New product will save co-op money

Socorro Electric Cooperative is utilizing a new product at a $6 million substation being constructed near Quemado that could help save millions in the long run.
In place of copper wire, the co-op is using a copper-clad steel product called GroundSmart, manufactured by CommScope of Hickory, N.C.

“It basically has the same characteristics of copper; we just have to go one size bigger,” Richard Lopez, interim general manager of Socorro Electric Cooperative, said of the product.
Lopez said the co-op has partnered with CommScope on what he called a beta project at the Quemado substation.
“Quemado is one of the only substations in the U.S. using this technology,” Lopez said. “We’ve had people come down from Phoenix, Nevada, New Jersey and Denver to inspect it. It’s pretty neat that we’re using this new technology out here in what a lot of people consider the middle of nowhere.”
Lopez said the product’s performance will be closely monitored over the next 10 years.
“We’ll take ground resistance readings to make sure the integrity isn’t compromised,” he said.
For its participation in the beta project, Lopez said Socorro Electric is receiving a 40 percent reduction on the cost of the wire, which is already 10 percent cheaper than copper.
According to a CommScope press release from April when the product was introduced, the grounding wire meets National Electric Code standards and is approved by the Rural Utilities Service.
It can also be a cost savings over the long term.
“CommScope’s use of copper-clad steel in its GroundSmart™ products provides a safe, highly reliable alternative to the use of solid and stranded copper for grounding applications,” the release said. “These products are specifically designed to disperse fault currents and lightning strikes at a lower total cost of ownership compared to pure copper.”
The release goes on to say that GroundSmart helps reduce the cost of managing and maintaining transmission lines by thwarting vandalism and theft.
Steve Oaks, a market consultant for CommScope, said copper theft has become a huge problem across the country.
“Copper is listed as a precious metal and has shot up in price recently,” he said. “Twenty months ago the price was about $1.50 per pound, and now it’s up to about $4.00 per pound. It has grown even more than gold.”
Oaks said the criminal element has recognized the market trend as an opportunity to cash in.
“What happens is people steal it, take it to a scrap yard and they sell it to a smelter plant and everybody makes money on down the line,” he said.
Oaks said the GroundSmart wire is stiffer, cheaper and has virtually no salvage value.
Earlier this year, thieves ripped grounding wire from about 200 poles in Tierra Grande, a remote area covering parts of northern Socorro and southern Valencia counties. Lopez said at the time that the vandalism cost the co-op about $50,000 to repair.
In reaction to that, Socorro Electric began exploring alternatives.
“Socorro, to Richard Lopez’s credit, recognized they had a problem and wanted to do something about it,” Oaks said. “They’ve been more active about dealing with it — more cutting edge and provocative.”
Oaks said the copper clad steel is nothing new. CommScope has been making it since the 1970s for cable TV lines.
What is relatively new is its application at co-op substations. Socorro is not the first company to use it, he said, but they are one of the few co-ops in the country that have begun using it as grounding wire.
“The key here is copper clad steel in very short current durations operates just fine,” he said, adding that it’s a ideal safeguard against lightning strikes. “So there’s really no need for solid copper for that purpose.”
Oaks said Socorro Electric is using about 3,000 feet of GroundSmart at the Quemado substation, which is a relatively small substations. There are some substations in the country that use close to 10,000 feet of the product.

Paying for itself
Oaks said CommScope has been peddling its product to co-ops for a few years. Socorro’s Lopez was immediately interested when he found out about it.
“He asked us a couple years ago if we’d be interested in doing a beta project, and we said absolutely,” Oaks said. “It has worked out well. Socorro gets something out of it, because we offered them a discount so they get it at a lower cost, and we can test it and let others know by using it as an example.”
The Quemado station is located four miles east of the New Mexico-Arizona border and will receive power through a 13-mile transmission line coming from Springerville, Ariz. A contract between Tucson Electric Power, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association and Socorro Electric was necessary to get the deal done.
The co-op is building a double circuit line into Quemado; one will serve Quemado and the other will go into Pie Town.
Another unique feature, Lopez said, is that transformers at the Quemado substation will be pad mounted.
“So everything is at ground level,” he said.
The Quemado substation, when it’s up and running by spring, should improve service in the western part of the co-op’s service area, Lopez said.
Right now, people living in and around Quemado and the far reaches of the co-op’s service area near the state line receive their power from Magdalena. Lopez said the approximately 150-mile transmission line could possibly be the longest in the United States. The length of the line makes it susceptible to line loss and outages.
“A longer line creates problems of line loss,” he said, meaning the circuit inevitably loses some of its strength the longer distance it has to travel. “Plus, exposure causes problems with outages. The new substation will reduce exposure and reduce line loss and, hopefully, cut down on outages.”
Consequently, it’ll also cut down on costs to the co-op.
“The savings on line loss will pay for the substation over the period of the loan,” he said.
At a co-op board of trustees meeting a year ago, Lopez reported that the new substation would reduce electricity losses by nearly $9 million over the 32 years of the loan, and the overall savings would be about $7 million.
Lopez said residents in the area should see an uptick in voltage.
“One thing they should be able to notice is the voltage should be much better,” he said. “Exposure will be cut in half and the result will be better voltage.”
Lopez said work on the transmission line is already complete. The second circuit is nearly halfway complete and the substation itself is 90 percent done.
The tie-in with Springerville should take place next month, Lopez said, and the substation should go online in March or April.