1.

8 Overhead Vs Underground System

P. Maria Sheeba
AP/ECE, MZCET

1
 Summary of previous class
• I n the last class we have seen about the
transmission and distribution of electrical
energy.
• In today’s class we will discuss about the
connections of the system which makes the
transmission of the electrical energy better.
Transmission and Distribution

Transmission System Distribution System

 Transmission  Distributes
lines connect electricity to each
power generation customer's
plants to
residence,
substations, other
power generating business, or
plants, and other industrial plant at
utilities at high lower voltages.
voltages.
Transmission and Distribution

Transmission Distribution
Underground and Overhead

Transmission Distribution

 Undergrounding  Undergrounding
transmission lines is distributions
less common lines is more
 Underground cables common
have different
technical
requirements than
overhead and have
different impacts
Underground vs. Overhead Transmission

 Design Issues
 Specialized engineering skills required
 Extensive study required to determine site-
specific subsurface obstructions or
obstacles
 Longer timeframe for design

 Need to provide larger budget contingency

 Flood plain and wetland issues require

special consideration
 Environmental impacts
Underground vs. Overhead Transmission

 Construction Concerns
 Space for large vaults (8’ x 10’ X 20’)
 Longer construction time frame

 Dewatering in wet areas during construction

 Significantly more impacts to surrounding

properties
 Open trenches
 min. 5’ wide x 5’ deep
 Specialized backfill
Underground vs. Overhead Transmission

 Operational Concerns
 Difficult to identify outage location
 Requires specialized work force

 Long lead time for delivery of materials

 Need to warehouse specialized spare
materials
 Increased maintenance
 Shorter life span

 Dewatering and cleaning of equipment in

vaults
Underground vs. Overhead Transmission

 Cost
 Typical underground costs are 8 to 10 times the cost
of overhead construction
 Typical life of underground is approximately one-half
the life of overhead construction
 Depending on route may have significantly more
unanticipated problems with associated costs
 4-Cable system required to increase reliability which
adds cost
 Specialized workforce increases cost
 Wetland mitigation may be substantially more
depending on route
 Warehousing of spare materials and equipment
Underground Transmission

 Generally used:
 in densely populated and urban settings
 where sufficient right-of-way is not available
 to reduce visual impacts
 riser poles at each end of the underground cable are
large and support additional equipment that create
visual impacts
 Reliability
 May have fewer outages than overhead
 When outages occur they will be more difficult to
locate and may take significantly more time to
repair
comparison
comparison
Conclusion

• In today’s class we have seen about, what is

meant by overhead vs underground system
and what are their functions.
• Their comparison provides high clarity of
information about the cables used.