From the Internet, there is news that "the construction of smart grid boosts the wire and cable industry to achieve a revolutionary leap." This argument seems too exaggerated. Smart grid construction will not cause a revolutionary leap in the wire and cable industry, but it can only be said to be technological innovation.

Looking at the development history of the wire and cable industry, Southern cable people think that the important technological innovations in the wire and cable materials, products and equipment processes that took place are mainly reflected in the following aspects, but not all are revolutionary leapfroggings:

In the field of wire and cable materials, aluminum is used instead of copper, heat-resistant aluminum alloy is used instead of common aluminum, polyvinyl chloride is used instead of rubber, low-smoke halogen-free material is used as a substitute for common insulation materials, and environmentally friendly insulation materials are used instead of ordinary insulation materials. Replaces oil-impregnated paper with polyvinyl chloride, oil-impregnated paper with cross-linked polyethylene conductors, kraft paper with polypropylene composite paper, copper wire with fiber optics, telephone paper with plastic instead of ordinary steel wire with carbon fiber, etc. The main products are: plastic cables instead of rubber cables, plastic cables instead of oil-impregnated paper cables, optical cables instead of paper and plastic/oil paste insulated communication cables, cross-linked polyethylene cables instead of polyvinyl chloride cables, and Instead of the oil-impregnated paper cable and the oil-filled cable, the polyethylene cable replaces the ordinary steel-cored aluminum stranded wire with the carbon fiber composite wire. In the wire and cable manufacturing process, there are mainly: copper wire annealing with continuous drawing/annealing instead of tank annealing, rubber Instead of tank vulcanization and cross-linked cables, dry-type cross-linking is used instead of steam cross-linking for wire and cable.

These technological innovations are basically improvements based on product experience and lessons learned, and a truly important and revolutionary leap is the emergence of fiber optics that cause major changes in communications cable materials and structures, while others are materials, products, and Technological innovation in equipment technology.

So far people have seen reports on smart grid cables, the most low-voltage optoelectronic composite cable, that is, fiber-optic home, set the power supply and access to telecommunications signals for the use of low-voltage composite cable. This product is not technically very difficult, many cable factories can manufacture, the main obstacle is the artificial "access network qualification" restrictions. Therefore, it does not seem appropriate to say such a low-voltage optoelectronic composite cable as a high-end product.

At present, it is grid companies that are struggling to promote the construction of smart grids. This is their major technological innovation project. They also classify the UHV grid as a smart grid. But it must be made clear that the grid is still the grid, but only to make it smart. There is no need for wire and cable companies to start dancing and to cheer for the revolutionary leap in the cable industry.

A reporter on the Internet said that “the state proposed that the smart grid construction has a great impact on the wire and cable industry. The country will raise the smart grid to the national level. It can be seen that the country’s future investment focus will be on the smart grid. The wire and cable industry is a revolutionary leap. It will also be very different from the current cable." In addition to the low-voltage opto-electrical composite cable, can you tell how far the impact has been reached? What new wire and cable varieties are required for smart grids? As for the metering cables used for meter reading, etc., it is no longer a new product.

So far, in the wire and cable industry, there is no definitive argument as to which products belong to high-end products, high-tech products, products with high added value, products that can fill the gaps in the country, and so on. The government’s name was also approved by eye-opening. This is in itself very serious.

As we all know, no matter what the new wire and cable products, only the use of different occasions, the product proposed a different performance requirements. The cables for special parts of nuclear power, wind power and photovoltaic electrical installations all have special requirements in certain aspects. The other wires and cables used in the peripheral works of these projects are the most common products. As far as the smart grid is concerned, the grid department says that it does more intelligent control devices. Even if it lifts cable products, it is only a low-voltage opto-electrical composite cable. This type of cable is merely an optical/electric transmission device. Only a small part of the grid system.

Of course, what products a company wants to develop is the company's own wishes and actions. However, when it comes to evaluating the "new product" developed, it must be accurately positioned. In the past, in the wire and cable industry, there have been cases where conventional medium-voltage cross-linked cables, flame-retardant medium-voltage cross-linked cables, low-pressure warm water cross-linked cables, and counterfeit US RG-series communications cables are all described as high-tech, high-end products. Some even get certificates. This phenomenon is rare in the world wire and cable industry.

In short, the large-scale smart grid construction of power grid companies is a good business opportunity for certain products in the wire and cable industry, but it is neither proper nor timely to say “would cause a revolutionary leap in the wire and cable industry”. Prematurely, even the wire and cable industry in industrialized countries did not say so.