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>We frequently use aluminum wires with a higher thickness to make up for the lower conductivity as compared to copper.

Aluminum wires even made it into residential housing when copper was expensive/rare. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminum_building_wiring

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Can confirm, my parents had an aluminium telephone line in the UK until it failed and had to be replaced. Moot point as it's replaced with a fibre optic cable now though.

The problem is with their usage as mains power. I think they are considered a fire hazard in older German homes.

Not surprising, any degradation in the connection leads to intermittent connection/high resistance fault = heat and poof, there it goes.

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