Asia Pacific Copper News
From underground cabling in Japan to clean energy in China, rising India copper demand, or a newCode of Practice for Home Wiring in Australia, copper is working hard around the region.
Japan Takes Lead On Underground Cabling
Japan Copper Development Association and ICA hosted workshops in 4 cities with key stakeholders to promote the benefits of moving cabling underground from a local and international perspective.
The Japan Copper Development Association-JCDA-and the International Copper Association-ICA-hosted workshops in Tokyo, Osaka, Sendai and Nagoya called “Comparison of Conductor Material Performance for Underground Cabling and Overseas’ Case-study”.
Underground cabling-UGC-is an important issue in Japan given the high incidence of natural disasters and crowded, dense cities that’s attracted strong public support. A year ago the UGC ratio for Japan had hit 3.35% progress, with the Tokyo area at 5.46%.
ICA/JCDA is actively working with a broad number of interested groups like utility companies and cable manufacturers to understand the issues involved. On top of ongoing research ICA/JCDA is also promoting “Fact of Economic superiority of Cu Cable in UGC”based on various trial and error case study in world wide.
A number of guest speakers spoke at the workshops. Mr. Andreas Karampekios from DNV-GL, a Norwegian based independent institute known for their work in the environment and energy, spoke on their global research into a comparison of copper and aluminium (Al) cables. He said that Al might cost less as an initial investment, but when you look at the life-cycle cost for over 50 years, Al does not have much of an economic advantage.
Mr. Nakajima, of Furukawa Electric, introduced their product and system for cable undergrounding, including their new product of the pipe for UGC conduit.
Transformer China
A standard-drafted by ICA China-outlining a method for power utilities to judge the status of distribution transformers was recently approved for final submission by the China Electric Council ahead of becoming official next year. The new standard emphasizes the benefits from the use of lower loss transformers, plus calculations on the cost of operations, maintenance, risk from different insulation & winding materials, and residual value of materials recycling.
Indian Copper Demand On The Rise
J.C. Laddha, Chief Executive Officer of Birla Copper, said at the Asia Copper Conference in Shanghai, that rising demand would come from the power, auto and consumer sectors. Read More
Building Wire Australia
The latest version of the Code of Practice for Home Wiring was published by ICA Australia with the inclusion of Economic cable sizing, Solar and Batteries, and improved connectivity for appliances. ICA Australia is also making a significant contribution to the telecommunications industry through the Communications Alliance, Chair of the Customer Equipment and Cabling Reference Panel and work on a submission to the ACMA consultation paper on a review of the Cabling Provider Rules.
China Aquaculture
ICA China’s copper aquaculture project was invited to attend the “The 3rd Large Yellow Croaker Cultural Festival and the 5th Development Forum of Large Yellow Croaker Industry”. The Taizhou Government plans to upscale its output of the larger yellow croaker by 3 times while producing premium quality fish and recognises the impact of the copper netting technology.
India Power
ICA India has jointly hosted a number of conferences on energy recently. They include“’Reliability and Energy efficiency in Distribution Transformers and other related issues” in Mumbai and the “Workshop on EE Motors, pumps and Distribution Transformers” at Mysore. ICA India was also invited to present at the Power Line magazine’s 13th annual conference on “Power Distribution in India” in November.
A New Copper Region Emerges In South Australia
BHP Group has unearthed a major new copper find in South Australia and that could put the state-and the countru-on a path to a “copper renaissance”. Read More