Aluminium, Lighting Up Millions of Dreams
15 Apr 2021
Affordable, reliable, and clean energy will be a key enabler in realization of India’s vision of a USD 5 trillion economy. According to the International Energy Agency, India is the world’s third-largest energy consuming country, due to rising population, rising incomes, and improving standards of living. From sustainably leveraging large-scale coal reserves for power generation, to ensuring energy access to all corners of the country, institutionalizing quality controls for energy efficient machines and consumer goods, and investing in and harnessing substantial solar / other forms of renewable energy, India’s post-COVID recovery phase for India is going to be a very dynamic period in its energy development.
Aluminium is versatile, by virtue of its exceptional design flexibility as well as superb conductivity. Among base metals, only copper has a higher conductivity than aluminium. An aluminium wire will need ~1.5 times larger cross section to pass the same current, but it is two times lighter. The light weight of aluminium wire rods lends itself very well to non-sagging of transmission lines, which is of critical importance while ensuring power distribution over long distances. Aluminium wires reduce the load onto grid pylons and increases the distance of spans between them, thus reducing expenses and shortening construction time. Therefore, only aluminium wires are used in main overhead power lines. This is further bolstered by the fact that aluminium has good ductility and formability, and easily sustains significant static loads.
Another special property of aluminium is that it is non-corrosive in the face of weather elements, which lends itself to significantly longer service life (almost 40 years) with low maintenance needs. And at the end of life, aluminium can be 100% recycled with barely any loss in properties to find usage across diverse sectors. In our quest for a sustainable energy future for all, aluminium is the metal of the future for electrical sector.
