments were conducted in the icing simulator of UiT The Arctic University of Norway Narvik Campus. The results indicated that the magnetic field produced a temperature difference of 2degC between the coated and uncoated parts of copper conductor and delayed the conductor time to reach the ambient temperature. The partners in this project were Arctic Experts AS, and NANIZE AS, and UiT The Arctic University of Norway. Other main contributor in this project was Abalonyx AS. The physical properties of this coating were measured by Quantum Design GmbH Germany.