69 kV cable · Harris County / Greater Houston
We buy 69 kV cable.
Sixty-nine thousand volts quietly feeds a large part of Houston industry. Underground runs into plant substations, and the cable left over when a route changes or a lineup is replaced.
Sixty-nine thousand volts is the working voltage of Houston sub-transmission. It feeds industrial substations along the Ship Channel, steps down inside plant yards, and appears on utility circuits that never reach the 138 kV backbone. Most of it runs overhead, and a smaller share runs underground on shielded cable. That underground share is what sellers usually ask about.
That underground cable is the subject here. Runs from a switching station into a plant, ties between a substation and a lineup, and the spare drums bought for a job that finished early. The short lengths and part reels are what a buyer sees most, and they are reviewed on their own merits. A full factory drum rarely appears.
The voltage that sits between transmission and the plant
The 69 kV class occupies an awkward and useful place. It is high enough to move real power across a site and low enough that insulation, terminations and clearances stay manageable with ordinary utility practice. That is why so much industrial supply in the region is built at this level rather than at 138.
Underground 69 kV is usually a short run by transmission standards. A few hundred feet from a substation to a switch house, a crossing under a road, or a section through a pipe rack where overhead is not practical. Short runs mean partial reels, and partial reels are the normal case rather than the exception.
It also means the cable is often buried in duct bank or direct buried with a sand bed, which affects condition. Cable pulled out of duct has been dragged; cable cut out of a direct buried run has been dug for. Both are bought, and both are graded on what the jacket and ends show.
PILC legacy and extruded constructions side by side
Older 69 kV cable in Houston is often paper insulated, lead covered. PILC is a copper or aluminium conductor wrapped in oil-impregnated paper, enclosed in a lead sheath, with armour or a jacket outside. It is heavy, it is stiff, and some of it has been in service in the same yard for decades.
Newer work is extruded. XLPE or EPR insulation over a conductor shield, a metallic shield of copper tape or wire, and an oversheath. The two constructions sit in the same voltage class and are valued very differently, because one is a lead and paper assembly and the other is a polymer cable.
- PILC with lead sheath and paper insulation
- XLPE and EPR with copper tape or wire shield
- Single conductor and three conductor constructions
- Copper or aluminium conductor, 1/0 through 1000 MCM
- Armoured and unarmoured variants
If you do not know which one you have, diameter and unit weight usually settle it. PILC is denser and much stiffer, and a length of it does not drape the way an extruded cable does over the edge of a truck bed.
Shield, oversheath and cut-off terminations
At 69 kV the shield is not optional. Cable at this class carries a metallic shield that has to be grounded at the terminations, and the oversheath is the first barrier against moisture. A nick in that sheath from a dragged drum is a real defect rather than a cosmetic one, and it is visible.
Terminations are usually cut off before a reel is sold, and that is expected. A cut-off termination leaves cable with the shield exposed and the insulation end unsealed. Tape or cap that end before the drum moves, or water will find its way into the insulation during the first rain.
The shield type is worth recording. Copper tape, concentric wire and longitudinally corrugated tape all behave differently when the cable is stripped, and a buyer sorting a lot will want to know which one is on the drum before planning the work. It also changes what the cut end looks like under the tape, which is the first thing anyone photographs.
What makes a 69 kV reel worth a review
Voltage class, conductor size, insulation type, length and shield condition. A full reel with the factory tag and an intact oversheath is the straightforward case. A part reel with a hundred feet on it is reviewed on whether that hundred feet is usable, not on what the drum originally held.
Age counts at this class in a way it does not for building wire. Paper insulation absorbs moisture over decades, and extruded insulation is vulnerable to water treeing after long service in wet ground. A cable energised for thirty years is graded as used, whatever the drum looks like from outside.
Then handling. The minimum bend radius on 69 kV cable is large, the drums are heavy, and a yard with a forklift and a firm apron is easier than a yard with a ramp. Say what is on site and whether the drum can be loaded without dragging it across gravel.
- Voltage class and insulation type
- Conductor size and material
- Length remaining and how it was measured
- Shield type and oversheath condition
- Storage and loading conditions
Cable above 1 kV should be handled by qualified people under the site's own rules. Nothing here replaces those procedures.
Questions sellers ask
Do you buy PILC cable with a lead sheath?
Yes, and it is reviewed on the lead, the paper and the copper rather than on the same basis as extruded cable. Sheath condition matters, because a crushed or split lead sheath admits moisture to the paper. Report the diameter and the year if either is known.
How much 69 kV cable is worth collecting?
Enough to justify the handling. A partial reel with a few hundred feet of large conductor is a normal lot. A short tail of a small size usually waits for a larger load. Conductor size matters more here than the footage left on the drum.
Are terminations left on the cable a problem?
No. They are normally cut back before reuse, and the cut end is where a buyer looks anyway. Keep the termination if it is a stress cone or a premoulded body, because the cable end behind it is what tells the story.
Can 69 kV cable be collected from an industrial plant?
Yes, subject to the plant's access rules. Substation and switchyard work usually needs an escort and a safety briefing, and the cable has to be de-energised and released before it moves. Give the facility and the contact who controls the material.
Buying desk · Greater Houston
Have this cable on the yard?
Tell us what is on the reel, where it sits and what condition it is in. A buyer reviews the lot, asks for photographs of the tag and the cut end, and comes back with a real answer — not a request to call a call centre.
- Cable type, size and voltage class
- Footage, reel count or weight, and condition
- City, and whether the site has loading equipment