7.

, 2 4 2011
Andrzej Urbanczyk
Bart Verheule
Borealis

IMPROVING PERFORMANCE OF DISTRIBUTION NETWORK BY

OPTIMISATION OF LOW VOLTAGE CABLE CONSTRUCTION
ABSTRACT
Todays challenge is to transport more and more energy constantly and reliably to customers.
Not supplying energy can damage and influence the future of companies and economies. The OECD
predicts that the energy demand will increase by 1.5% annually during the coming years (projection
till 2030) [1].
Today the reliable distribution of energy is becoming more and more of a concern to keep
production units and offices working 24 hours a day. Already a power cut of 30 minutes can result in a
serious loss of business to the customer. Therefore suitable cables should be installed to distribute the
energy. For more than 30 years, cross-linkable polyethylene (XLPE) has demonstrated its
effectiveness in providing reliable insulation for high demanding cables. Furthermore the introduction
of the silane cross-linking process for low voltage cables has given the cable producers an advantage
in producing cost-efficient cables for the industry. Application fields for these types of materials are
broadening, and competitive technologies have more recently been developed for insulated overhead
and underground cables.
Furthermore the use of a high-performance jacketing in the cable performance and costs will
be highlighted. This means that cable makers are faced with the challenge of producing more cables on
their existing lines in a more cost-efficient way. It also means that utilities need to install these cables
as cheaply as possible in a way which provides consumers with the most reliable electricity supply.
XLPE as insulation and HDPE as jacketing give the utilities the possibility to increase the conductor
temperature by 20 K compared to PVC. This means that the conductor size that has to be chosen to
transport energy can be one size lower than with PVC cables.
This paper will discuss the advantages of using a full polyethylene cable for the low voltage
network either as a distribution cable or in the industrial environment. It will also highlight the
advantages of modern XLPE/HDPE cables in terms of:

Installation costs

Reliability

Operating costs

Keywords: XLPE insulation, low voltage cables, installation costs, optimisation of LV cables
construction

B1-056R 1/8

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INTRODUCTION

The world demand for energy is growing and will continue to grow every year by 1.5% [1].
This will mean that more energy will be transported through the worldwide distribution networks. In
first half of 2008, the price of metal increased by 133% since the year 2004, which led the utilities and
industrial consumers to push more energy through the cable, thereby resulting in a higher operating
temperature. Still price of metal is on the high level creating very high cost to cables.
The main costs for low voltage networks today are:

Laying costs

Material costs (metal + plastics)

Failures

1998

2011

Figure 1 Copper price over the years 1998-2011, price in USD [2]
2

NETWORK AND INSTALLATION COSTS

2.1

Laying costs

During the laying of low voltage cables, it is important that automatic mechanical laying
techniques like ploughs can be used.
In stallation
3,0%

other
5,0%

C able
18,8%

Digg ing
73,3%

Figure 2 Laying Costs for a 0.4 kV cable [3]

MAKO CIGRE 2011 B1-056R 3/8

In certain areas, the removed soil can immediately be used to backfill the trench. However, in
most parts of Europe, the soil is too rocky to be used for this method. Therefore, the cable has to be
specially protected. In this situation, the use of a high-performance, high-density polyethylene with a
high hardness property (i.e. 60 Shore D) for the jacketing should be used.
2.2

Material costs

Due to the lower losses of XLPE and the higher temperature permitted for XLPE cables (see
table 1), these cables can distribute more energy to the customers and can afford a higher peak load.
Table 1 Comparison of PVC, LDPE and XLPE insulation compounds
Property
Density, kg/m
Max. conductor
temperature, oC
Max; short circuit
temperature, C
Thermo oxidative
ageing requirements
Loss factor (tan )
Power factor
Volume resistivity,
cm
Brittleness temperature
Water absorption
mg/cm

PVC
1350-1450

LDPE
923

XLPE
923

70

70

90

150

150

250

80 C, 7 days
0.007
0.03

135 C, 7 days
0.0003
0.00112

0.0005
0.00115

1013 1014

> 1016

From -9 to -20

< - 60

~ 2.5

< 0.1

< 0.1

Scatterplot of PVC; XLPE vs C1

325

Variable
PVC
XLPE

300

Electrical Load

275
250
225
200
175
150
20

30

40

50
60
70
Conductor Diameter

80

90

100

Figure 3 Electrical load depending on the conductor size for 0.6/1 kV cables [4]
This means that for a 95 mm copper conductor, you can distribute 15% more energy with an
XLPE cable than with a PVC cable. Additionally, the insulation thickness is 1.6 mm for PVC
insulation and only 1.1 mm for XLPE according to HD603. To distribute the same amount of energy
using a 95 mm2 copper conductor PVC insulated cable, only a 70 mm2 copper conductor XLPE
insulated cable is needed. Thus utilities can use smaller cables that are easier to handle.
Potential material savings are demonstrated in figure 4. It can be clearly seen that taking into
account the lower thickness required for the XLPE insulation and lower XLPE density, the choice of

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insulation and jacketing material has a great impact on the total cable weight. In XLPE/PE solutions,
the weight of insulation/jacket is two times less than for PVC/PVC solutions per 1 km of cable [5].
Utilities and installation companies benefit from easier handling and lighter cables.
700

Kg /1km cable

600
500
400
300

PVC

200

PVC

100

PE
XLPE

0
PVC

XLPE/PE

Figure 4 Comparison of material needed for insulation and jacketing according to HD603 standard
(4x95 mm2 cable, no bedding or armour included)
3

LOW VOLTAGE APPLICATIONS

One of the main applications of cross-linkable polyethylene is as insulation for 1kV

underground, industrial and overhead cables. Due to better electrical properties and a higher
temperature rating, these cables have a much higher power transmission capacity for a given conductor
dimension compared to PVC cables, which are traditionally used. The improved electrical property
results in significant material savings due to decreased insulation thickness. Besides lower cost, higher
distribution reliability is reached due to increased overloading and short circuit resistance.
One of the most important factors for utilities is energy loss during distribution. In figure 5,
typical examples of the variation of the dissipation factor with temperature are presented. As can be
seen, the most stable and lowest dissipation factor can be achieved for the XLPE insulated cables, up
to a maximum working temperature of 90oC.

Tan (10e-3)

100

10

0.1
20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Temperature (C)
XLPE

LDPE

Figure 5 Typical examples of the variation of tan of cables with temperature

Scorch retardant copolymers have simplified the extrusion process and made it possible to use
ordinary PE/PVC extruders. The ambient curing process has further reduced the cost producing XLPE
low voltage cables.
The introduction of the ambient curing technology showed that low voltage cables according
to IEC 60502 could be produced using standard extruders having a length reaching from 18 to 34 L/D.
The processing speeds that can be reached are up to 1500 m/min. The cross-linking of insulation
thickness up to 2.5 mm takes place even in the northern part of Europe outside in the storage area.
For many constructions, it is also possible to run insulation and jacket in cascade.

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3.1

Cable reliability depending on sheath and insulation of cables

Increased evidence proves that cable sheathing has an important influence on the useful life of
cables. The failure rate depends largely on the sheathing material. Minor sheath damage usually occurs
during the cable laying process. More damage resistant sheaths prolong the useful life of cables.
Table 2 Sheathing material properties
Sheathing material
Impact resistance,
kJ/m
Hardness , Sh. D

3.2

HDPE

PVC

18

65

37

Water absorption

As stated in table 1, PVC absorbs more water than XLPE. The water absorption leads to the
weakening of the materials insulation properties and eventually to the breakthrough of the cables.
Cables with PVC sheathing and insulation are subject to this phenomenon, while cables with XLPE
insulation are far more resistant to the presence of moisture, regardless of the sheath (HDPE or PVC).
3.3

Jacketing of underground cables

There is more and more evidence that the jacketing of cables has an important influence on the
lifetime of the cable. The failure rate depends heavily on the type of jacketing that is used in the cable
application as outlined in figure 6.
Furthermore, the system outages using an XLPE/HDPE cable can be reduced significantly. In
the chart below, the outages from a European grid are highlighted. It can clearly be seen that using an
XLPE cable together with a tough jacket reduces the outages by more than 50%, further increasing the
reliability of the grid [6].
XLPE Insulation/ HDPE
Jacketing (Sh. D > 59)
XLPE Insulation/ LDPE
Jacketing
XLPE Insulation/ PVC
Jacketing
PVC Insulation/ PVC
Jacketing
0,00

0,05

0,10

0,15

Figure 6 System outages per system kilometre and year

3.4

Laying costs

A significant cost factor during the installation of cables is the laying costs, which vary
depending on the area where the cables are installed. In figure 7, typical costs for an installation of a
low voltage network are highlighted [7].

MAKO CIGRE 2011 B1-056R 6/8

600
500
400

Others
Machinery

300

Work
Other material
Cable material

200
100
0
Country side

Populated area

City centre

Figure 7 Laying costs

By using a high density jacketing with a high hardness property (e.g. Shore D ~59), the laying
costs can be reduced significantly. The trenches can be smaller and the risk that the cables are
damaged during installation is lower. Additionally, the soil that is obtained by digging the trenches can
be used to fill it again instead of sand, further reducing the costs. In figure 8, the costs are outlined
from a utility that has introduced a hardness specification in 1985. They were able to keep their
installation costs under control and improve the performance of their grid.
Relative cost
PVC
300

200

HDPE

100

0
19
1970

1 7
1980

198
1 99
1990
2000
Year of installation

0
2010

Figure 8 Evolution of the laying costs [8]

3.5

Flame retardant jacketing

There are requirements for jacketing materials to be used as a low smoke flame retardant
application, since an advantage of PVC is its flame retardancy.
A new development has improved the property, providing a flame retardant jacketing that
fulfils IEC 80671 ST 7 requirements and HD620 DMZ-1 requirements.

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It can be used in tunnels and due to its low moisture permeability also for underground cables
without changing the cable type. Extrusion speeds are the same as with standard jacketing material.
HDPE
PVC
FR (CaCO3 filled)
FR (ATH filled)

4000

[ppm]

3000

2000

1000

0
20

30

40

50
60
70
80
Temperature [C]

90

100

110

Figure 9 Water absorption [9]

In the past, NHFR jacketing had the disadvantage that these materials were too soft and the
water absorption was too high. Today however there are flame retardant materials on the market that
have a hardness of around 56 (Shore D) and the water absorption of pure polyethylene, whereas cables
sheathed with PVC do not keep the cable dry.
This advantage is already used for extra high voltage projects and is under development in
several European countries for low voltage installations.
4

CONCLUSIONS

This article demonstrates that using XLPE as insulation for low voltage cables gives you the
following advantages:

Thinner cables due to better electrical properties of XLPE compared to PVC

Smaller conductors or higher load due to better thermal properties of XLPE

Better processing due to the superior characteristic of EVS

Reducing the laying costs by using HDPE jacketing

Reducing the failure rate of the grid by using XLPE/HDPE cables

Having an environmental free alternative to PVC when flame retardancy is required

LITERATURE
[1] World Energy Outlook 2009, OECD/IEA 2009
[2] http://www.lme.co.uk/copper.asp
[3] V.Krauss, Welchen beitrag kann der tiefbau zur kostensengung liefern?, VDEW Kabeltagung, 1999
[4] HD603 S1 standard, Distribution cables of rated voltage 0,6/1 kV
[5] Borealis, The optimum material solution for low voltage energy cables
[6] D.Wald, The advantages of XLPE insulated cables in the energy distribution network, CIRED 2005
[7] M. Bjrn et al, Performance and cost comparison between different insulation and jacketing materials for
1 kV cables, Cables 2004, Kln.
[8] H. Stger, Electrizittswirtschaft, 83 (1984), H. 26, 1099 - 1104, updatet information

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[9] D. Wald, K.Skeljo, A.Urbanczyk, Cable standards give opportunities for reduction of conductor metal
resulting in lower cost of low voltage cables, CIRED 2007