TS Conductor Corp. said it opened a U.S. manufacturing facility in Huntington Beach, California, with a capacity to produce up to 5,000 miles of conductors per year.
The company also added four people to its board of directors and advisory board. Charlie Bayless was named to its board of directors; Amory Lovins, Audrey Zibelman, and JD Hammerly joined its advisory board.
TS Conductor said its technology transports up to three times the amount of electricity compared to traditional power lines and cuts line losses in half.
It said it products can be used to substitute ACSR conductors using the same tools and installation procedures. The company is a Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) as well as a public benefit company.
In August, the company and Starwood Energy Group — now Lotus Infrastructure Partners — announced a $100 million joint venture to finance deployment with grid operators in North America. Earlier, in 2021, TS Conductor closed its first round of funding; Breakthrough Energy Ventures, National Grid Partners, and a subsidiary of NextEra Energy joined the investment round, which totaled $25 million and was set aside for building the U.S. manufacturing plant.
TS Conductor’s products previously had been manufactured under contract at a facility in China. The new California location employs 21 people, and the company said it plans to hire 40 more as the facility reaches full production capacity by the end of 2023.
TS Conductor said its wires have been deployed in North Dakota with Montana-Dakota Utilities and Basin Electric Power Cooperative; in Chicago with Exelon; and in Iowa with MidAmerican Energy.
