Power Transmission

Debniloy De
Deepak Gupta
Deepesh Khaneja
Gagandeep Singh Bawa
Gaurav Syal

(10-EEU-012)
(10-EEU-013)
(10-EEU-014)
(10-EEU-016)
(10-EEU-017)

 Power Transmission

Electric-power
transmissionis the
bulk transfer
ofelectrical energy,
from generatingpower
plantstoelectrical
substationslocated near
demand centers. This is
distinct from the local
wiring between highvoltage substations and
customers, which is
typically referred to
aselectric power
distribution

 Path of Transmission System

The Power Plant

Electrical power starts at

the power plant. In
almost all cases, the
power plant consists of a
spinning electrical
generator. Something
has to spin that generator
-- it might be a water
wheel in ahydroelectric
dam, a largediesel
engineor agas turbine

 Path of Transmission System

Transmission Substation

The three-phase power leaves the generator and

enters a transmission substationat the power
plant.
This substation uses large transformers to convert
the generator'svoltage(which is at the thousands
of volts level) up to extremely high voltages for
long-distance transmission on the transmission
grid.

 Path of Transmission System

The Overhead Transmission Line
You can see at the back
several three-wire towers
leaving the substation.
Typical voltages for long
distance transmission are
in the range of 155,000
to 765,000 volts in order
to reduce line losses. A
typical maximum
transmission distance is
about 300 miles (483
km). High-voltage
transmission lines are
quite obvious when you
see them. They are

 Path of Transmission System

The Distribution Grid

For power to be useful in a home or business, it

comes off the transmission grid and issteppeddownto the distribution grid. This may happen in
several phases. The place where the conversion from
"transmission" to "distribution" occurs is in apower
substation.

 Path of Transmission System

The Distribution Grid

A power substation typically does two or three things:

It has transformers that step transmission voltages (in
the tens or hundreds of thousands of volts range) down
to distribution voltages (typically less than 10,000 volts).
It has a "bus" that can split the distribution power off in
multiple directions.
It often has circuit breakers and switches so that the
substation can be disconnected from the transmission
grid or separate distribution lines can be disconnected
from the substation when necessary.

 Path of Transmission System

The Distribution Grid

The transmission lines entering

the substation and passing
through the switch tower

The switch tower and

the main transformer

 Path of Transmission System

The Distribution Bus

The power goes from the transformer to the

distribution bus:
In this case, the bus distributes power to two
separate sets of distribution lines at two different
voltages. The smaller transformers attached to the
bus are stepping the power down to standard line
voltage (usually 7,200 volts) for one set of lines,
while power leaves in the other direction at the
higher voltage of the main transformer. The power
leaves this substation in two sets of three wires,
each headed down the road in a different direction:

 Path of Transmission System

At the House

And finally we are down to the

wire that brings power to your
house! Past a typical house
runs a set of poles with one
phase of power (at7,200
volts) and a ground wire
(although sometimes there
will be two or three phases on
the pole, depending on where
the house is located in the
distribution grid). At each
house, there is atransformer
drum attached to the pole.

 WHY AC over DC
Large electrical generators happen to generate AC
naturally, so conversion to DC would involve an
extra step.
Transformers must have alternating current to
operate, and we will see that the power
distribution grid depends on transformers.
It is easy to convert AC to DC but expensive to
convert DC to AC, so if you were going to pick one
or the other AC would be the better choice.

 Underground Transmission
Electric power can also be transmitted byunderground
power cablesinstead of overhead power lines.
Underground cables take up less right-of-way than
overhead lines, have lower visibility, and are less
affected by bad weather. However, costs of insulated
cable and excavation are much higher than overhead
construction. Faults in buried transmission lines take
longer to locate and repair. Underground lines are strictly
limited by their thermal capacity, which permits less
overload or re-rating than overhead lines. Long
underground cables have significant capacitance, which
may reduce their ability to provide useful power to loads.

 OVERHEAD TRANSMISSION
High-voltage overhead conductors are not covered by insulation.
The conductor material is nearly always analuminumalloy, made
into several strands and possibly reinforced with steel strands.
Copper was sometimes used for overhead transmission but
aluminium is lighter, yields only marginally reduced performance,
and costs much less.
Thicker wires would lead to a relatively small increase in capacity
due to theskin effect, that causes most of the current to flow
close to the surface of the wire. Because of this current limitation,
multiple parallel cables (calledbundle conductors) are used when
higher capacity is needed.
Bundle conductors are also used at high voltages to reduce
energy loss caused bycoronadischarge.
Since overhead transmission wires depend on air for insulation,
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.

FIN