About Cable Corporation of India Ltd
Cable Corporation of India (CCI) was established in 1957 as a joint venture between the German companies Siemens AG and Felten & Guillaume AG, with Khataus of India. The company first produced PVC insulated wires and cables – the first producer of its kind in India. The company was first in introducing various cables for special applications and import substitution. By 1979 it had extended its portfolio to include cross linked polyethylene (XLPE) insulated cables up to 33 kV. And in 1992 it became the first company in Asia, outside of Japan, to be licensed by Mitsubishi Cable Industries to make EHV cables using its patented MDCV process technology.
CCI is the first company in India to manufacture and supply the Extra High Voltage (EHV) cables of 230 kV. in 1994. Today, CCI is India’s leading EHV cable manufacturer. It has two state-of-the art manufacturing centres at Nashik, Maharashtra producing the full range of wires and cables for both domestic and international markets, meeting industry standards that include BS, VDI, IEC, GOST and BIS. Moreover, CCI has the distinction of having been the first cable maker in India to have been awarded ISO 9001 Quality Management System certification by Bureau Veritas Quality International.
Overcoming scale and complexity of installing major transmission power main
Received the project order from Tamil Nadu Electricity Board for the project of a supply of 230 kV cable 1200 sq mm miliken conductor, accessories and supervision of laying the cable in the busiest area of the city of Chennai. CCI faced two key challenges. Firstly, the manufacture of 135km of EHV cable, which is a significant production volume, and secondly the installation of the power line in the middle of a busy city.
Chennai has a population of over 8.5 million people; and the availability of free space is limited. An overhead power line was out of the question. Consequently, TNEB / CCI focused on planning a route for an underground supply line and designing a cable construction that would satisfy the key criteria of delivering a clean power, with its supply unaffected by environmental conditions over a long service lifetime.
Superclean and Supersmooth deliver reliable performance
While the actual length of the cable route is 29.8km, in two stretches from Elephant Gate to the substation at Mylapore and from Mylapore to the Tharamami substation, the total cable length needed for the distribution circuit is 111km. The length of the route also necessitated a 230 kV cable with straight through joints. The primary functional requirement was a watertight Milliken Al 1200mm conductor construction. CCI is also supplying 24kms of same cable for Chennai Metro Line Project, where TNEB is providing the power source to Railways. The Total Quantity of cable being supplied is hence 135 kms.
CCI used the MDCV technology, the most reliable production process for EHV cables. And, based on long experience and confidence in Borouge’s high purity products for high voltage applications, CCI chose Superclean XLPE for conductor insulation and Supersmooth XLPE for the semiconductive screen. CCI had used Borouge’s compound even in 1994, for their first lengths of 230 kv supplied for an underground Hydel Power Plant.
According to Mr. Nalge Gajanan Sr. Executive Vice President – Marketing of CCI: “This was the first prestigious project in India with this conductor size, type and voltage grade with qty of 135km to be laid in the crowded city, as such it provided a learning curve. In processing, we stabilized the line after few trials and then conducted various test on the core to standardize process parameters for continuous running.
“After some initial trials it was clear that with Superclean LE4244 EHV we could achieve the reliability and stability of consistent quality for this type of cable,” he said.
Ensuring long-term uninterrupted power flow
Super clean cable materials are produced using advanced procedures to ensure the elimination of all contaminants and their cleanliness is maintained to the point of delivery to the customer. The performance of this insulation material is complemented by its use in conjunction with Super smooth for the semi conductive layers of XLPE cables. At high electrical stresses the interface of Super smooth with the insulation reduces the potential of stress transfer from the conductor, thereby increasing the reliability of uninterrupted power flow & a long trouble-free cable service life.
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Customer Name, Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, Chennai, India
Contractor and cable producer, Cable Corporation of India
Application
• Cable materials for EHV power supply
• Voltage – 230 kV
• Cable length – 135km
• Conductor size–(Al) 1200mm– Milliken construction
• Insulation thickness – 27mm
• Cable weight – 15,000kg/km
• Classification – A2XLy2Y 1×1200 RM/VS
PE materials used
• Superclean LE4244 EHV XLPE insulation compound
• Supersmooth LE0592S XLPE semiconductive screen compound
• LE7710 semiconductive screen compound
Functional requirements
• Consistent Extra High Voltage performance and long-term reliability
• Reliable high performance working life as Superclean compound excludes contaminants above 100 microns and controls those below 70 microns
Benefits
•Minimised electrical stresses and therefore consistently stable power flow due to the very smooth interface of Supersmooth with the insulation