Spacer cable systems for rural electric cooperatives

The superior service reliability of aerial spacer cable systems in congested and heavily treed urban areas is a matter of record. Electric cooperatives having portions of their systems include such areas, either by territory acquisition or development, should be prepared to use covered wire systems to achieve the high degree of reliability demanded by today's customers. Even cooperatives remaining essentially rural at this time are seeing exclusive developments, such as lake shore property, which demand a high level of service reliability while minimizing environmental impact via massive tree removal. This paper describes the basic principles that confer superior reliability on aerial spacer cable systems and gives specific applications where they can be used to increase service reliability and quality. This increased reliability over that of bare wire systems can both reduce life cost and minimize impact on the local environment.