Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering

Transmission and Distribution Design

For Bachelor’s Students- Fourth Year/ First Part

By: Asst. Prof. Menaka Karki

12/6/2021 MK/TnD 1
 Chapter-2
Transmission voltage level & number of circuit selection
[4 hours]

Asst. Prof. Menaka Karki

Institute of Engineering,
Tribhuvan University, Nepal
 Transmission voltage level & number of circuit selection [4 hours]
• Effect of voltage level in power and energy loss, conductor and insulator economy
• Technical aspects of alternating current overhead lines: power and VAR transmission capability as
functions of line length, line impedance and voltage level,
• choice of voltage level for transmission for single and multiple circuit

12/6/2021 MK/TnD 3
 • It is efficient to transmit power at higher voltage level.
• It is economical to transmit power at higher voltage level.
• Power loss
• Voltage drop
• Efficiency
• Cost reduction due to lesser conductor material

Effect of voltage level in

>>Power And Energy Loss,
>>Conductor And Insulator Economy

12/6/2021 MK/TnD 4
 Effect of high voltage on Volume of conductor
Consider the transmission of electrical power by a three-phase line.
Let,
P = Power transmitted in watts,
V = Line voltage in volts,
cos φ = Power factor of the load,
l = Length of the line in meters,
R = Resistance per conductor in ohms,
ρ = Resistivity of conductor material,
a = Area of X-section of conductor,
𝑃
Load Current is obtained by, 𝐼=
3 × 𝑉 × 𝐶𝑜𝑠∅

𝜌𝑙
Resistance is given by, 𝑅=
𝑎

12/6/2021 MK/TnD 5
 Effect of high voltage on Volume of conductor

Total Copper Loss is given by, 𝑊 = 3 × 𝐼2 × 𝑅

2
𝑃 𝜌𝑙
𝑊 =3× ×
3 × 𝑉 × 𝐶𝑜𝑠∅ 𝑎
𝑃2 𝜌𝑙
𝑊= 2 2
×
𝑉 × 𝐶𝑜𝑠 ∅ 𝑎

𝑃2 𝜌𝑙
𝑎=
𝑊 × 𝑉 2 × 𝐶𝑜𝑠 2 ∅
Area of Cross-section of the conductor is given by, 𝑃2 𝜌𝑙
𝑎=
𝑊 × 𝑉 2 × 𝐶𝑜𝑠 2 ∅

12/6/2021 MK/TnD 6
 Effect of high voltage on Volume of conductor

The Volume of Copper is given by,

𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 = 𝐶𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑆𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 × 𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ … … … … … … … … … 𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑆𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝑃ℎ𝑎𝑠𝑒

𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 = 3 × 𝐶𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑆𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 × 𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ … … … … … … … . 𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑇ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑃ℎ𝑎𝑠𝑒

𝑃2 𝜌𝑙2
∴ 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 =
𝑊 × 𝑉 2 × 𝐶𝑜𝑠 2 ∅
• It can be seen from the equation that the volume of copper required is inversely proportional to
the square of the transmission voltage and the power factor, for given P, W, 𝜌 and 𝑙.
– Thus greater is the transmission voltage level, lesser is the volume of copper required i.e. the weight of
copper used gets reduced.
– The conductor material required is less, for higher transmission voltage.

12/6/2021 MK/TnD 7
 Effect of high voltage on Voltage Drop of conductor
• The voltage drop in a transmission line is given by:

𝜌𝑙 𝜌𝑙
𝑉𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑝 = 𝐼 × 𝑅 = 𝐼 × = 𝐼 × = 𝜌𝑙𝐽
𝑎 𝐼
𝐽
𝜌𝑙𝐽
%𝑉𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑝 = × 100%
𝑉

• It can be noticed from the above expression that voltage drop in the transmission system is directly
proportional to the amount of current.
• When the voltage is increased for transmission by step up transformer, the current in the
transmission system is reduced significantly.
– Voltage drop reduces due to smaller amount of current.
– Voltage regulation improves for the transmission system.

12/6/2021 MK/TnD 8
 Effect of high voltage on Losses of conductor

• The Power loss due to heat dissipation is given by:

2
2
𝑃
𝑃𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 = 𝐼 × 𝑅 = ×𝑅
3 × 𝑉 × 𝐶𝑜𝑠∅

• If we increase the voltage of transmission system by step up transformer, the current reduces
resulting in lesser power loss in the transmission system.
– Power loss is directly proportional to the square of the current flowing in the transmission system.
– Lesser the current, lesser will be the power loss in the transmission system and vice versa.

12/6/2021 MK/TnD 9
 Effect of high voltage on Line Efficiency
• The Power input to the line can be written as,
𝑃𝑖𝑛 = 𝑃𝑜𝑢𝑡 + 𝐿𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠
𝑃2 𝜌𝑙
𝑃𝑖𝑛 = 𝑃𝑜𝑢𝑡 + 2 2
×
𝑉 × 𝐶𝑜𝑠 ∅ 𝑎
• Let, J =Current Density of the conductor in A/m2, then,
𝐼 𝐼
𝐽= 𝑎=
𝑎 𝐽
𝑃2 𝜌𝑙
∴ 𝑃𝑖𝑛 = 𝑃 + 2 ×
𝑉 × 𝐶𝑜𝑠 ∅ 𝐼
2
𝐽
𝑃2 𝜌𝑙𝐽
=𝑃+ 2 2
×
𝑉 × 𝐶𝑜𝑠 ∅ 𝐼

12/6/2021 MK/TnD 10
 Effect of high voltage on Line Efficiency

𝑃2 𝜌𝑙𝐽
𝑃𝑖𝑛 = 𝑃 + 2 2
×
𝑉 × 𝐶𝑜𝑠 ∅ 𝐼
𝑃2 𝜌𝑙𝐽
𝑃𝑖𝑛 = 𝑃 + 2 ×
2
𝑉 × 𝐶𝑜𝑠 ∅ 𝑃
3 × 𝑉 × 𝐶𝑜𝑠∅
𝑃2 𝜌𝑙𝐽
𝑃𝑖𝑛 = 𝑃 + 2 2
× × 3 × 𝑉 × 𝐶𝑜𝑠∅
𝑉 × 𝐶𝑜𝑠 ∅ 𝑃
𝑃× 3×𝜌×𝑙×𝐽
𝑃𝑖𝑛 = 𝑃 +
𝑉 × 𝐶𝑜𝑠∅
3×𝜌×𝑙×𝐽
𝑃𝑖𝑛 = 𝑃 1 +
𝑉 × 𝐶𝑜𝑠∅
12/6/2021 MK/TnD 11
 Effect of high voltage on Line Efficiency

3×𝜌×𝑙×𝐽
𝑃𝑖𝑛 = 𝑃 1 +
𝑉 × 𝐶𝑜𝑠∅

𝑃𝑜𝑢𝑡
• Transmission Line Efficiency is, 𝜂=
𝑃𝑖𝑛

−1
𝑃𝑜𝑢𝑡 1 3×𝜌×𝑙×𝐽
𝜂= = = 1+
𝑃𝑖𝑛 3×𝜌×𝑙×𝐽 𝑉 × 𝐶𝑜𝑠∅
1+
𝑉 × 𝐶𝑜𝑠∅
12/6/2021 MK/TnD 12
 Effect of high voltage on Line Efficiency

−1
3×𝜌×𝑙×𝐽
𝜂 = 1+
𝑉 × 𝐶𝑜𝑠∅

Expanding the previous expression through Binomial Theorem Expansion and neglecting
the higher terms, we get:
3×𝜌×𝑙×𝐽
𝜂 ≈1−
𝑉 × 𝐶𝑜𝑠∅
• As J, ρ and L are constants, transmission efficiency increases when the line voltage
is increased.
• Similarly, Efficiency is also increased when power factor is increased.

12/6/2021 MK/TnD 13
 Conductor cost per unit length

• Parameters that affect the (conductor + insulator) cost per unit length of the
transmission lines are:
– Power to be transmitted
– length of line
– Voltage level
– Number of circuit

12/6/2021 MK/TnD 14
 Effect of high voltage on Cost of conductor per unit length
𝑃
𝑁𝑐
Load Current is obtained by, 𝐼=
3 × 𝑉 × 𝐶𝑜𝑠∅
𝑃 𝜌𝑙
Total Power Loss is given by, 𝑃𝐿 = 3 × 𝑁𝑐 × 𝐼 2 × 𝑅 = 3 × 𝑁𝑐 × ( 2
) ×
3×𝑁𝑐 ×𝑉×𝐶𝑜𝑠∅ 𝐴

𝑃𝐿 𝑃 𝜌𝑙
Percentage Power Loss is given by, %𝑃𝐿 = = 3 × 𝑁𝑐 × 2 ×
𝑃 3×𝑁𝑐 ×𝑉×𝐶𝑜𝑠∅ 𝐴

𝑃×𝑙 𝜌
= ×
𝑉 2 ×𝑁𝑐 𝐶𝑜𝑠∅ 2 ×𝐴

𝑃×𝑙 𝜌 𝑲𝟏 ×𝑷×𝒍
Area of conductor is given by, A= × => A=
𝑉 2 ×𝑁𝑐 𝐶𝑜𝑠∅ 2 ×%𝑃 𝑽𝟐 ×𝑵𝒄

Cost of conductor = rate * weight of conductor = rate * density * Area* length

i.e. cost of conductor/ length α Area
𝐾1 ×𝑃×𝑙
Or, cost of conductor/ length α
𝑉 2 ×𝑁𝑐

12/6/2021 MK/TnD 15
 Effect of high voltage on Cost of conductor per unit length

𝑲𝟏 ×𝑷×𝒍
Or, cost of conductor/ length α
𝑽𝟐 ×𝑵𝒄

At high voltage, Volume Reduces and hence Cost too.

• Current on the secondary of step –up transformer is reduced with
the higher voltage level.
• Smaller conductor can carry smaller current.
• Cost of smaller cross- sectional area conductor is lower.
• Can carry more power over longer distance for the same cost.

12/6/2021 MK/TnD 16
 Cost of conductor per unit length

12/6/2021 MK/TnD 17
 Effect of high voltage on Power Transfer Capability

Power transmitted over a transmission line is given by,

𝑉𝑠 𝑉𝑟
𝑃𝑆 = 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝛿
𝑋

If Vs=Vr,
then power transmitted is proportional to square of voltage
which increases power handling capacity of the line.

12/6/2021 MK/TnD 18
 Advantages of High Voltage on Transmission Line

At high voltage transmission,

1. load Current reduces.
𝑃
𝐼=
3𝑉𝑐𝑜𝑠∅
2. losses in the transmission system reduces.
3. volume of conductor material required reduces.
4. voltage drop in the transmission system reduces, thus Voltage Regulation is improved.
5. efficiency of the transmission system is improved.
6. power transfer capability in the transmission system increases.

12/6/2021 MK/TnD 19
 Other Advantages of High Voltage on Transmission Line

7. The number of circuits and the land requirement reduces as transmission voltage
increases.
8. The total line cost per MW per km decreases considerably with the increase in line
voltage.
9. The operation with HV A.C. voltage is simple and can be adopted easily and naturally to
the synchronously operating a.c. systems.
10.The equipment used in HV A.C. system are simple and reliable without need of high
technology (no use of power electronics devices)
11.The lines can be easily tapped and extended with simple control of power flow in the
network.

12/6/2021 MK/TnD 20
 Disadvantages of High Voltage on Transmission Line
• Corona Loss and Radio Interference
– corona loss is greatly influenced by choice of transmission voltage, increases with bad weather, interference in
radio and TV which causes disturbance.
• Line Supports
– Required to protect the transmission line during storms and cyclones, to make it wind resistant,
– extra amount of metal is required in the tower which may increase the cost.
• Erection Difficulties
– It requires high standard of workmanship. The supporting structures are to be efficiently transported.
• Insulation Needs
– Higher the transmission voltage, higher is the insulation required, otherwise causes problems in connection with conductor
supports and clearance between the conductors in order to avoid electrical discharge.
– higher insulation results in the increase in the cost of towers.
• The cost of transformers, switchgear equipment and protective equipment increases with increase
in transmission line voltage.
• The HV lines generate electrostatic effects which are harmful to human beings and animals.
12/6/2021 MK/TnD 21