ACCC conductor

ACCC (Aluminum Conductor Composite Core) is a registered trade mark for a type of "high-temperature low-sag" (HTLS) overhead power line conductor.

The ACCC patent filed by CTC Global was revoked on July 3, 2019, by the European Patent Office (EPO), after an opposition procedure filed by Epsilon Composite, Mercury Cable & Energy, and Mercury Cable International.

[1] It is able to carry approximately twice as much current as a traditional aluminium-conductor steel-reinforced cable (ACSR) cable of the same size and weight,[6] Its light weight and softness result in roughly 30% greater conductivity than an equivalent ACSR conductor, allowing 14% more current to be carried at equal temperature.

Operation at high temperatures implies high line losses, which may be uneconomical, but the ability to carry such current contributes to the redundancy of the electric grid (the high overload capacity can stop a potential cascading failure) and thus can be valuable even when rarely used directly.

Even at higher operating temperatures, the ACCC conductor's added aluminum content and lower electrical resistance offers reduced line losses compared to other conductors of the same diameter and weight.