FERC Wants Every Megawatt the Grid Can Give. Can the Connectors Deliver It?

On June 18, FERC ordered all six RTOs and ISOs to justify or reform how large loads connect to the grid — and to start considering alternative transmission technologies that, in Commissioner LaCerte's words, can "unlock every megawatt of existing capacity from our current transmission system."

Before you spend years and hundreds of millions on new lines, prove you've wrung the capacity out of the corridors you already own. It's the cheapest path to more power, and the fastest.

But here's the detail that rarely makes the reform lists: every path to that capacity runs through the connector.

Re-rate a line with dynamic line rating, and cooler weather cools the conductor — while the connector sees every added amp with none of the relief. Reconductor with ACSS, and the new wire is rated to 250°C, but the century-old compression connectors replacing it can't get there. Federal research from ORNL and EPRI shows a crimp retains just 5–18% of its grip once the dies release, and thermal cycling strips most of what's left.

The result on a typical 345-kV span: roughly 320 MW — about 16% — stranded, held back not by the wire, but by the splices. That's about $1.6 million a year on a single 30-mile line.

The connector is where your speed to market quietly succeeds or falls short. Before it lands in a filing, it's worth knowing which.

→ Read the full analysis and the certified test data: **The Limitations of Compression Connectors on HTLS Applications and the ClampStar Solution »