Future Development Trends of Composite Utility Poles

Due to their use in high-voltage DC and AC systems, the transmission pole market is expected to increase from $17.4565 billion in 2018 to $23.0279 billion in 2026, growing at a rate of 3.5%. The distribution pole market occupies a significant share of the utility pole market and is expected to increase from $27.2315 billion in 2018 to $34.0244 billion in 2026. This dominance is attributed to the growth in global energy consumption. Currently, the utility poles used worldwide are classified into the following categories according to their materials: steel pipe poles, wooden poles, concrete poles, and composite poles. Among them, the development of composite poles has created important investment opportunities for the growth of the utility pole market. This is because composite materials are corrosion-resistant, durable, light-weight, and have strong resistance to heavy loads. These composite materials with excellent performance and cost-effective materials will drive market growth in the coming years. The composite material market is expected to grow from $1.1284 billion in 2018 to $1.5547 billion in 2026, growing at a rate of 4.0% during the forecast period. The fastest growing region is the Asia-Pacific region. According to statistics, as early as 2018, the Asia-Pacific region accounted for 39.1% of the global pole market, and will continue to maintain its dominant position in the future. This is due to the high population density in the Asia-Pacific region, especially in countries with large populations such as India and China.

At present, in composite poles, the resin part is still mainly polyurethane thermosetting resin. In order to ensure the strength of the cross arm of the composite material, the resin system generally selected is polyurethane resin, including two-component polyurethane resin and modified two-component polyurethane resin. This is because the polyurethane resin molecule has strong polarity and high bonding strength with the fiber interface, which improves the shear strength of the composite material, the microcracks on the interface of the composite material are small, and the overall performance of the product is high due to the scientific fiber selection and distribution. For example, the bending strength of glass fiber reinforced two-component polyurethane resin is 1200Mpa, while the bending strength of glass fiber reinforced two-component epoxy resin is 600Mpa, with a significant gap. Moreover, the current polyurethane composite pole forming process is generally based on pultrusion or winding.