AFL Spans Great Lengths to Reach Peruvian Power Station

“The project took place in the valley of Santa Eulalia, approximately 70 kilometres northeast of Lima in the heart of the Andes Mountains,” explains Carlos Galvez, managing director of Conenhua. “Perilous terrain, lack of access roads and the extremely long span lengths along the route made installation conditions very difficult.”



AFL's SkyWrap solution is a fibre optic cable that is helically applied on existing ground or phase conductors using specially designed installation equipment. The installation span was close to the town of San Pedro de Casta between two pylons each at 3,350 metres above sea level on opposite sides of a river valley. The longest span was just one of 10 spans over 1,000 metres in length on this project.



“The installation team consisted of 12 people with four off-road vehicles—more people than typical for a SkyWrap installation due to the need to transport or hike equipment by hand to many of the pylon locations,” stated Ian Chard, senior project manager at AFL.



Galvez added, “The SkyWrap system proved to be the best solution due to the lightweight equipment and efficient installation technique using a remote-controlled device to wrap the cable on the conductor. Due to the hard work and determination of the crew and the quickness of the technique, we installed 30 kilometres in just 20 days.”



This span was part of a 30 kilometre fibre optic link connecting the Huanza Hydroelectric Power Plant to the Interconnected National Network. The fibre optic cable was installed on the overhead power network owned and operated by Conenhua for Cia. de Minas Buenaventura S.A.A. (NYSE:BVN), one of the major gold and silver producers in Peru. The link will provide a means for control, protection and safe operation of the hydroelectric plant.