Transmission of Electrical

Energy
Electrical Machines, Drives and Power Systems
By Theodore Wildi
Chap 25
Introduction
Electrical energy is carried by conductors such as
overhead transmission lines and underground cable.
Although these conductors appear very ordinary, they
possess important electrical properties that greatly
affect the transmission of electrical energy.
Principal components of a power delivery
system
In order to provide electrical energy to consumers in
usable form, a transmission and distribution system must
satisfy some basic requirements. Thus the system must
1. Provide, at all times, the power that consumers need
2. Maintain a stable, nominal voltage that does not vary
by more than ± 10%
3. Maintain a stable frequency that does not vary by more
than ±O.I Hz
4. Supply energy at an acceptable price
5. Meet standards of safety
6. Respect environmental standards
Single-line diagram of a generation, transmission, and distribution system
Transmission substations change the line voltage by
means of step-up and step-down transformers and regulate
it by means of static var compensators, synchronous
condensers, or transformers with variable taps.
Distribution substations change the medium voltage to
low voltage by means of step-down transformers which
may have automatic tap changing capabilities to regulate
the low voltage. The low voltage ranges from 120/240V
single phase to 600 V, 3-phase. It serves to power private
residences. commercial and institutional establishments,
and small industry.
Interconnecting substations tie different power systems
together, to enable power exchanges between them and to
increase the stability of the overall network.
Categories of power distribution systems
1. Transmission systems in which the line voltage is
roughly between 115 kV and 800 kV
2. Distribution systems in which the voltage generally
lies between 120 V and 69 kV. Distribution systems, in
turn, are divided into medium-voltage distribution
systems (2.4 kV to 69 kV) and low-voltage distribution
systems (120 V to 600 V)
 Design consideration of a power line
The design of a power line depends upon the following
criteria:
I. The amount of active power it has to transmit
2. The distance over which the power must be carried
3. The cost of the power line
4. Esthetic considerations, urban congestion, ease of
installation, and expected load growth
 Standard Voltages
To reduce the cost of transmission and distribution
equipment and to facilitate its protection, standard
setting organization (IEEE) have established a number
of standard voltages for transmission and distribution
lines.
The standard voltages given in the table reflect various
voltage levels presently used in north America.
Components of a HV transmission line
A transmission line is composed of:
1. Conductors
2. Insulators
3. Supporting structures
1. Conductors
Conductors for high-voltage lines are always bare.
Stranded copper conductors, or steel-reinforced
aluminum conductor(ACSR) are used.
ACSR are usually preferred because they result in a
lighter and more economical line.
Conductors have to be spliced when a line is very long.
Special care must be taken so that the joints have low
resistance and great mechanical strength.
2. Insulators
Insulators serve to support and anchor the conductors
and to insulate them from ground.
Insulators are usually made of porcelain, but glass and
other synthetic insulating materials are also used.
Broadly, insulators are classify in two categories that is
“pin type and suspension type“.
In each category, insulators are further divided based
on the the shape design such as: (a) standard type
(b) aerodynamic type (c) fog type (d) long-rod
type.
From an electric standpoint, insulators must offer a
high resistance to surface leakage currents and
must be sufficiently thick to prevent breakdown
under the high voltage stresses they have to
withstand.
To increase the leakage path (and hence the leakage
resistance), the insulators are molded with wave
like folds. From a mechanical standpoint, they
must be strong enough to withstand the dynamic
pull and weight of the conductors.
Insulators must be thermally strong to withstand
high current arcs during short circuit conditions
across the insulator strings.
Insulators
3. Supporting structures
The supporting structure must keep the conductors at a safe
height from the ground and at an adequate distance from
each other.
For voltages below 70 k V, we can use single wooden poles
equipped with cross-arms, but for higher voltages, two poles
are used to create an H-frame. The wood is treated with
creosote or special metallic salts to prevent it from rotting.
For very high-voltage lines, steel towers are used, made of
galvanized iron pieces that are bolted together.
The spacing between conductors must be sufficient to
prevent arc-over under gusty wind conditions.
The spacing has to be increased as the distance between
towers and as the line voltages become higher.
Construction of a line
Once we know the conductor size, the
height of the poles and the distance
between the poles (span), we can direct
our attention to stringing the
conductors.
A wire supported between two points
does not remain horizontal, but loops
down at the middle. The vertical
distance between the straight line
joining the points of support and the
lowest point of the conductor is called
sag. The tighter the wire, the smaller
the sag will be.
Galloping lines
If a coating of sleet is deposited on a line during windy
conditions, the line may begin to oscillate. Under
certain conditions, the oscillations may become so
large that the line is seen to actually gallop.
Galloping lines can produce short-circuits between
phases or snap the conductors. To eliminate the
problem, the line is sometimes equipped with special
mechanical weights, to dampen the oscillations or to
prevent them from building up.
Corona effect-radio interference
The very high voltages in use today produce a
continual electrical discharge around the conductors,
due to local ionization of the air. This discharge, or
corona effect, produces losses over the entire length
of the transmission line.
In addition, corona emits high-frequency noise that
interferes with nearby radio receivers and TV sets. To
diminish corona, we must reduce the electric field
(V/m) around the conductors, either by increasing
their diameter or by arranging them in sets of two,
three, or more bundled conductors per phase.
Pollution
Dust, acids, salts, and other pollutants in the
atmosphere settle on insulators and reduce their
insulating properties.
Insulator pollution may produce short-circuits during
storms or momentary over-voltages.
The possibility of service interruption and the
necessity to clean insulators periodically is therefore a
constant concern to the utility company.
Lightning and lightning strokes
during stormy weather, by a process not yet known, a
charge separation takes place inside the clouds
The positive charge moves to the upper part of the
cloud while negative charge stays below
The transfer of electric charge sets up an electric field
with in the cloud
The negative charge at the base( lower end )of the
cloud repels the free electrons on the ground below
The region below the negative charge of the cloud
becomes positively charge by induction
Because of potential difference in electric field
because of the potential difference in electric field well
be established between the base of the cloud and the
earth
 another field exist between the electron repelled from
the ground and the positive charge at the top of the
cloud
As more and more positive charge moves upward within
the cloud, the electric field below the clouds become
more intense
When the field becomes critical, it reaches the
ionization level and air begins to break down and
lightning well suddenly strike from cloud to earth
A single stroke may involve a charge transfer of from 0.2-
20 coulombs under a potential difference of several
hundred million volts

So, Lightning is define as a massive electrostatic

discharge between, the cloud and the Earth's or
electrically charged regions within clouds
Lightning arresters on buildings
The simplest lightning arresters are metallic rods that
rise above the highest point of a building, channeling
the lightning toward a ground electrode by means of a
conducting wire. This prevents the high current from
passing through the building itself, which might cause
a fire or endanger its occupants.
Much more sophisticated lightning arresters are used
on electrical utility systems. They divert lightning and
high-voltage switching surges to ground before they
damage costly and critical electrical equipment.
Lightning and transmission lines
When lightning makes a direct hit on a transmission
line, it deposits a large electric charge, producing an
enormous overvoltage between the line and ground.
The dielectric strength of air is immediately exceeded
and a flashover occurs. The line discharges itself and
the overvoltage disappears in typically less than 50
microsecond.
On hitting the line, the concentrated charge divide
into two waves that swiftly move in opposite direction
with speed of light (/micro sec )
The height of impulse wave represent the magnitude
that exists from point to point the line and ground
The peak voltage may attain 1 or 2 million volts
The wave also represents the point to point value of
current flowing the line
The most aerial lines, the ratio between surge voltage
and surge current corresponds to about 400 ohm
which is called the surge impedance
Basic impulse insulation level (BIL)
The Basic Impulse Insulation Levels refers to the
ability of electric equipment such as transformers to
withstand lightning surges. When lightning strikes a
transmission line, a traveling wave is created. This
traveling wave travels along the line and damages the
transformer winding.
The BIL or the Basic Impulse Insulation level indicates
the ability of the transformer to withstand these heavy
surges. Transformers with a rating of 600 volts and
below are designed to have a BIL of 10 kV.
A 4000000 V impulse
causes a flashover across
an insulator string rated
at 500 kV, 60 Hz. Such
impulse tests increase the
reliability of equipment
in the field. The powerful
impulse generator in the
center of the photo is 24
m high and can deliver
400 kJ of energy at a
potential of 6.5 MV.
Ground wires
Ground wires are intended to shield the line and
intercept lightning strokes so they do not hit the
current-carrying conductors below. Grounding wires
normally do not carry current; consequently they are
often made of steel. They are connected to ground at
each tower.
Tower grounding
Transmission line towers are always solidly connected
to ground. Great care is taken to ensure that the
ground resistance is low.
In effect when lightning hits a line, it creates a sudden
voltage rise across the insulators as the lightning
current discharges to ground.
Such a voltage rise may produce a flash-over across the
insulators and a con-sequent line outage.
Fundamental objectives of a transmission line
The fundamental purpose of a transmission or
distribution line is to carry active power (kilowatts)
from one point to another.
If it also has to carry reactive power, the latter should be
kept as small as possible. In addition, a transmission
line should possess the following basic characteristics:
1. The voltage should remain as constant as possible over
the entire length of the line, from source to load, and
for all loads between zero and rated load
2. The line losses must be small so as to attain a high
transmission efficiency
2
3. The I R losses must not overheat the conductors
Example
 A 3-phase, 69 kV transmission line having a BIL of 300 kV is supported on steel towers and protected by a
circuit breaker (fig. 25.12). The ground resistance at each tower is 20 Ω whereas the neutral of the
transmission line is solidly grounded at the transformer just ahead of the circuit breaker. During an electric
storm, one of the towers is hit by a lightning stroke of 20 kA.

 Calculate the voltage across each insulator string under normal conditions

 Describe the sequence of events during and after the lightning stroke

 Solution

 Under normal conditions, the line-to-neutral voltage is 69 kV/ √3 = 40 kV and the current flowing in the
tower ground resistance is zero. The steel tower is therefore at the same potential as the ground. It follows
that the peak voltage across each insulator string (line to tower) is 40√2=57 kV.

 When lightning strikes the tower, the voltage across the ground resistance suddenly leaps to 20 kA x 20 Ω =
400 kV. The voltage between the tower and solid ground is therefore 400 kV, and so the potential difference
across all three insulators strings jumps to the same value. Because this impulse exceeds the insulator BIL of
300 kV, a flashover immediately occurs across the insulator, short circuiting all three lines to the steel cross-
arm. The resulting 3-phase short-circuit initiated by the lightning stroke will continue to be fed and sustained
by a heavy follow-through current from the 3-phase source. This short circuit current Isc will trip the circuit
breaker, producing a line outage.
 In view of the many customers affected by such a load interruption, we try
to limit the number of outages by ensuring a low resistance between the
towers and ground. In this example, if the tower resistance has been 10 Ω
instead of 20 Ω, the impulse voltage across the insulators would have risen
to 200 kV and no flashover would have occurred.

 Note that lightning currents of 20 kA are quite frequent and they last only
a few microseconds.

 Another way of avoiding a line outages is to use a circuit breaker that
recloses automatically, a few cycles after it trips. By that time the
disturbance due to lightning will have disappeared and normal operation
of the system can resume.

 Equivalent Circuit of a transmission line
An AC line possesses a resistance R, an inductive
reactance XL, and a Capacitive reactance Xc.
These impedances are uniformly distributed over the
entire length of line.
The line can be represented by a series of identical
sections
Each section represents a portion of line (say one km)
Equivalent Circuit of a transmission line
 Equivalent Circuit of a transmission line

The circuit can be simplified by lumping the

individual resistances (r) together to yield total
resistance R
Similarly, the total inductive reactance is XL which is
the sum of individual reactances XL
Similarly, the total capacitive reactance Xc is equal to
sum of the reactance's, except they are connected in
parallel. It is convenient to assume that total capacitive
reactance Xc is composed of two parts each having a
value of 2Xc
 Equivalent Circuit of a transmission line

The equivalent circuit of the above Figure can also be

used to represent one phase of 3-phase line.
 Typical Impedance values

 the inductive and capacitive reactances per km for

practical lines at 60 Hz are given in the table bellow.
These values are almost constant for all aerial lines.
 Typical Impedance values
The resistance per unit length depends upon the size
of conductor
Resistances and ampacity of several conductors are:
 Typical Impedance values

Circular Mil (CM) “ A circular mil is the area of a circle

with a diameter of one thousandth of an inch (10^(-3)
inch)”
One CM is pi(D^2)/4 = Pi/4 sqr mil
Voltage regulation and power transmission
capability of transmission lines
Voltage regulation and power-handling capacity are
two important features of a transmission line. Thus,
the voltage of a transmission line should remain as
constant as possible even under variable load
conditions.
Ordinarily, the voltage regulation from zero to full
load should not exceed ± 5% of the nominal voltage
(though we can sometimes accept a regulation as
high as ± 10%).
Types of Lines
We are mainly interested in transmitting active power
because only it can do useful work. In order to
determine the voltage regulation and to establish their
power transmission capability, we define four types of
lines:
1. Resistive line
2. Inductive line
3. Inductive line with compensation
4. Inductive line connecting two large systems
Review of power transmission
In summary, there is always a limit to the amount of
power a line can transmit. The maximum power is
proportional to the square of the sender voltage and
inversely proportional to the impedance of the line.
Choosing the line voltage
We have seen that for a given transmission line and for
a given voltage regulation the maximum power Pmax
that can be transmitted is proportional to E2/Z,
where E is the voltage of the line and Z, its impedance.
Thus,

And so also

Because Z is proportional to the length of the line, we deduce that the

line voltage can be expressed by
Methods of increasing power capacity
To carry large blocks of power, we sometimes erect
two, three, and even four transmission lines in parallel,
which follow the same corridor across the countryside.
Another method uses capacitors in series with the
three lines to artificially reduce the value of XL.
With this arrangement, the maximum power is given
by
Pmax = E2/(XL-XCS)
where XCS is the reactance of the series capacitors per
phase.