Project Owner: Pioneer Electric Cooperative

Product Used: VR2^® Vibration Resistant Conductor

Project: New Overhead Transmission Line in Ice-Prone Region

Location: Ulysses, Kansas

Kansas Co-op Fights Ice with VR2® Conductor

Southwire Company, LLC’s VR2 dual-conductor vibration resistant conductors beat the twisted-pair installation problem Pioneer Electric Cooperative in Ulysses, Kansas, knows about ice and the challenges it can bring to electrical transmission and distribution. Ulysses is in a heavy ice-loading zone, and the winds blowing steadily across the plains bring big problems of aeolian vibration and ice galloping. So, Pioneer turned to Southwire’s patented VR2® dual-conductor vibration-resistant conductors.

Mike Haney of Pioneer Electric recounts, “In a terrible winter storm in 2006, we lost 3,800 poles and over a thousand miles of conductors, but no twisted-pair conductors hit the ground. We’ve been using twisted-pair conductors since 1991, and we know the architecture is highly resistant to galloping.”

VR2 Conductors Go Up Easily

Traditional twisted-pair conductors can separate and sag apart during installation. “You can spend thousands of dollars in labor jacking out the bagging that occurs,” says Haney. The team at Pioneer Electric installed their first runs of Southwire’s dual-conductor VR2 in the Spring of 2009.

“All twisted-pair is not the same,” Haney says. “The way Southwire’s dual-conductor VR2 is constructed, the conductors stay together during installation making it much easier to handle. That’s important.” Pioneer has now installed over nine million feet of VR2, in sizes from twin

Pioneer has now installed over nine million feet of VR2, in sizes from twin 4/0 AWG conductors to twin #2 AWG conductors with operating voltages of typically 13.2 kV.

Get Long Lengths and Large Conductors

“Southwire can deliver VR2 in industry-leading sizes and run lengths,” says Stephen Spruell, Southwire Director of Product Development. The larger sizes bring VR2’s ice galloping and vibration resistant benefits to high capacity grid applications. Longer run lengths squeeze installation costs by reducing multiple-reel handling time. And, VR2 cable can be strung to the maximum allowable tension limits without additional vibration protection.

To learn more about Southwire’s patented VR2 design, contact us!