With the approval of "rated voltage 0.6/1 kV aluminium alloy conductor crosslinked polyethylene insulated cable" on April 2 this year and its implementation on September 1 this year, the aluminium alloy cable industry has officially entered the era of the regular army.

As a result, the topic of "replacing copper with aluminium" has once again entered people's vision. People can't help asking, what is the far-reaching impact of the scale of the aluminium substituted copper market displayed in this national standard on the copper and aluminium industry?

From the scope of application of this standard, it can be seen that this standard is applicable to the rated voltage of 0.6/1 kV aluminium alloy conductor XLPE insulated cable for distribution of buildings, structures and their affiliated facilities. Including flame retardant, low smoke and halogen-free cables.

As the largest supplier of buildings, the real estate industry naturally becomes the preferred industry for research. According to a real estate agent surveyed by SMM, electrical investment accounts for about 10% of the total investment in a large public building, and cable accounts for almost half of the budget. Therefore, the investment demand for cable accounts for about 6% - 7% of the total investment in the building.

Looking back on the real estate development investment of China in 2014 was 9.5 trillion yuan. According to the compromise ratio of 6.5%, the cable market of construction industry in 2014 was about 620 billion yuan. According to SMM, compared with the mature market in North America, the AA8000 series aluminium alloy corresponding to the low-voltage cable standard is still a small number of domestic production enterprises, mainly in Henan Zhongfu aluminium alloy, Jiaozuo Shenghao aluminium industry and other enterprises, but the annual production capacity is only 100,000-200,000 tons. This part of low-voltage aluminium alloy cable manufacturers mainly include Jiangsu Changfeng cable, Anhui Pacific cable, Jiangxi Southwest cable, Jinbei electrician, Guangdong Southern cable and so on.

Generally speaking, although according to incomplete textual research, there are more than 100 domestic enterprises that claim to be able to produce aluminium alloy cables at present, but the domestic aluminium alloy cable manufacturers are uneven in quality and standards. The introduction of the new standard will undoubtedly have a revolutionary impact on the standardization of the industry, but in the short term, the comprehensive deployment of aluminium alloy cables in the application field still needs some time.

As Hou Yiming, a senior engineer at the consultant and professor level in the distribution room of the Chinese Academy of Electric Power Sciences, said, "Aluminum alloy cables can be used in mid-end users, bridges, coastal areas and some special areas with overhead needs because of their characteristics. The most important issue in the operation of urban distribution network is the safety of operation, so copper cables are more suitable."

In addition, due to the short-term constraints on the technical level and market acceptance of connecting terminals and enterprises, the pace of implementation of aluminium alloy cable materials is still relatively slow.