The High-Wire Act of Unlocking Clean Energy | Jason Huang | TED

以下是对原文的中文翻译： 本次演讲倡导使用先进的导线技术升级现有的电网基础设施，并特别强调了TS Conductor公司提供的解决方案，该公司是演讲者共同创立的。核心论点是，目前依赖20世纪初过时技术的电网，是向完全电气化、可再生能源驱动的未来转型的主要瓶颈。现有的导线，主要是钢芯铝绞线(ACSR)，效率低下、容量有限，且容易出现过度下垂等问题，这带来了重大挑战。 演讲者指出，传统的ACSR导线使用钢芯来提供结构支撑，并使用多层铝来提供导电性。然而，所使用的铝并不适合高温运行，限制了导线的整体容量。后来的迭代产品，如钢芯铝绞线(ACSS)，使用了更强的钢和耐热铝，但钢芯仍然会随着温度升高而显著膨胀，导致电线严重下垂，这是一个显而易见且存在问题的现象。第一代先进导线试图通过用复合材料取代钢芯来解决这个问题，但它们被证明脆弱、难以安装且成本高昂，阻碍了广泛应用。 TS Conductor的技术直接解决了这些局限性。他们的先进导线采用碳复合材料芯，并配有连续、无缝的铝套。这种设计提供了几个关键优势：显著降低了热膨胀（消除了下垂），最大化了铝含量以实现最佳导电性而无需增加重量，并增强了强度，使导线具有弹性，不易受到腐蚀、极端天气和野火的影响。与传统导线相比，这可以将线路容量提高三倍，并将线路损耗降低50%，同时该设计还提供了额外的安全性、可靠性和寿命。 演讲者强调了TS Conductor解决方案的经济效益，突出了“绿色折扣”。虽然先进导线具有适度的溢价成本，但总体项目成本通常较低，尤其是在新建输电线路中。TS Conductor技术的卓越强度和降低的下垂允许使用更少和更短的支撑结构，从而大幅节省资本支出，从而抵消了导线的溢价成本。在重新架线项目中，即重复利用现有塔架，经济优势更加明显，因为无需进行任何结构改造即可将线路容量提高三倍。 演讲展示了北达科他州的一个真实案例，一家公用事业公司最初计划使用传统的ACSS导线来升级输电线路，以适应风力发电场的能源。由于过度下垂，传统的导线将需要对90%的结构进行昂贵的改造。但改用TS Conductor后，他们能够避免所有结构改造，从而使总项目支出减少了40%，并且项目提前12个月完成。 演讲者认为，广泛采用像TS Conductor开发的那样的先进导线，将释放显著的效益：它可以立即连接更多的可再生能源，消除输电瓶颈，实现各个行业（交通、供暖、工业、数据中心）的电气化，并大幅减少温室气体排放。仅线路损耗的减少一项，每年就可以防止释放5亿吨温室气体。将这种减少与通过广泛部署所能创造的扩大的可再生能源容量相结合，将产生重大影响。 最后，演讲者呼吁采取行动，敦促支持鼓励公用事业公司在其电网现代化计划中考虑和采用先进导线的立法和法规。激励使用这些技术对于加速向更清洁、更高效和更可靠的电网转型至关重要。由于电力线的寿命为50-70年，因此今天做出的决定将产生持久的影响。演讲者最后表示，他们相信电网可以而且应该成为能源转型的推动者。他举了一个例子，就像我们在短短几十年内就能够改善糟糕的互联网并发展到5G一样，我们可以用TS Conductor今天提供的技术对我们的电网做同样的事情。

This presentation advocates for upgrading the existing power grid infrastructure with advanced conductor technology, specifically highlighting the solutions offered by TS Conductor, a company the speaker co-founded. The core argument is that the current grid, relying on outdated technology from the early 20th century, is a major bottleneck in the transition to a fully electrified, renewable energy-driven future. The existing conductors, primarily ACSR (Aluminum Conductor Steel Reinforced), are inefficient, capacity-limited, and prone to issues like excessive sagging, which poses significant challenges. The speaker points out that the traditional ACSR conductor utilizes a steel core for structural support and layers of aluminum for conductivity. However, the aluminum used isn't ideal for high-temperature operation, restricting the conductor's overall capacity. Later iterations, like ACSS (Aluminum Conductor Steel Supported), used stronger steel and heat-resistant aluminum, but the steel core still expands significantly with heat, leading to sagging power lines, a visible and problematic issue. First-generation advanced conductors attempted to solve this by replacing the steel core with composite materials, but they proved fragile, difficult to install, and expensive, hindering widespread adoption. TS Conductor’s technology directly addresses these limitations. Their advanced conductors feature a carbon composite core with a continuous, seamless aluminum sleeve. This design offers several critical advantages: significantly reduced thermal expansion (eliminating sagging), maximized aluminum content for optimal conductivity without added weight, and enhanced strength, making the conductors resilient and less susceptible to corrosion, extreme weather, and wildfires. This allows for tripling line capacity and reducing line loss by 50% compared to traditional conductors, while the design provides added safety, reliability, and longevity. The speaker emphasizes the economic benefits of TS Conductor's solution, highlighting a "green discount." While the advanced conductors have a modest premium cost, the overall project costs are often lower, particularly in new transmission line construction. The superior strength and reduced sag of TS Conductor’s technology allows for fewer and shorter support structures, resulting in substantial capital expenditure savings that offset the conductor's premium cost. In re-conductoring projects, where existing towers are reused, the economic advantages are even greater, as line capacity can be tripled without needing any structural retrofits. The presentation cites a real-world example in North Dakota where a utility company initially planned to use traditional ACSS conductors for upgrading a transmission line to accommodate wind farm energy. The traditional conductor would have required expensive retrofits to 90% of the structures because of excessive sagging. But after they switched to TS conductors, they were able to avoid all the structure retrofits, resulting in a 40% reduction in total project expenses and the project was completed 12 months ahead of schedule. The speaker argues that widespread adoption of advanced conductors like those developed by TS Conductor would unlock significant benefits: it would immediately connect more renewable energy sources, eliminate transmission bottlenecks, enable the electrification of various sectors (transportation, heating, industry, data centers), and dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The reduced line loss alone could prevent the release of 500 million tons of greenhouse gases annually. Coupling this reduction with the expanded renewable energy capacity that can be created by widespread deployment would have a significant impact. Finally, the speaker calls for action, urging support for legislation and regulations that encourage utility companies to consider and adopt advanced conductors in their grid modernization plans. Incentivizing the use of these technologies is essential to accelerating the transition to a cleaner, more efficient, and reliable power grid. Because power lines have a lifespan of 50-70 years, the decisions that are made today will have a lasting impact. The speaker concludes by stating their belief that the grid can and should be the enabler for energy transition. He uses an example, that because we were able to improve our dire internet and progress to 5G in a couple of decades that we can do the same for our power grid with TS Conductor’s available technology today.