Heini Kloster appointed product manager for conductor cores
Exel Composites has signaled its intention to capitalize on the expanding market for reconductoring electrical transmission infrastructure by creating a dedicated conductor cores product manager role. Heini Kloster will draw on her experience as our new product manager for electrical applications in this new position. In light of the International Energy Agency’s warning that the world must add or replace 50 million miles of transmission lines by 2040, she will support our growth into a well-rounded global partner for R&D, consultation, and regulatory conversations for transmission line reconductoring.
The mega-trend of electrification across transportation, manufacturing, and many other industries is putting increasing pressure on existing power transmission infrastructure. Kloster will work with conductor producers, transmission system operators (TSO), and standardization bodies to help meet increased capacity and efficiency demands.
Construction of new transmission lines and towers is a difficult way of increasing capacity in built-up areas, and extremely costly. A simpler and cheaper solution is to replace traditional aluminum conductor steel reinforced (ACSR) cores with high-temperature, low-sag (HTLS) alternatives: carbon fiber cores.
These high tensile strength composite cores allow an increase in the volume of conductive aluminum, boosting current carrying potential and enhancing electrical supply without the need to build new towers.
In this role, Kloster will cover both the technical and customer support elements of conductor core technology. As well as supporting customers globally, she will help Exel react to changes in the market and relevant legislative and regulatory adjustments. At its core, her assignment is to steer Exel to the front of this developing market sector as electrical demand surges worldwide.
“It’s very important to Exel that we can be an ally to our customers in this rapidly advancing field,” explained Kloster. “I and the research & development team will collaborate closely with our partners and their end users to help get the most out of our carbon fiber cores.”
“Heini taking on this new role signals Exel’s ambition to lead this field worldwide,” says Francesco Ierullo, vice president for sales and marketing in engineered solutions at Exel Composites. “We don’t want to be just one link in the supply chain, but an active part of this technology’s development and roll-out. We’ll work with various stakeholders, from the International Electrotechnical Commission to cable manufacturers and transmission system operators, to achieve this.”
Pultrusion, the continuous manufacturing technique Exel Composites pioneers, is ideally suited to producing long, materially consistent carbon fiber cable cores. Exel pultrudes kilometers of carbon fiber cores at a time and delivers these cut-to-length reeled products to conductor makers based on their capacity and delivery needs.
