An Investigation on Line Loadability Increase
with High Temperature Conductors
D. Lauria*, S. Quaia **
* Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Naples 80125, (Italy)
** Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Trieste, Trieste 34127, (Italy)
Abstract— This paper investigates the loadability
increase of overhead transmission lines (OHLs) equipped
with high-temperature low-sag (HTLS) conductors.
Compared with traditional ACSR conductors, HTLS
conductors allows to get a large increase of the thermal
limit, maintaining the same weight and size of the
conductors. Of course, the loadability curves increase only
in the thermal limit region and, thus, this measure provides
a significant advantage only for short lines. However, the
advantage provided by HTLS conductors can be extended
to longer lines if the voltage drop across the line can be
controlled. This can be done injecting reactive power at the
receiving end of the line by means of synchronous
condensers or static var compensators (SVC). This paper
highlights the loadability increase that can be obtained this
way in the voltage drop region over a wide range of lengths.
Accordingly, HTLS conductors can be better exploited up to
much longer line lenghts.
Index Terms-- Power transmission, line loadability,
reactive power control, high temperature conductors.
I. INTRODUCTION
The loadability curves represent the theoretical
maximum power capability of overhead transmission
lines (OHLs) as a function of the line length, L [1-6]. The
main factors that influence the limit values of power
transmission are thermal limit, voltage drop, and steady-
state stability. For rather long OHLs, other limiting
factors may be voltage quality and Joule losses [4, 5].
The loadability curves are characterized by different
‘regions’, or ranges of length. In the first region, the
maximum power allowed is determined by the conductor
thermal limit. In the second region, the admissible power
is limited by the voltage drop limit (voltage quality
constraint), ΔVmax. In most papers, a 5% maximum
voltage drop across the line is considered as the value that
‘adequately represents the condition of a line carrying
heavy, but permissible, loads without encountering
unusual operating problems’.
For uncompensated lines (i.e., without managing
reactive power through var resources), the first region
ranges from L=0 to roughly L=30-100 km, depending on
the conductors, line parameters, load power factor, and
voltage drop limit. The second region is wider, and can
extend up to more than L=400 km. For long lines, further
regions correspond to other constraints posed by line or
This work was financially supported by the Università degli Studi di
Trieste – Finanziamento di Ateneo per progetti di ricerca scientifica –
FRA 2016.
978-1-5090-4682-9/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE
system performance: steady-state stability margin,
voltage stability requirements and maximum Joule losses
allowed along the line.
In OHLs, the use of innovative HTLS conductors [7] is
quickly growing. This paper highlights the loadability
increase obtained by substitution of traditional ACSR
conductors with HTLS conductors. The loadability curves
are computed for different values of load power factor
and up to a maximum length of 400 km. This limit length
is more than sufficient for our purpose, considering that:
- HTLS conductors are expensive: ACCC conductors –
see Section III below – costs are 2.5÷3 time as much as
ACSR conductors. It follows that their high cost is not
justified for very long lines in which they cannot be
exploited;
- the injection of reactive power affects the loadability
curves only in the voltage drop region (second region);
- in Western Europe, transmission lines are not
extremely long. In Italy, for example, most 400 kV lines
are less than 100 km long, and the longest one is less than
300 km long.
To allow a direct comparison, the same line data,
system constraints and methodology for power transfer
optimization already used in [4, 5, 8] are used throughout
this paper too.
The advantage of HTLS conductors in terms of higher
loadability is limited to short lines. This is because these
conductors, compared with the traditional ACSR
conductors, have increased thermal limit, but the limit
posed by the maximum voltage drop across the line
remains practically unchanged.
Concerning voltage drop, the actual reactive power
flowing in the line plays a fundamental role and, thus,
affects strongly OHLs loadability. In the classical works
[1-3], power transmission is assumed at the theoretical
maximum value of unity power factor (cosφ=1). The
effect on the loadability curves of less-than-one load
power factor values has been highlighted in [4, 5].
However, the load power factor can be
corrected/modified if reactive power reserves are
available at the line ends. The importance of reactive
power reserve modelling in determining the loadability
curves has been pointed out in [6] where, however,
attention focuses on the steady-state stability and a
simplified (lossless) line model is used. The advantages
provided by a static var compensator at the receiving end
are investigated in [9].
Therefore, if the voltage drop across the line can be
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limited through the controlled injection of reactive power ΔVmax, cosM2, and Ith. Assuming ΔVmax=5%, cosφ2=1 and
at the receiving end of the line 1, the advantage provided
th =115 km. However, Lth and
Ith=2038 A, we obtain Lmax max
by HTLS conductors can be extended to longer lines. the thermal limit region reduce considerably taking a
This can be done using synchronous condensers (as we lower power factor and/or a higher thermal limit. For
assume in this paper) or static var compensators (SVC).
example, if cosφ2=0.97 and Ith=2952 A, Lmax
th reduces to
This paper is organised as follows. Section II presents
the reference case of uncompensated OHLs with 38 km. For L= Lmax
th , the current and the voltage drop are
traditional ACSR conductors. Section III presents the both at the limits allowed: I=I th and ΔVmax=5%. For
loadability curves obtained by replacing the traditional L> Lmax (i.e.: in the voltage drop region) the voltage drop
th
ACSR conductors with innovative HTLS conductors. The
limit dictates a progressive power reduction.
advantage, in terms of line loadability, that can be
obtained controlling the reactive power injection
provided by a synchronous condenser connected at the
receiving end is studied in Section IV. For simplicity, we
will denote these lines as ‘compensated’ lines.

II. REFERENCE CASE: 400 KV OHLS EQUIPPED WITH

TRADITIONAL ACSR CONDUCTORS
We refer here to the 400 kV three-phase OHLs widely
used in Western Europe, equipped with three standard
585 mm2 ACSR (Aluminium Conductor Steel
Reinforced) conductors per bundle, the same assumed in
[4, 5, 8]. The line parameters are r=0.021 :/km, x=0.271
:/km, g=4˜10-9 S/km, b=4.21˜10-6 S/km, yielding a
surge impedance Z0=257.4 : and a SIL=620 MW.
Loadability calculations are performed considering the
following constraints: conductor thermal limit, voltage
drop limit, ΔVmax, Joule losses limit, ΔPmax, and steady-
Fig. 1. Loadability curves for the reference 400 kV OHLs.
state stability margin. According to the Italian Standard
CEI 11-60, for 400 kV OHLs the thermal limit of 3x585 III. 400 KV OHLS EQUIPPED WITH HTLS CONDUCTORS
mm2 ACSR standard conductors is in the range
The use of HTLS conductors instead of the traditional
2038÷2952 A depending on season and geographical
ACSR conductors allows to increase drastically the
location. Like made in [4, 5, 8], we take the lowest value
thermal limit, without increasing the conductor size and
(Ith=2038 A). Assuming V2=1 p.u. at the receiving end,
weight [7]. A first type of HTLS conductors is the
the corresponding power is Ath=1412 MVA and the
Aluminium Conductor Composite Core (ACCC). The
maximum power capability of the line is Pth=AthcosM2,
ACCC conductor uses a hybrid carbon and glass fiber
where cosM2 is the load power factor at the receiving end. core characterized by low coefficient of thermal
As to the other constraints, we assume: expansion to replace the steel core strands of the
ΔVmax=ΔPmax=5%, and 30% steady-state stability margin. traditional ACSR conductors. Because the ACCC
The last value, usually adopted in loadability studies, conductor core is lighter than steel, and owing to the
means that the allowed power, P s, is 70% of the steady- trapezoidal shaped aluminium wires, it can incorporate
state stability limit, and corresponds to an angle of 44° nearly 30% more aluminium without a weight or
between the voltages of the two Thevenin equivalents of diameter penalty. The added aluminium content reduces
the net at the line ends [2, 3, 6]. Loadability calculations electrical resistance and, thus, Joule losses. The added
are made taking the short circuit level at both line ends in aluminium content and low coefficient of thermal
the range 30÷50 kA, which can be considered average expansion allow to carry much more current (up to nearly
values for the 400 kV voltage level. twice) than a conventional ACSR conductor with same
Fig. 1 reports the loadability curves for different power size and weight without causing excessive conductor sag.
factors at the receiving end, cosM2, in the range 0.97y1 (in The main disadvantage of these conductors is their high
agreement with [8]). The steady-state stability margin and cost, 2.5÷3 times as much as the traditional ACSR ones.
the Joule losses limit affect the loadability curves only for
Another type of innovative HTLS conductors are the gap
lines longer than 400 km. The maximum line length for
conductors, consisting of layers of trapezoidal shaped,
which the loadability of uncompensated OHLs
temperature resistant aluminium-zirconium wires around
corresponds to the thermal limit, Lmax th , depends on a high strength steel core. To allow the aluminium wires
to move freely over the core, the outer diameter of the
1
The voltage drop across the line can be limited also through series core is smaller than the inner diameter of the innermost
compensation of the line. However, the usual high power factor values
of power transmission lead to limited voltage drop reduction. layer of aluminium-zirconium wires. This gap becomes

646
an essential part of the conductor and gives the conductor
its special characteristics. Also gap conductors can carry
much more current than the conventional ACSR
conductors.
Fig. 2. Loadability curves of uncompensated lines with HTLS
conductors.
Fig. 2 shows the loadability curves of OHLs equipped
with ACCC conductors, calculated assuming that:
1- the thermal limit is 1.75 times the thermal limit of
ACSR conductors (Ith=1.75x2038=3566 A) [7];
2- the line parameters are the same reported above,
except for the resistance that is set r=0.8x0.021=0.0168
Ω/km to account for a 25% added aluminium content.
the ratio ρ between the loadability curves illustrated in
Fig. 2 and Fig. 1. If we consider that lagging power
factors reduce the limit length Lmaxth , we can conclude
that the higher thermal limit of the HTLS conductors can
be fully exploited only for really short lines ( Lmax
th =63
km for cosφ2=1, and Lmax
th =33 km for cosφ2=0.97).
For longer lines, the small loadability increase that Fig.
3 shows is due to the smaller resistance of the HTLS
conductors.
IV. CONTROLLED REACTIVE POWER INJECTION IN OHLS
EQUIPPED WITH HTLS CONDUCTORS
According to Fig. 4, we assume that a controllable
reactive power reserve (given by a synchronous
condenser connected to the transmission system through a
MV/HV power transformer) is available at bus n
(receiving end of the considered line connecting the buses
k and n). Controlled reactive power injection allows to
control first the bus n voltage, but also the voltage drop
across the line k-n. The goal is to investigate the
possibility to increase the line loadability in the voltage
drop region (i.e., for lines longer than Lth
max
) controlling
the voltage drop across the line. The reactive power
injected shares among all the lines connected to the bus n.
The distribution in each of these lines of the reactive
power injected by the compensator can be determined
through load-flow calculation. Representing the
compensator as a variable susceptance Bs connected at
the bus n, the network is described by the nodal
admittance matrix [10]:
ªJ 'º ªY1 Y2 º ª V' º
«0» «Y Y  jB » «V » (1)
¬ ¼ ¬ 3 nn s ¼¬ n ¼
In (1), Ynn is the bus n short circuit admittance when
the compensator is switched off. It is immediate to
obtain:
J' Y  Y Y
1 2 nn 
 jBs 1 Y3 V'
(2)
Fig. 3. Loadability ratio between OHLs equipped with 1) HTLS
conductors, and 2) ACSR conductors.
Increasing the power transported, the thermal limit
region narrows, since the voltage drop limit ΔV max=5% is
reached at line lengths shorter than those reported in
Section II for the traditional ACSR conductors.
In order to highlight the advantage in terms of higher
loadability provided by HTLS conductors, Fig. 3 reports
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Vn Ynn  jBs 1 Y3 V'
This way, the incidence of the shunt compensator on
the nodal admittance matrix and on the reactive power
flow in the line of interest can be calculated. Of course,
the results depend on the specific structure and
characteristics of the net. On the contrary, this
investigation aims at finding out generally valid
conclusions - not limited to a specific local situation -
concerning the effectiveness of increasing the line
loadability through a controlled reactive power injection
at the receiving end. Therefore, in the following we focus
attention only on the line, in which a given fraction of the
reactive power injected in the bus n flows backwards,
reducing (controlling) the voltage drop. For each
individual case, this fraction is the result of a specific
load-flow calculation. We take the maximum reactive two synchronous condensers, rated 250 MVA each,
power that the synchronous condenser can deliver, Qmax, installed in 2014-15 by the Italian TSO in the 400 kV
equal to 500 MVAr. This choice is consistent with the electric station of Codrongianos (Sardinia).

Fig. 4. The system under study

Note that the reactive power absorbed by a line increases

linearly with the line length and grows quickly in extreme
operating condition characterized by maximum power.
For example, a 150 km long line absorbes about 400
MVAr at the thermal limit2.
Assuming, on average, 3÷4 OHLs connected to the bus
n, and a 10% reactive power loss on the transformer
reactance, the maximum amount of controllable power
injected by the synchronous condenser in the line is
reasonably in the range 100÷150 MVAr. Accordingly, the
following analysis assumes a maximum reactive power of
125 MVAr available at bus n to control the voltage drop
across the line. Assuming that the whole reactive power
injected in the bus n is controlled so as to keep the
voltage drop across the line at the limit ΔVmax=5% while
the active power in the line is maximized, we get the
loadability curves reported in Fig. 5.
Fig. 6 shows the corresponding reactive power Fig. 5. Loadability curves of ‘compensated’ OHLs equipped with
required in the line (at the receiving end). This figure HTLS conductors.
shows that the reactive power reserve is fully exploited
soon. Indeed, in order to increase the loadability curves,
for cosφload<1 the synchronous condenser must
compensate (part of) the load reactive power Ptgφ load,
increasing the power factor (if possible, up to unity) at the
receiving end of the line.
To do this, 125 MVAr are a small reserve. In the most
favourable case cosφload=1, the reverse reactive power
flow in the line allows to obtain a limited extension of the
limit length Lmax
th , which passes from 63 km to 76 km.
However, the advantage is not limited to this narrow
range of lengths. Fig. 7 shows that a significant
loadability increase can be obtained for much longer
lines.

2
Fig. 6. Reactive power injected in the line, for optimal operation.
Reactive power absorbed by the line reactance:
Q≈3xLI2=3˜0.271˜150˜20382=507 MVAr; reactive power generated by
the line capacities: Q≈bLV2=4.21e-6˜150˜4002=101 MVAr.

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 TABLE 1.
EXPLOITATION OF HTLS CONDUCTORS
Line length Allowed % of thermal limit, without and with Increase of allowed power
synchronous condenser
L [km] cosM = 0.97 cosM = 0.99 cosM = 1 cosM = 0.97 cosM = 0.99 cosM = 1
50 0.65→0.75 0.85→0.98 1→1 17% 15% -
100 0.35→0.46 0.45→0.57 0.67→0.81 31% 27% 20%
150 0.26→0.36 0.33→0.45 0.48→0.60 39% 34% 25%
200 0.22→0.31 0.28→0.38 0.39→0.50 43% 38% 28%
250 0.20→0.29 0.25→0.35 0.35→0.45 44% 39% 29%

transmission lines, counteracting the voltage drop across

the line by means of a controlled reactive power injected
at the receiving end of the line. This controlled injection
can be performed by synchronous condensers or static var
compensators (SVC). As demonstrated by the numerical
results, this combined arrangement allows to obtain a
significant increase of the line loadability over a wide
range of lengths and, consequently, a better exploitation
of HTLS conductors for medium and long lines.

Fig. 7. Ratio between the loadability curves of ‘compensated’ and
uncompensated OHLs equipped with HTLS conductors.
The advantage obtained through reactive power
injection increases with L and reaches the maximum for
quite long lines in the range between 200 km and 300 km.
Table 1 points out the percent exploitation (i.e.: the
ratio between the allowed power and the thermal limit) of
HTLS conductors, respectively without and with the
synchronous condenser, and the relevant increase of line
loadability, for some different line lengths.
More generally, the loadability increase depends on
the maximum reactive power available (and, thus, on the
compensator size Qmax and the number and characteristics
of the lines connected to the bus n) and increases with it.
V. CONCLUSION
The loadability increase of overhead transmission lines
(OHLs), obtainable by substitution of traditional ACSR
conductors with HTLS conductors, is analyzed in the
paper. The substitution of traditional ACSR conductors
with HTLS conductors is justified in the relevant
literature by a considerable increase of the conductor
thermal limit, being equal the conductor weight and size.
Since the feasibility of this increase occurs only in the
thermal limit region, this measure exhibits a remarkable
benefit only for short lines.
The authors investigated the possibility to extend the
advantage provided by HTLS conductors to longer
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