AFL EMEA

SkyWrap - a proven solution

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SkyWrap ® Information The advantages of SkyWrap lie in its speed, manoeuvrability and low impact on the local environment of the overhead line and its surroundings. SkyWrap requires fewer people and much less equipment to carry out the installation work – typically all the people, equipment and materials needed to install a full drum of SkyWrap can be transported in a one tonne truck and a car. This means that SkyWrap is best used to provide fibre optic cable installations: • in remote or difficult to reach locations such mountainous regions, in swamps and marshes and also in densely populated places • when very rapid deployment is required, for example to restore service on a section of damaged OPGW There are also occasions when the technical characteristics of SkyWrap can provide distinct economic advantages: • when there are constraints on the performance of the overhead line, for example on very long spans across rivers or valleys or when the tower structures are too weak to withstand the loads associated with OPGW or ADSS installations – SkyWrap saves the costs of strengthening the towers • by adding extra capacity to an existing network without replacing the existing cable. For example wrapping SkyWrap along an existing OPGW can double or triple the number of fibres along the route without interrupting the traffic using the existing OPGW fibres – SkyWrap saves the costs of disrupting the existing network traffic Summary SkyWrap is one of several fibre optic cable technologies that are used to build communications networks on overhead power transmission and distribution lines. The choice of whether or not to use SkyWrap depends on circumstances; in some network programmes SkyWrap will not be required whilst in others it is an essential component. Whenever it has been used, SkyWrap has been shown to be secure and reliable. SkyWrap has a 30 year history and an excellent reputation. SkyWrap is installed using a self-powered remotely controlled wrapping machine. The machine moves along the host conductor at walking pace and can be controlled from more than one kilometre away. Once a span has been wrapped, the installation equipment is lifted over the top of the tower, placed on the conductor on the other side and it then sets off on the next span. A tower bypass fitting is used to guide and protect the SkyWrap cable over the top of tower and around any insulators that may be present. At joint locations, the SkyWrap cable is guided down the tower leg to the joint enclosure using protective conduit. Other hardware kits exist for all configurations of steel lattice towers and for steel, concrete and wood poles. SkyWrap can be wrapped onto the current-carrying conductor of overhead lines that are not equipped with an ground wire. AFL provides SkyWrap technology for use on medium voltage distribution lines (10-35kV) under the name AccessWrap™. AccessWrap uses smaller, light-weight wrapping machines and is suitable for use on lines with small conductors, wooden poles and post insulators. AFL supplies SkyWrap as a complete system comprising the fibre optic cable, hardware such as clamps and joint boxes, specialist installation equipment and fully documented installation procedures. AFL also provides all the necessary training and guidance to allow even inexperienced line crews to quickly become competent in installing SkyWrap. Economic Overview SkyWrap, OPGW and ADSS do not compete directly with each other and so it is very difficult to provide a 'comparative cost' for each of these products. In any given set of circumstances, one of these technologies will provide significant performance benefits over the alternatives and will therefore be the natural choice for that portion of the network build programme. For example, OPGW is the only sensible choice when building a new transmission line – materials, equipment and personnel are already available on site and the incremental cost of buying and installing OPGW is negligible. Page 2 of 2

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