Overhead transmission of electric power remains one of the most important elements of today’s electric power system. Transmission systems deliver power from generating plants to industrial sites and to substations from which distribution systems supply residential and commercial service.
Those transmission systems also interconnect electric utilities, permitting power exchange when it is of economic advantage and to assist one another when generating plants are out of service because of damage or routine repairs. Total investment in transmission and substations is approximately 10% of the investment in generation.
Since the beginning of the electrical industry, research has been directed toward higher and higher voltages for transmission. As systems have grown, higher-voltage systems have rarely displaced existing systems, but have instead overlayed them.
Economics have typically dictated that an overlay voltage should be between 2 and 3 times the voltage of the system it is reinforcing. Thus, it is common to see, for example, one system using lines rated 115, 230, and 500 kilovolts (kV).
The highest ac voltage in commercial use is 765 kV although 1100 kV lines have seen limited use in Japan and Russia. Research and test lines have explored voltages as high as 1500 kV, but it is unlikely that, in the foreseeable future, use will be made of voltages higher than those already in service.
This plateau in growth is due to a corresponding plateau in the size of generators and power plants, more homogeneity in the geographic pattern of power plants and loads, and adverse public reaction to overhead lines.
Recognizing this plateau, some focus has been placed on making intermediate voltage lines more compact. Important advances in design of transmission structures as well as in the components used in line construction, particularly insulators, were made during the mid-1980s to mid-1990s.
Current research promises some further improvements in lines of existing voltage including uprating and now designs for HVDC.
Those transmission systems also interconnect electric utilities, permitting power exchange when it is of economic advantage and to assist one another when generating plants are out of service because of damage or routine repairs. Total investment in transmission and substations is approximately 10% of the investment in generation.
Since the beginning of the electrical industry, research has been directed toward higher and higher voltages for transmission. As systems have grown, higher-voltage systems have rarely displaced existing systems, but have instead overlayed them.
Economics have typically dictated that an overlay voltage should be between 2 and 3 times the voltage of the system it is reinforcing. Thus, it is common to see, for example, one system using lines rated 115, 230, and 500 kilovolts (kV).
The highest ac voltage in commercial use is 765 kV although 1100 kV lines have seen limited use in Japan and Russia. Research and test lines have explored voltages as high as 1500 kV, but it is unlikely that, in the foreseeable future, use will be made of voltages higher than those already in service.
This plateau in growth is due to a corresponding plateau in the size of generators and power plants, more homogeneity in the geographic pattern of power plants and loads, and adverse public reaction to overhead lines.
Recognizing this plateau, some focus has been placed on making intermediate voltage lines more compact. Important advances in design of transmission structures as well as in the components used in line construction, particularly insulators, were made during the mid-1980s to mid-1990s.
Current research promises some further improvements in lines of existing voltage including uprating and now designs for HVDC.
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