Given the government's focus on the power sector, companies engaged in this industry can look forward to profitable times. Huned Contractor profiles one such small scale enterprise.

The breaking news is that amidst the ongoing coal and power shortages, India's power generation capacity has crossed another important benchmark of 2 lakh mega watt (MW). "With the commissioning of a 660 MW unit of a power plant in Jhajjar, Haryana, the country's installed capacity has reached 2,00,287 MW," claims a recent statement from the power ministry. Of the total installed capacity of 2,00,287 MW, around 1,32,013 MW is coal-based, 38,991 MW is hydropower, 4,780 MW nuclear and 24,503 MW of renewable power. The power capacity addition during the last fiscal year (2011-12) alone stood at 20,501 MW capacity, out of which 5,482 MW was added in March alone. During the 11th Plan, there was a capacity addition of 53,122 MW, more than two-and-a-half times of the 21,180 MW added during the 10th Plan. Given this encouraging scenario in India's power sector, the Punjab-based Sanjay Conductors & Cables, but naturally, finds itself in an advantageous position. Established in 1996 by Priyadarshan Kehar with his two sons Sanjay and Sachin Kehar at the helm of its business, the company is engaged in manufacturing all types of ACSR (aluminium conductor steel reinforced), AAC (all aluminium conductor) and AAAC (all aluminium alloy conductor) conductors for overhead power distribution and transmission lines, earning a reputation for being innovative, quality conscious and a timely supplier.

ACSR conductors consist of a solid or stranded steel core surrounded by strands of aluminium (EC grade). These are available in a wide range of steel, containing carbon from 0.5 per cent to 0.85 per cent. "The higher strength ACSR conductors are used for river crossings, overhead ground wires, installations involving extra long spans, etc. Against any given resistance of a conductor, ACSR may be manufactured within a wide range of tensile strength as per the requirement," informs Sachin Kehar. The principal advantage of these conductors is their high tensile strength so that they are used for longer spans with less supports. "Due to the greater diameter of ACSR conductors a much higher corona limit can be obtained leading to big advantages on high as well as extra high voltage overhead lines," Sachin adds. AAAC conductors are made from aluminium-magnesium-silicon alloy of high electrical conductivity (minimum 53 per cent IACS) containing magnesium (0.6-0.9 per cent) and silicon (0.5-0.9 per cent) to give it better mechanical properties after treatment. AAAC conductors are made out of aluminium alloy 6201. It has a better corrosion resistance and better strength to weight ratio along with improved electrical conductivity than the ACSR conductor on an equal diameter basis.

The AACSR is a concentrically stranded conductor composed of one or more layers of 6201 -T81 aluminium alloy wire stranded over a high-strength zinc-coated steel core. The core may be single wire or stranded depending on the requirement of the customer. The proportions of aluminium alloy and steel can be varied to obtain the relation between the current carrying capacity and mechanical strength best suited to each application. The core wire for AACSR is available with Class A, B or C galvanizing, 'aluminised' aluminium-coated (AZ) or aluminium-clad (AW). These are used as bare overhead transmission cables and as primary and secondary distribution cables. AACSR offers optimal strength for line design. Variable steel core stranding enables the achievement of desired strength without sacrificing ampacity.

For Sanjay Conductors & Cables, adherence to quality standards has been a priority. Says Sachin: "We obtained ISI certification in the year 2003 and the ACSR, AAAC and AAC conductors are being manufactured as per the Indian standards conforming to IS 398. We also provide routine test reports, NABL-approved type test, GTP certificates and samples, etc. The ACSR conductors are also manufactured conforming to various international standards such as the BS 215-II: 1970 (British Standards Institution), ASTM B-232: 1999, USA (American Society for Testing and Materials), DIN 48204:1974 (German standard), IEC 61089:1991 (International Electro Technical Commission), CSA C49.1: 1975 (Canadian standard) and the NFC 34120:1976 (French standard), etc."

The company's present installed capacity for conductors is more than 60,000 metres per day i.e. about 3,500 metric tonnes of ACSR, AAC, AAAC conductors. The manufacturing plant is equipped with rod breakdown machines, tubular machines and stranding machines as also updated quality control facilities.

"We have recently introduced an insulated aluminium conductor which is widely used for overhead secondary distribution lines and is coated with weather-proofing polyethylene or XLPE. It mainly provides weather proofing of the conductors, thereby making it very competitive as compared to cables. This is particularly in favour of industries that want to cut costs on cables," Sachin states.

Among the company's main clients are the various state electricity boards, turnkey contractors and power plants, both PSUs and private companies. Some of these clients include ABB (Faridabad), Genus Power (Jaipur), GVPR Engineering (Hyderabad), GNG Group (Gurgaon), Arivendra Electricals (Chandigarh), KLG Systel (Gurgaon) and Jaybee Industries (Bhatinda).

"Our main strength lies in the fact that our team of professionals also helps in product design, manufacture, evaluation, inspection, and testing," Sachin says, adding, "The raw material used in the manufacture of the conductors is EC grade aluminium of 99.7 per cent purity wire rod and high tensile galvanized steel wire." In terms of performance, the company supplied approximately 18,000 km of ACSRs to various SEBs and customers in 2011-12.

Reflecting on the future, Sachin is optimistic about growth. The reasoning is simple: the power conductor industry is very likely to see impressive growth in the 12th Plan period (2012-2017), thanks to a much higher outlay for the power transmission sector. According to estimates, the power transmission sector is expected to see investment of Rs 2,40,000 crore during this period, which would be over 70 per cent higher than the comparable Rs 1,40,000 crore in the ongoing 11th Plan period. "With 25 per cent of the total cost of a typical power transmission project being towards conductors, the business opportunity size for power conductors would be Rs 60,000 crore. The total opportunity arena could be much higher than this considering that conductors also find minor application in power distribution (sub-transmission) projects," Sachin points out.

(Contact: Sanjay Conductors & Cables, Punjab. Mobile: 098156-25617. Email: sanjayconductors@yahoo.com)