Electric power transmission

400 kV high-tension transmission lines near Madrid

Electric power transmission or "high voltage electric transmission" is the bulk transfer of electrical energy, from generating power plants to substations located near to population centers. This is distinct from the local wiring between high voltage substations and customers, which is typically referred to as electricity distribution. Transmission lines, when interconnected with each other, become high voltage transmission networks. In the US, these are typically referred to as "power grids" or sometimes simply as "the grid". North America has three major grids: The Western Interconnection; The Eastern Interconnection and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (or ERCOT) grid.

Historically, transmission and distribution lines were owned by the same company, but over the last decade or so many countries have introduced market reforms that have led to the separation of the electricity transmission business from the distribution business.^[1]

Transmission lines mostly use three phase alternating current (AC), although single phase AC is sometimes used in railway electrification systems. High-voltage direct current (HVDC) technology is used only for very long distances (typically greater than 400 miles, or 600 km); undersea cables (typically longer than 30 miles, or 50 km); or for connecting two AC networks that are not synchronized.

Electricity is transmitted at high voltages (110 kV or above) to reduce the energy lost in long distance transmission. Power is usually transmitted through overhead power lines. Underground power transmission has a significantly higher cost and greater operational limitations but is sometimes used in urban areas or sensitive locations.

A key limitation in the distribution of electricity is that, with minor exceptions, electrical energy cannot be stored, and therefore it must be generated as it is needed. A sophisticated system of control is therefore required to ensure electric generation very closely matches the demand. If supply and demand are not in balance, generation plants and transmission equipment can shut down which, in the worst cases, can lead to a major regional blackout, such as occurred in California and the US Northwest in 1996 and in the US Northeast in 1965, 1977 and 2003. To reduce the risk of such failures, electric transmission networks are interconnected into regional, national or continental wide networks thereby providing multiple redundant alternate routes for power to flow should (weather or equipment) failures occur. Much analysis is done by transmission companies to determine the maximum reliable capacity of each line which is mostly less than its physical or thermal limit, to ensure spare capacity is available should there be any such failure in another part of the network.

Diagram of an electrical system.

Overhead transmission

High-voltage overhead conductors are not covered by insulation. The conductor material is nearly always an aluminium alloy, made into several strands and possibly reinforced with steel strands. Copper was sometimes used for overhead transmission but aluminium is lower in weight for equivalent performance, and much lower in cost. Overhead conductors are a commodity supplied by several companies worldwide. Improved conductor material and shapes are regularly used to allow increased capacity and modernize transmission circuits. Conductor sizes range from 12 mm² (#6 American wire gauge) to 750 mm² (1,590,000 circular mils area), with varying resistance and current-carrying capacity. Thicker wires would lead to a relatively small increase in capacity due to the skin effect, that causes most of the current to flow close to the surface of the wire.

Contiguous United States power transmission grid consists of 300,000 km of lines operated by 500 companies.

Today, transmission-level voltages are usually considered to be 110 kV and above. Lower voltages such as 66 kV and 33 kV are usually considered sub-transmission voltages but are occasionally used on long lines with light loads. Voltages less than 33 kV are usually used for distribution. Voltages above 230 kV are considered extra high voltage and require different designs compared to equipment used at lower voltages.

Since overhead transmission lines are uninsulated, design of these lines requires minimum clearances to be observed to maintain safety. Adverse weather conditions of high wind and low temperatures can lead to power outages: wind speeds as low as 23 knots (43 km/h) can permit conductors to encroach operating clearances, resulting in a flashover and loss of supply.^[2] Oscillatory motion of the physical line can be termed gallop or flutter depending on the frequency and amplitude of oscillation.

Underground transmission

Electric power can also be transmitted by underground power cables instead of overhead power lines. They can assist the transmission of power across:

• Densely populated urban areas
• Areas where land is unavailable or planning consent is difficult
• Rivers and other natural obstacles
• Land with outstanding natural or environmental heritage
• Areas of significant or prestigious infrastructural development
• Land whose value must be maintained for future urban expansion and rural development

Some other advantages of underground power cables:

• Less subject to damage from severe weather conditions (mainly lightning, wind and freezing)
• Greatly reduced emission, into the surrounding area, of electromagnetic fields (EMF). All electric currents generate EMF, but the shielding provided by the earth surrounding underground cables restricts their range and power. See section below, health concerns.
• Underground cables need a narrower surrounding strip of about 1–10 meters to install, whereas an overhead line requires a surrounding strip of about 20–200 meters wide to be kept permanently clear for safety, maintenance and repair.
• Underground cables pose no hazard to low flying aircraft or to wildlife, and are significantly safer as they pose no shock hazard (except to the unwary digger).
• Much less subject to conductor theft, illegal connections, sabotage, and damage from armed conflict.

Some disadvantages of underground power cables:

• Undergrounding is more expensive, since the cost of burying cables at transmission voltages is several times greater than overhead power lines, and the life-cycle cost of an underground power cable is two to four times the cost of an overhead power line. Above ground lines cost around $10 per foot and underground lines cost in the range of $20 to $40 per foot.^[3]
• Whereas finding and repairing overhead wire breaks can be accomplished in hours, underground repairs can take days or weeks^[4], and for this reason redundant lines are run.
• Underground power cables, due to their proximity to earth, cannot be maintained live, whereas overhead power cables can be.^[5]
• Operations are more difficult since the high reactive power of underground cables produces large charging currents and so makes voltage control more difficult.^[6]

The advantages can in some cases outweigh the disadvantages of the higher investment cost, and more expensive maintenance and management.

Most high voltage cables for power transmission that are currently sold on the market are insulated by a sheath of cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE). Some cables may have a lead or aluminium jacket in conjunction with XLPE insulation to allow for fiber optics to be seamlessly integrated within the cable. Before 1960, underground power cables were insulated with oil and paper and ran in a rigid steel pipe, or a semi-rigid aluminium or lead jacket or sheath. The oil was kept under pressure to prevent formation of voids that would allow partial discharges within the cable insulation. There are still many of these oil-and-paper insulated cables in use worldwide. Between 1960 and 1990, polymers became more widely used at distribution voltages, mostly EPDM (ethylene propylene diene M-class); however, their relative unreliability, particularly early XLPE, resulted in a slow uptake at transmission voltages. While cables of 330 kV are commonly constructed using XLPE, this has occurred only in recent decades.

History

New York City streets in 1890. Besides telegraph lines, multiple electric lines were required for each class of device requiring different voltages.

In the early days of commercial electric power, transmission of electric power at the same voltage as used by lighting and mechanical loads restricted the distance between generating plant and consumers. In 1882, generation was with direct current, which could not easily be increased in voltage for long-distance transmission. Different classes of loads (for example, lighting, fixed motors, and traction/railway systems) required different voltages, and so used different generators and circuits.^[7]

Due to this specialization of lines and because transmission was so inefficient that generators needed to be near their loads, it seemed at the time that the industry would develop into what is now known as a distributed generation system with large numbers of small generators located nearby their loads.^[8]

In 1886 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, a 1 kV AC distribution system was installed. That same year, AC power at 2 kV, transmitted 30 km, was installed at Cerchi, Italy. At an AIEE meeting on May 16, 1888, Nikola Tesla delivered a lecture entitled A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, describing the equipment which allowed efficient generation and use of polyphase alternating currents. The transformer, and Tesla's polyphase and single-phase induction motors, were essential for a combined AC distribution system for both lighting and machinery. Ownership of the rights to the Tesla patents was a key advantage to the Westinghouse Company in offering a complete alternating current power system for both lighting and power.

Nikola Tesla's Alternating current polyphase generators on display at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. Tesla's polyphase innovations revolutionized transmission.

Regarded as one of the most influential electrical innovations, the universal system used transformers to step-up voltage from generators to high-voltage transmission lines, and then to step-down voltage to local distribution circuits or industrial customers^[9]. By a suitable choice of utility frequency, both lighting and motor loads could be served. Rotary converters and later mercury-arc valves and other rectifier equipment allowed DC to be provided where needed. Generating stations and loads using different frequencies could be interconnected using rotary converters. By using common generating plants for every type of load, important economies of scale were achieved, lower overall capital investment was required, load factor on each plant was increased allowing for higher efficiency, a lower cost for the consumer and increased overall use of electric power.

By allowing multiple generating plants to be interconnected over a wide area, electricity production cost was reduced. The most efficient available plants could be used to supply the varying loads during the day. Reliability was improved and capital investment cost was reduced, since stand-by generating capacity could be shared over many more customers and a wider geographic area. Remote and low-cost sources of energy, such as hydroelectric power or mine-mouth coal, could be exploited to lower energy production cost.^[9]

The first transmission of three-phase alternating current using high voltage took place in 1891 during the international electricity exhibition in Frankfurt. A 25 kV transmission line, approximately 175 km long, connected Lauffen on the Neckar and Frankfurt.

Voltages used for electric power transmission increased throughout the 20th century. By 1914, fifty-five transmission systems each operating at more than 70 kV were in service. The highest voltage then used was 150 kV.^[10]

The rapid industrialization in the 20th century made electrical transmission lines and grids a critical part of the infrastructure in most industrialized nations. Interconnection of local generation plants and small distribution networks was greatly spurred by the requirements of World War I, where large electrical generating plants were built by governments to provide power to munitions factories. Later these plants were connected to supply civil loads through long-distance transmission.^[11]

Bulk power transmission

A transmission substation decreases the voltage of incoming electricity, allowing it to connect from long distance high voltage transmission, to local lower voltage distribution. It also reroutes power to other transmission lines that serve local markets. A transmission substation may include phase-shifting or voltage regulating transformers. This is the PacifiCorp Hale Substation, Orem, Utah, USA.

Engineers design transmission networks to transport the energy as efficiently as feasible, while at the same time taking into account economic factors, network safety and redundancy. These networks use components such as power lines, cables, circuit breakers, switches and transformers. The transmission network is usually administered on a regional basis by an entity such as a regional transmission organization or transmission system operator.

Transmission efficiency is improved by increasing the voltage using a step-up transformer, which reduces the current in the conductors, while keeping the power transmitted nearly equal to the power input. The reduced current flowing through the line reduces the losses in the conductor. According to Joule's Law, energy losses are directly proportional to the square of the current. Thus, reducing the current (amperage) by a factor of 2 will lower the energy lost to conductor resistance by a factor of 4.

A transmission grid is a network of power stations, transmission circuits, and substations. Energy is usually transmitted within the grid with three-phase AC. DC systems require relatively costly conversion equipment which may be economically justified for particular projects. Single phase AC is used only for distribution to end users since it is not usable for large polyphase induction motors. In the 19th century, two-phase transmission was used but required either three wires with unequal currents or four wires. Higher order phase systems require more than three wires, but deliver marginal benefits.

The synchronous grids of Eurasia.

The capital cost of electric power stations is so high, and electric demand is so variable, that it is often cheaper to import some portion of the needed power than to generate it locally. Because nearby loads are often correlated (hot weather in the Southwest portion of the US might cause many people to use air conditioners), electricity often comes from distant sources. Because of the economics of load balancing, wide area transmission grids now span across countries and even large portions of continents. The web of interconnections between power producers and consumers ensures that power can flow, even if a few links are inoperative.

The unvarying (or slowly varying over many hours) portion of the electric demand is known as the base load and is generally served best by large facilities (which are therefore efficient due to economies of scale) with low variable costs for fuel and operations. Such facilities might be nuclear or coal-fired power stations, or hydroelectric, while other renewable energy sources such as concentrated solar thermal and geothermal power have the potential to provide base load power. Renewable energy sources such as solar photovoltaics, wind, wave, and tidal are, due to their intermittency, not considered "base load" but can still add power to the grid. The remaining power demand, if any, is supplied by peaking power plants, which are typically smaller, faster-responding, and higher cost sources, such as combined cycle or combustion turbine plants fueled by natural gas.

A high-power electrical transmission tower.

Long-distance transmission of electricity (thousands of kilometers) is cheap and efficient, with costs of US$0.005–0.02/kWh (compared to annual averaged large producer costs of US$0.01–0.025/kWh, retail rates upwards of US$0.10/kWh, and multiples of retail for instantaneous suppliers at unpredicted highest demand moments).^[12] Thus distant suppliers can be cheaper than local sources (e.g., New York City buys a lot of electricity from Canada). Multiple local sources (even if more expensive and infrequently used) can make the transmission grid more fault tolerant to weather and other disasters that can disconnect distant suppliers.

Long distance transmission allows remote renewable energy resources to be used to displace fossil fuel consumption. Hydro and wind sources can't be moved closer to populous cities, and solar costs are lowest in remote areas where local power needs are minimal. Connection costs alone can determine whether any particular renewable alternative is economically sensible. Costs can be prohibitive for transmission lines, but various proposals for massive infrastructure investment in high capacity, very long distance super grid transmission networks could be recovered with modest usage fees.

Grid input

At the generating plants the energy is produced at a relatively low voltage between about 2.3 kV and 30 kV, depending on the size of the unit. The generator terminal voltage is then stepped up by the power station transformer to a higher voltage (115 kV to 765 kV AC, varying by country) for transmission over long distances.

Losses

Transmitting electricity at high voltage reduces the fraction of energy lost to resistance. For a given amount of power, a higher voltage reduces the current and thus the resistive losses in the conductor. For example, raising the voltage by a factor of 10 reduces the current by a corresponding factor of 10 and therefore the losses by a factor of 100, provided the same sized conductors are used in both cases. Even if the conductor size (cross-sectional area) is reduced 10-fold to match the lower current the losses are still reduced 10-fold. Long distance transmission is typically done with overhead lines at voltages of 115 to 1,200 kV. At extremely high voltages, more than 2 MV between conductor and ground, corona discharge losses are so large that they can offset the lower resistance loss in the line conductors.

Transmission and distribution losses in the USA were estimated at 7.2% in 1995 ^[13] and 6.5% in 2007^[14]. In general, losses are estimated from the discrepancy between energy produced (as reported by power plants) and energy sold to end customers; the difference between what is produced and what is consumed constitute transmission and distribution losses.

As of 1980, the longest cost-effective distance for electricity was 7,000 km (4,300 mi), although all present transmission lines are considerably shorter.^[15]

In an alternating current circuit, the inductance and capacitance of the phase conductors can be significant. The currents that flow in these components of the circuit impedance constitute reactive power, which transmits no energy to the load. Reactive current causes extra losses in the transmission circuit. The ratio of real power (transmitted to the load) to apparent power is the power factor. As reactive current increases, the reactive power increases and the power factor decreases. For systems with low power factors, losses are higher than for systems with high power factors. Utilities add capacitor banks and other components (such as phase-shifting transformers; static VAR compensators; physical transposition of the phase conductors; and flexible AC transmission systems, FACTS) throughout the system to control reactive power flow for reduction of losses and stabilization of system voltage.

Transmission grid exit

At the substations, transformers reduce the voltage to a lower level for distribution to commercial and residential users. This distribution is accomplished with a combination of sub-transmission (33 kV to 132 kV) and distribution (3.3 to 25 kV). Finally, at the point of use, the energy is transformed to low voltage (varying by country and customer requirements—see mains power systems).

High-voltage direct current

High voltage direct current (HVDC) is used to transmit large amounts of power over long distances or for interconnections between asynchronous grids. When electrical energy is required to be transmitted over very long distances, it is more economical to transmit using direct current instead of alternating current. For a long transmission line, the lower losses and reduced construction cost of a DC line can offset the additional cost of converter stations at each end. Also, at high AC voltages, significant (although economically acceptable) amounts of energy are lost due to corona discharge, the capacitance between phases or, in the case of buried cables, between phases and the soil or water in which the cable is buried.

HVDC is also used for long submarine cables because over about 30 km length AC can no longer be applied. In that case special high voltage cables for DC are built. Many submarine cable connections - up to 600 km length - are in use nowadays.

HVDC links are sometimes used to stabilize against control problems with the AC electricity flow. In other words, to transmit AC power as AC when needed in either direction between Seattle and Boston would require the (highly challenging) continuous real-time adjustment of the relative phase of the two electrical grids. With HVDC instead the interconnection would: (1) Convert AC in Seattle into HVDC. (2) Use HVDC for the three thousand miles of cross country transmission. Then (3) convert the HVDC to locally synchronized AC in Boston, and optionally in other cooperating cities along the transmission route. One prominent example of such a transmission line is the Pacific DC Intertie located in the Western United States.

Limitations

The amount of power that can be sent over a transmission line is limited. The origins of the limits vary depending on the length of the line. For a short line, the heating of conductors due to line losses sets a thermal limit. If too much current is drawn, conductors may sag too close to the ground, or conductors and equipment may be damaged by overheating. For intermediate-length lines on the order of 100 km (62 mi), the limit is set by the voltage drop in the line. For longer AC lines, system stability sets the limit to the power that can be transferred. Approximately, the power flowing over an AC line is proportional to the sine of the phase angle of the voltage at the receiving and transmitting ends. Since this angle varies depending on system loading and generation, it is undesirable for the angle to approach 90 degrees. Very approximately, the allowable product of line length and maximum load is proportional to the square of the system voltage. Series capacitors or phase-shifting transformers are used on long lines to improve stability. High-voltage direct current lines are restricted only by thermal and voltage drop limits, since the phase angle is not material to their operation.

Up to now, it has been almost impossible to foresee the temperature distribution along the cable route, so that the maximum applicable current load was usually set as a compromise between understanding of operation conditions and risk minimization. The availability of industrial Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) systems that measure in real time temperatures all along the cable is a first step in monitoring the transmission system capacity. This monitoring solution is based on using passive optical fibers as temperature sensors, either integrated directly inside a high voltage cable or mounted externally on the cable insulation. A solution for overhead lines is also available. In this case the optical fiber is integrated into the core of a phase wire of overhead transmission lines (OPPC). The integrated Dynamic Cable Rating (DCR) or also called Real Time Thermal Rating (RTTR) solution enables not only to continuously monitor the temperature of a high voltage cable circuit in real time, but to safely utilize the existing network capacity to its maximum. Furthermore it provides the ability to the operator to predict the behavior of the transmission system upon major changes made to its initial operating conditions.

Control

To ensure safe and predictable operation the components of the transmission system are controlled with generators, switches, circuit breakers and loads. The voltage, power, frequency, load factor, and reliability capabilities of the transmission system are designed to provide cost effective performance for the customers.

Load balancing

The transmission system provides for base load and peak load capability, with safety and fault tolerance margins. The peak load times vary by region largely due to the industry mix. In very hot and very cold climates home air conditioning and heating loads have an effect on the overall load. They are typically highest in the late afternoon in the hottest part of the year and in mid-mornings and mid-evenings in the coldest part of the year. This makes the power requirements vary by the season and the time of day. Distribution system designs always take the base load and the peak load into consideration.

The transmission system usually does not have a large buffering capability to match the loads with the generation. Thus generation has to be kept matched to the load, to prevent overloading failures of the generation equipment.

Multiple sources and loads can be connected to the transmission system and they must be controlled to provide orderly transfer of power. In centralized power generation, only local control of generation is necessary, and it involves synchronization of the generation units, to prevent large transients and overload conditions.

In distributed power generation the generators are geographically distributed and the process to bring them online and offline must be carefully controlled. The load control signals can either be sent on separate lines or on the power lines themselves. To load balance the voltage and frequency can be used as a signaling mechanism.

In voltage signaling, the variation of voltage is used to increase generation. The power added by any system increases as the line voltage decreases. This arrangement is stable in principle. Voltage based regulation is complex to use in mesh networks, since the individual components and setpoints would need to be reconfigured every time a new generator is added to the mesh.

In frequency signaling, the generating units match the frequency of the power transmission system. In droop speed control, if the frequency decreases, the power is increased. (The drop in line frequency is an indication that the increased load is causing the generators to slow down.)

Wind turbines, v2g and other distributed storage and generation systems can be connected to the power grid, and interact with it to improve system operation.

Failure protection

Under excess load conditions, the system can be designed to fail gracefully rather than all at once. Brownouts occur when the supply power drops below the demand. Blackouts occur when the supply fails completely.

Rolling blackouts, or load shedding, are intentionally engineered electrical power outages, used to distribute insufficient power when the demand for electricity exceeds the supply.

Communications

Operators of long transmission lines require reliable communications for control of the power grid and, often, associated generation and distribution facilities. Fault-sensing protective relays at each end of the line must communicate to monitor the flow of power into and out of the protected line section so that faulted conductors or equipment can be quickly de-energized and the balance of the system restored. Protection of the transmission line from short circuits and other faults is usually so critical that common carrier telecommunications are insufficiently reliable, and in remote areas a common carrier may not be available. Communication systems associated with a transmission project may use:

• Microwaves
• Power line communication
• Optical fibers

Rarely, and for short distances, a utility will use pilot-wires strung along the transmission line path. Leased circuits from common carriers are not preferred since availability is not under control of the electric power transmission organization.

Transmission lines can also be used to carry data: this is called power-line carrier, or PLC. PLC signals can be easily received with a radio for the long wave range.

Optical fibers can be included in the stranded conductors of a transmission line, in the overhead shield wires. These cables are known as optical ground wire (OPGW). Sometimes a standalone cable is used, all-dielectric self-supporting (ADSS) cable, attached to the transmission line cross arms.

Some jurisdictions, such as Minnesota, prohibit energy transmission companies from selling surplus communication bandwidth or acting as a telecommunications common carrier. Where the regulatory structure permits, the utility can sell capacity in extra dark fibers to a common carrier, providing another revenue stream.

Electricity market reform

Some regulators regard electric transmission to be a natural monopoly^[16][17] and there are moves in many countries to separately regulate transmission (see electricity market).

Spain was the first country to establish a regional transmission organization. In that country transmission operations and market operations are controlled by separate companies. The transmission system operator is Red Eléctrica de España (REE) and the wholesale electricity market operator is Operador del Mercado Ibérico de Energía - Polo Español, S.A. (OMEL) [2]. Spain's transmission system is interconnected with those of France, Portugal, and Morocco.

In the United States and parts of Canada, electrical transmission companies operate independently of generation and distribution companies.

Cost of electric power transmission

The cost of high voltage electricity transmission, (as opposed to the costs of electricity distribution) is comparatively low, compared to all other costs arising in a consumer's electricity bill. In the UK transmission costs are about 0.2p/kWh compared to a delivered domestic price of around 10 p/kWh.^[18]

Merchant transmission

Merchant transmission is an arrangement where a third party constructs and operates electric transmission lines through the franchise area of an unrelated utility. Advocates of merchant transmission claim that this will create competition to construct the most efficient and lowest cost additions to the transmission grid. Merchant transmission projects typically involve DC lines because it is easier to limit flows to paying customers.

Operating merchant transmission projects in the United States include the Cross Sound Cable from Long Island, New York to New Haven, Connecticut, Neptune RTS Transmission Line from Sayreville, N.J., to Newbridge, N.Y, ITC Holdings, Inc. transmission system in the midwest, and Path 15 in California. Additional projects are in development or have been proposed throughout the United States.

There is only one unregulated or market interconnector in Australia: Basslink between Tasmania and Victoria. Two DC links originally implemented as market interconnectors Directlink and Murraylink have been converted to regulated interconnectors. NEMMCO

A major barrier to wider adoption of merchant transmission is the difficulty in identifying who benefits from the facility so that the beneficiaries will pay the toll. Also, it is difficult for a merchant transmission line to compete when the alternative transmission lines are subsidized by other utility businesses.^[19]

Health concerns

The preponderance of evidence does not suggest that the low-power, low-frequency, electromagnetic radiation associated with household current constitutes a short or long term health hazard. Some studies have found statistical correlations between various diseases and living or working near power lines, but no adverse health effects have been substantiated for people not living close to powerlines.^[20]

There are established biological effects for acute high level exposure to magnetic fields well above 100 µT. In a residential setting, there is "limited evidence of carcinogenicity in humans and less than sufficient evidence for carcinogenicity in experimental animals", in particular, childhood leukaemia, associated with average exposure to residential power-frequency magnetic field above 0.3 to 0.4 µT. These levels exceed average residential power-frequency magnetic fields in homes which are about 0.07 µT in Europe and 0.11 µT in North America.^[21][22] Association is not the same as a cause-and-effect relationship.

Government policy

Historically, local governments have exercised authority over the grid and have significant disincentives to take action that would benefit states other than their own. Localities with cheap electricity have a disincentive to making interstate commerce in electricity trading easier, since other regions will be able to compete for local energy and drive up rates. Some regulators in Maine for example do not wish to address congestion problems because the congestion serves to keep Maine rates low.^[23] Further, vocal local constituencies can block or slow permitting by pointing to visual impact, environmental, and perceived health concerns. In the US, generation is growing 4 times faster than transmission, but big transmission upgrades require the coordination of multiple states, a multitude of interlocking permits, and cooperation between a significant portion of the 500 companies that own the grid. From a policy perspective, the control of the grid is balkanized, and even former energy secretary Bill Richardson refers to it as a third world grid. There have been efforts in the EU and US to confront the problem. The US national security interest in significantly growing transmission capacity drove passage of the 2005 energy act giving the Department of Energy the authority to approve transmission if states refuse to act. However, soon after using its power to designate two National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors, 14 senators signed a letter stating the DOE was being too aggressive^[24].

Special transmission

Grids for railways

In some countries where electric trains run on low frequency AC (e.g., 16.7 Hz and 25 Hz) power, there are separate single phase traction power networks operated by the railways. These grids are fed by separate generators in some traction powerstations or by traction current converter plants from the public three phase AC network.

Superconducting cables

High-temperature superconductors promise to revolutionize power distribution by providing lossless transmission of electrical power. The development of superconductors with transition temperatures higher than the boiling point of liquid nitrogen has made the concept of superconducting power lines commercially feasible, at least for high-load applications.^[25] It has been estimated that the waste would be halved using this method, since the necessary refrigeration equipment would consume about half the power saved by the elimination of the majority of resistive losses. Some companies such as Consolidated Edison and American Superconductor have already begun commercial production of such systems.^[26] In one hypothetical future system called a SuperGrid, the cost of cooling would be eliminated by coupling the transmission line with a liquid hydrogen pipeline.

Superconducting cables are particularly suited to high load density areas such as the business district of large cities, where purchase of an easement for cables would be very costly.^[27]

Single wire earth return

Single-wire earth return (SWER) or single wire ground return is a single-wire transmission line for supplying single-phase electrical power for an electrical grid to remote areas at low cost. It is principally used for rural electrification, but also finds use for larger isolated loads such as water pumps, and light rail. Single wire earth return is also used for HVDC over submarine power cables.

Wireless power transmission

Both Nikola Tesla and Hidetsugu Yagi attempted to devise systems for large scale wireless power transmission, with no commercial success.

Wireless power transmission has been studied for transmission of power from solar power satellites to the earth. A high power array of microwave transmitters would beam power to a rectenna. Major engineering and economic challenges face any solar power satellite project.

Security of control systems

The Federal government of the United States admits that the power grid is susceptible to cyber-warfare.^[28][29] The United States Department of Homeland Security works with industry to identify vulnerabilities and to help industry enhance the security of control system networks, the federal government is also working to ensure that security is built in as the U.S. develops the next generation of 'smart grid' networks.^[30]

Records

• Highest capacity system: 6.3 GW HVDC Itaipu (Brazil) (±600 kV DC)^[31]
• Highest transmission voltage (AC): 1.15 MV on Powerline Ekibastuz-Kokshetau (Kazakhstan)
• Largest double-circuit transmission, Kita-Iwaki Powerline.
• Highest pylons: Yangtze River Crossing (height: 345 m/1,132 ft)
• Longest power line: Inga-Shaba (length: 1,700 kilometres / 1,056 miles)
• Longest span of power line: 5,376 m (17,638 ft) at Ameralik Span
• Longest submarine cables:
  • NorNed, North Sea - (length of submarine cable: 580 kilometres / 360 miles)
  • Basslink, Bass Strait - (length of submarine cable: 290 kilometres / 180 miles, total length: 370.1 kilometres / 230 miles)
  • Baltic-Cable, Baltic Sea - (length of submarine cable: 238 kilometres / 148 miles, HVDC length: 250 kilometres / 155 miles, total length: 262 kilometres / 163 miles)
• Longest underground cables:
  • Murraylink, Riverland/Sunraysia - (length of underground cable: 180 kilometres / 112 miles)

See also

Notes

Further reading

• Grigsby, L. L., et al. The Electric Power Engineering Handbook. USA: CRC Press. (2001). ISBN 0-8493-8578-4
• Thomas P. Hughes, Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society 1880-1930, The Johns Hopkins University Press,Baltimore 1983 ISBN 0-8018-2873-2, an excellent overview of development during the first 50 years of commercial electric power

• Westinghouse Electric Corporation, "Electric power transmission patents; Tesla polyphase system". (Transmission of power; polyphase system; Tesla patents)

• Pansini, Anthony J, E.E., P.E. undergrounding electric lines. USA Hayden Book Co, 1978. ISBN 0-8104-0827-9

External links

• Japan: World's First In-Grid High-Temperature Superconducting Power Cable System
• A Power Grid for the Hydrogen Economy: Overview/A Continental SuperGrid
• Global Energy Network Institute (GENI) - The GENI Initiative focuses on linking renewable energy resources around the world using international electricity transmission.
• Union for the Co-ordination of Transmission of Electricity (UCTE), the association of transmission system operators in continental Europe, running one of the two largest power transmission systems in the world
• Non-Ionizing Radiation, Part 1: Static and Extremely Low-Frequency (ELF) Electric and Magnetic Fields (2002) by the IARC -- Link Broken.
• A Simulation of the Power Grid - The Trustworthy Cyber Infrastructure for the Power Grid (TCIP) group at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has developed lessons and an applet which illustrate the transmission of electricity from generators to energy consumers, and allows the user to manipulate generation, consumption, and power flow.