New VC Funding for Next-Gen Power Transmission Lines — Dr. Jason Huang, CEO of TS Conductor
Led by CEO and Cofounder, Dr. Jason Huang, TS Conductor provides smarter power transmission lines that provide safety, reliability, and longevity, all while doubling ampacity over conventional power lines and reducing line power loss by 40%. They solve sag issues caused by heat, ice, stresses, and long spans in large conductors, while reducing costs in fitting and installation.
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BUSINESS
What does your company do? What makes you unique versus the competition?
TS Conductor Corp is a Public Benefit Company focusing on sustainable development and GHG emission reduction. We have developed a transformational conductor solution that is manufactured at scale and successfully deployed in both distribution and transmission circuits. Our tech can achieve greater capacity and lower line loss to enable maximum integration of renewables, while minimizing compensatory generation and GHG emission.
TS conductor features the best from materials science technology, with carbon fiber composite core (i.e., the strongest, lightest, and least thermal expanding material), annealed aluminum (i.e., the best conductivity and capable of handling the highest temperatures), and a patented design that protects the carbon composite core.
Compared to the century-old ACSR (aluminium conductor steel-reinforced) conductor technology (circa 1908), which is still dominant in our power grid, TS offers higher ampacity (2x) and lower line loss (40-50%) with installations in existing right of ways and tower structures.
Our solution is most suitable for the fast and economical integration of renewable generation.
Compared to recent attempts of improving conductor ampacity, TS conductors offer:
Safety, reliability, and longevity, with designed-in mistake tolerance and life-time protection
Easy integration using traditional work methods with the same tools, same equipment, and same methods
High performance in the highest ampacity, lowest line loss, and lowest sag
There are also other benefits from TS conductor, including lower EMF and corona noise at ground level (better sag), greater resiliency (higher strength), lower maintenance (better aeolian vibration and galloping characteristics).
Our next-generation product includes a self-monitoring function for a true smart grid with real-time and accurate monitoring of line fault, line sag, line temperature (e.g., wildfires and vegetation incidents), and line tension from extreme weather.
This will empower grid operators with greater confidence in grid operation for maximum resiliency, reliability, and flexibility, as well as the lowest cost delivery of renewable electrons anywhere throughout the grid.
How are you funding your growth — e.g., revenue, VC, CVC, government grants, M&A? What are 1-2 lessons you’ve learned along the way?
We have been blessed with support from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, National Grid Partners, and a Subsidiary of NextEra. Focus on people who are passionate about climate change and want to help you make a difference for the world.
Outside of your current business, what other 1-2 climate or sustainability sectors seem like promising areas in which to start a business? What might those solutions look like?
Green hydrogen might be a major growth area. With an abundant supply of renewable energy and a power grid with virtually unlimited capacity through our TS transmission line solution, electricity could be so cheap that the green hydrogen economy can be both realistic and necessary.
PERSONAL
Tell us about 1-2 tips you’d give your “younger” self in order to be faster, more effective, and higher impact.
Be more humble. And be kinder and more compassionate towards yourself and others.
What are some habits and routines that keep you focused, healthy, and sane — e.g., meditations, exercise, productivity hacks?
Cultivating the mind is as important as any other habit. Don’t just focus on what we are aware of (e.g., objects, experience), but the awareness itself, which is where peace and happiness reside.
Give us some recommendations for books, podcasts, quotes, or tools that you love.
Books by Kazuo Inamori — Japanese entrepreneur, founder of Kyocera and KDDI, and former Chairman of Japan Airlines.
Also works by Rupert Spira — a meditation teacher focused on spiritual self-inquiry (e.g., “Non-duality is the recognition that underlying the multiplicity and diversity of experience there is a single, infinite and indivisible reality, whose nature is pure consciousness, from which all objects and selves derive their apparently independent existence.”)
What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you — outside of your own family?
When we pay attention, we’ll find that gratitude is due, everywhere we go and in anything we do.
CLOSING
Do you have any requests, announcements, or final advice for our listeners?
Please check out www.tsconductor.com, or contact me jason@tsconductor.com if we can be of any help.
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Note:
THE TORCH is an interview series from Entrepreneurs for Impact. We profile CEOs and investors mitigating climate change. Our goal is to highlight their work and inspire others. As we deal with multiple crisis, from Covid and racial injustice to climate change and economic recession, we need some of this positive light in what seem like dark times. Onward and upward.