First, credit where credit is due. Herman K. Trabish’s August 12th Utility Dive Deep Dive, “Multidirectional flows of power and information are the grid’s future,” is a timely, insightful, and much-needed exploration of how AI, DERMS, ADMS, and virtual power plants can help the grid manage rising loads while keeping costs in check. The perspectives from Southern California Edison, Salt River Project, PG&E, PSE, NYSERDA, and others highlight how flexibility is evolving from a “nice-to-have” into an operational necessity.
The experts featured - from Jon Wellinghoff to Sally Jacquemin to Varun Sivaram - correctly point out that flexibility, enabled by advanced analytics and bidirectional data flows, can delay or even avoid costly new generation and transmission projects. This is exactly the mindset shift the industry needs: how do we get more out of the infrastructure we already have?
But in applauding that vision, I’d like to spotlight one proven, scalable, and seemingly overlooked capability that can directly complement every strategy discussed in that article: reconductoring existing transmission corridors with Advanced Conductors, paired with modern Grid-Enhancing Technologies (GETs).
The Overlooked Leverage Point: More Capacity on the Same Corridors
While operational intelligence, demand-side flexibility, and DER integration make better use of the grid’s available capacity, the fact remains - in many congested corridors, the wires themselves are the limiting factor.
Advanced Conductors, such as high-capacity, low-sag composite core conductors, like CTC Global’s ACCC® Conductor have already been deployed by forward-looking utilities worldwide to double the ampacity of existing lines without expanding rights-of-way. Reconductoring can be completed in a fraction of the time required for new transmission, often avoiding protracted permitting battles altogether.
These conductors also reduce line losses, improve efficiency, and allow higher operating temperatures without the excessive sag that constrains traditional steel-reinforced designs. That means more headroom for renewable integration, more resilience under peak loads, and lower lifetime operating costs - all while keeping existing grid footprints intact.
Multiplying the Value with GETs
When reconductoring is combined with Grid-Enhancing Technologies - such as dynamic line ratings, topology optimization, and power flow control - the result is transformative:
Dynamic Line Ratings: Unlock hidden capacity on upgraded lines by adjusting allowable loading in real time based on actual weather and conductor conditions.
Topology Optimization: Route flows to take advantage of newly increased capacity and relieve congestion elsewhere in the network.
Power Flow Control: Direct energy where it’s most needed, maximizing the benefit of reconductored corridors.
Together, Advanced Conductors and GETs address both the physical and operational limits of the transmission system - exactly in the spirit of the Utility Dive article’s call to treat the grid as a multidirectional “system of systems.”
Why This Fits the Flexibility Narrative
Every innovation mentioned in the original article - DERMS, ADMS, AI-coordinated data centers, VPPs - depends on a grid that can move power freely where it’s needed most. If a critical corridor is thermally or physically maxed out, no amount of load flexibility will change that bottleneck.
By raising the physical capacity ceiling through reconductoring, we ensure that the flexibility tools highlighted in Utility Dive’s piece have the maximum possible impact. This is the missing half of the equation:
Increase capacity on existing lines with Advanced Conductors.
Optimize flows across that expanded capacity with GETs and flexibility tools.
A Call to Action
The industry leaders featured in Trabish’s piece are right - flexibility must be front and center in our planning and operations. But we should broaden the definition of flexibility to include physical upgrades to existing assets that multiply the benefits of digital and operational innovation.
Regulators, utilities, and policymakers can accelerate this by:
Including reconductoring with Advanced Conductors in planning models and cost-benefit analyses.
Pairing GET deployments with strategic reconductoring projects.
Offering incentives for utilities to invest in operational technologies and capacity-enhancing upgrades on existing corridors, rather than defaulting to greenfield construction.
Herman’s article is a clear-eyed look at the operational intelligence side of the equation. Let’s build on that vision by remembering that the “largest machine in the world” is still a machine made of wires - and sometimes the fastest way to make it more capable is to replace those wires with something better.
