Blaine B.

Jarrett
Transmission Lines Department
Jamaica Public Service Company Ltd.
bjarrett@jpsco.com

A Modern Approach to The Design of a New Power Transmission Line at The

Jamaica Public Service Company Limited

ABSTRACT: Traditional approaches to the design of transmission

power lines have been tried, tested and proven over the years. This
process of line design, which includes terrain modelling and rendering,
route selection, structure spotting, sag & tensioning and plan & profile
drafting, poses unique challenges. Challenges such as: significant pre-
design/survey route clearing, time-consuming Topographic Survey
requirements for terrain modelling, structure spotting and manual
drafting requirements are major cost drivers encountered in traditional
approaches.

This paper outlines an integrated approach taken by the Jamaica Public

Service Company Limited, in the designing of a 67 km, 138kV lattice
structure, transmission line extending from its Spur Tree Substation in
Manchester to Bogue Substation in Montego Bay, St. James.

The approach presented will describe the use of Global Positioning

System (GPS) in route selection, Topographic maps in preparing a
Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the terrain, and the integrated use of
PLS-CADD Software in modelling and producing plan & profile
drawings, material list and construction templates.

This new approach resulted in significant cost savings and increases

designers’ capabilities and productivity.
BACKGROUND

Over the past 15 years, JPSCo has constructed over 250km of new transmission lines
costing approximately US$22M. The cost of engineering and surveying services is
set at about 15-20% of the total direct cost. For the most part, contractors and
consultants did the route surveying and engineering respectively, using primarily
manual methods. The fidelity and completeness of the surveying impacted the
accuracy of designs and procurement of the Right of way (ROW) corridor for the line
route. These in turn were critical to the contract for line construction.

An assessment of the JPSCo Transmission line projects shows that the average life of
a line construction project, from initiation to commissioning was about 48 months for
a 50 km line. The average time for route selection and survey completion was 15-18
months. Designs followed and accounted for 6-8 months. ROW acquisition and
permitting depend on the output from route survey and design and on average took
12-18 months. Construction of the lines was generally done in 12-15 months.

The ROW procurement process is iterative with the surveying and design functions
and it was often necessary to re-survey and redesign sections of the proposed
transmission line due to the unavailability of any section of the selected alignment.
This frequently cause increases in the scope of the erection contract with the
attendant time and cost escalations. Also, the manual design methods limited the
number of design iterations and achieved an average 75-80% efficiency in the use of
the structures. This efficiency is a measure of the average span length of the design
compared to maximum span length capability of the structures. The cost of the line
is directly proportional to the number of structures and thus to the structure
utilization efficiency of the design.

Evaluation of the cost and time performance on the transmission line projects
indicates that there are significant opportunities for reducing the cost and time. The
use of computerized line design optimization applications such as PLS-CADD and
TLCAD improved structure utilization efficiency to 80-90%. However, the benefit of
such design optimization programs was constrained by the line routing, particularly
the number of angles and the narrow surveyed corridor width. JPSCo had also
adopted an approach to line projects implementation that mandated procurement of
the total line ROW before issue of the construction contract. A lower cost solution,
which allowed the designer to quickly evaluate multiple line routes without re-
surveys, combined with a design process which facilitated assessment of real time
designs for many routes and achieved high levels of optimization became our
“Golden Fleece”.
OJECTIVE

In 1998, JPSCo. Chartered a project to construct 140km of transmission lines in

addition to other transmission infrastructure to support a proposed 400 MW
generation expansion plan. It was required that the lines be completed within 2
years from charter. If this was to be achieved, solutions would be required for the
following:

1. Reduce length of survey activity from 18 months to 3 months

2. Reduce design duration to 2 months

3. Reduce ROW procurement time while increasing accuracy of completeness of

Land owner identification and procurement negotiation.

4. Keep cost within the average of US$90,000 per kilometer.

All this was to be achieved within the context of a corporate vision to be a world
class energy service provider utilizing strategies which depended on distinct
competencies in the mission critical processes. The project therefore adopted the
following business goals and approach to guide the implementation.

1. Build internal transmission line implementation capabilities

2. Reduce cost, particularly surveying and engineering.

3. Respond to the impending reduction in number of transmission design engineers

after completion of a voluntary separation (VSER) program.

4. A drive to increase labor productivity by automation and applicable Information

Technology (IT) available.

5. Strategy to reduce the use of 3rd Party consultants in order to achieve 1 & 2.
CONCEPTUAL AND LOGICAL DESIGN OF NEW APPROACH

The methodology considered, envisioned the reduction of total process time from
conception to design and drafting, while enabling concurrent activities that were
otherwise restricted to be feasible. High emphasis was placed on the utilization of IT
in reducing time and cost.

This was to be achieved by integrating existing Geographic Information System

(GIS) technology, Global Positioning System (GPS), and a power line design software
in optimizing the present processes employed by JPSCo. The major areas of focus
were to examine the use of GIS and GPS technology in route selection and
reconnaissance, terrain modelling and the utilization of available transmission line
design software in optimizing the designing process to produce optimal designs and
automated drafting. Figures 1&2 below outline the steps used in modelling the
terrain and organization of the design software respectively.

Contour (1:12, 500), ArcView 3.2

Alignment
Selection of
Corridor (GIS)
Spot heights, Angle
Stations,
3 D Analyst
Spatial Analyst
XYZ
(GPS) Depression, Roads,
Rivers/Streams

Fig. 1

INPUT PROCESSING OUTPUT

3-D Terrain
DEM (XYZ)
Feature Codes Reports
Material
List
Libraries Staking
tables

Design Criteria PLS - Etc.

Loads
Clearances CADD Drawing
s
Plan &
Profile
Structures
Geometry
Strength

Archivin
Cables g
All Properties Line
Management

Future
Modification
s
Fig. 2
Route Selection and Reconnaissance

While the initial route selection was a paper exercise from 1:50,000 scale maps and
aerial photos, GIS maps were used to examined few viable alternate routes, which
later made the original approach redundant.

The route selection process determines the optimal alignment between the two
substations with careful examination of the following, facilitated by GIS:

 Shortest practical distance between substations

 Cost associated with right of way – possibility of using existing right of way
and easements
 Ruggedness of terrain
 Accessibility for construction and maintenance
 Environment constraints
 Available corridor for future expansion or modifications

GIS offers substantial benefits in evaluating the above, especially in the area of
corridor width evaluation. It is normally prohibitive to evaluate more than required
right of way due to high cost associated with traditional surveying methods.

Once few practical routes were selected, field verification of the routes were
conducted. To facilitate this, “Angle Stations” coordinates, were generated from the
GIS. These coordinates were placed in a helicopter onboard GPS unit and an aerial
reconnaissance of the proposed routes conducted. From this initial reconnaissance,
some routes were eliminated and a few angle stations were adjusted and new
coordinates taken.

The new and unaltered coordinates of the preferred routes were loaded into a hand
held GPS instrument (Instrument used was the Trimble Geo Explorer III unit) for
direct field verification.

The navigational technology of the GPS instrument, jointly with 1:12,500 scale maps
from the GIS, enabled a crew of three (3) engineers to locate a total of twenty one
(21) angle stations over 67km within six (6) days through rugged and hostile terrain.

Angle stations were pegged, labeled and foreseen problems identified and properly
documented.

Statutory Approvals

Before any transmission facility can be constructed and connected to the national
grid, approvals must be obtained from various government agencies and
environmental groups, such as The Government Electrical Inspectorate, Works
Agency, Parish Councils, etc.

The early selection of a credible route as outlined above, significantly reduces the
time between project conception and soliciting approvals. This requires adequate
lead time, to allow all relevant bodies, communities and agencies to study the
proposal and provide response in a timely manner.
After the field verification process was completed, new and updated maps were
generated from GIS and submitted to relevant agencies and groups for
consideration.

Simultaneously, the following activities were initiated and monitored concurrently:

 Environmental Impact Studies (EIS) – This was done to examine the

environmental impacts of constructing
and maintaining the transmission facility.
 Public Awareness Campaign – Done to educate the public of the need for such
facility, proposed routing, etc and provide
forums where public concerns could be
documented and addressed.

Surveying and Easement Acquisitions

GPS and GIS played a significant role in the new approach considered. The following
highlights how:

 Cadastral survey: – GPS tools were used to record property boundaries,

access paths, and other important and significant
features associated with private and government owned
properties. This enabled the representation of these
features on easement maps (produced by GIS).

 Pegging of route: – Application of a survey grade GPS instrument for this

process, center line and boundary pegs can be
established without line of sight in a single–pass survey
(facilitated by coordinate differences) “Instrument –
Trimble 4600LS unit”.

 Structure spotting:-- Staking of tower positions in real time with survey

grade GPS instrument “Instrument used – Trimble
4600LS unit”, reduced the time normally taken for this
process considerably.
Terrain Modelling

To allow for detailed positioning of each tower and stringing and sagging of
conductors, an accurate and detailed plan & profile of the route was required.
Traditional methods of terrain modelling are normally costly and in some cases very
time consuming.

Photogrammetric surveying was being considered and evaluated to model the route
to produce topographic maps and a Digital Elevation Model (DEM). During this
evaluation process a new approach was developed jointly with the Department of
Surveying and Land Information, UWI St. Augustine, Trinidad.

The approach used, created a DEM from digitized contours and spot heights, using
ArcViewTM GIS 3.2 Software from ESRI Inc.

Accuracies obtained in horizontal and vertical distances were in the 5m range, which
was adequate for structure spotting and production of plan & profile drawings.

Additional field surveys will only be conducted in a limited way (using GPS survey
grade instrument) primarily at tower locations where accuracies of less than one
meter is required for final tower spotting.

Design & Drafting Process

In order to improve the design process, such that optimal cost effective designs and
automated drafting could be achieved, Power Line Systems transmission line design
software (PLS-CADD) was selected to aid in this process.

This software runs under Microsoft Windows and features an easy to use graphical
user interface. It integrates all aspects of line design into a single program. The
program accepts survey data in both the plan and the profile coordinate systems.
Survey data can be electronically imported from a survey data file (wide range of
survey data formats).

Engineering functions are very flexible and are easily adapted to user defined
standards. PLS-CADD provides several methods for modelling structures, supports
both automatic and manual structure spotting. It features a powerful material
subsystem for cost estimation and material list generation and enabled automatic
generation of plan & profile drawings.

Alteration of a line route is easily accomplished by dragging an angle station with the
mouse or by clicking on locations where an angle station is to be added or deleted.

With the above functionality of PLS–CADD and the modelled terrain, JPSCo engineers
are able to produce complete material list, optimal designs, plan & profile drawings
exclusively in-house for the very first time.

DATA REQUIREMENTS

As an input to the design process, data requirements were broken down into two
sets viz. 3D terrain and engineering specification for PLS-CADD.
3D Terrain

This includes all inputs to the terrain Modelling process. They can be summarized as
follows:

o Topographic maps (1:12,500)

o Contour (12ft & 50ft intervals)
o Spot heights
o Depressions
o Roads
o Rivers/Streams

o IP (angle points)
o Terrain Strip (From GIS system)
o Feature codes

Engineering Specification for PLS-CADD

Engineering specifications are required in three libraries as follows:

 Design Criteria: - Loads and clearances as per JPSCo Standards.

 Structures: - Geometry and strength of each structure to be used.

 Cables:- All electrical and structural properties of shieldwires and

Conductors to be used.

DATA ACQUISITION

Unlike the engineering specific data which was either available from existing
standards or supplied by manufacturers, the data required for Modelling the 3D
terrain were sourced as outlined below.

Trimble GeoExplorer III, GPS instrument was used during field reconnaissance to
obtain the coordinates of all angle stations. These were then post processed and
differentially corrected to obtain sub-meter accuracies. The corrected files were then
exported to ArcView GIS 3.2 software, thereby providing an alignment for the line
route facilitating the DEM creation.

With given alignment, 1:12,500 topographic map sheets and aerial photos, the
following special features were digitally created and DEM developed through the
process of scanning, geo-referencing, and automated vectorization for a 67km by
4km width strip:

 Contour lines
 Spot heights
 Depressions
 Rivers
 Roads
The following suite of software was used:

 ArcView GIS 3.2

 ArcView Spatial Analyst
 ArcView 3D Analyst
 Grid2xyz Avenue script
 Microsoft Access

DATA MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES

Data files are primarily ASCII files. Careful management of these files are
accomplished by the creation of properly documented library of terrain, structure,
cable and design criteria data centrally stored on a network server and backup on
CD’s.

THE RESULTS

The screen shots below illustrate following:

 Stages of the terrain Modelling process
 Sample outputs from the design process
 Material list & construction template.

DEM (Terrain Modelling)

This first screen shot is from ArcView GIS 3.2 and shows the general available
alignment from Bogue to Spur Tree. Nine data sources are featured – settlements,
soils, rivers, roads, watershed boundary, land tenure, national parks and sensitive
sites, and forest reserves.
The next screen shot is also from ArcView 3.2 and shows a Triangulated Irregular
Network (TIN) which was created from the height information provided (Spot
heights, contours, rivers, etc.).
The next screen shot shows how ArcView 3.2 was manipulated to provide for
visual verification of the DEM. Themes were reordered and small areas were
zoomed into to visually verify the changes in the heights against the grid
intervals.
DESIGNS

The DEM created was imported into PLS-CADD and an alignment established via the
angle points recorded from GPS instrument.

The screen shot below is from PLS-CADD and shows a profile view of the terrain
along the established alignment from Bogue to Spur Tree.
The screen shot below is from PLS-CADD and shows section of the profile
view of terrain with conductor and structures in their final positions.
The screen shot below is also from PLS-CADD and shows section of a 3D
profile view of terrain.
The table below is also a screen shot form PLS-CADD showing a material List which
was automatically generated at the end of the design process.
The staking table below is also one of the sample reports/construction templates
generated from PLS-CADD.
The table below outlines our findings when compared with the traditional approach
for a similar project.

Activity Traditional New Approach

Approach
Time US$ Time US$

Route 6 months 0.2M 6 days 0.03M

Selection

Terrain 12 0.6M 3 months 0.2M

Modelling months

Designs 8 months 0.4M 1 week 0.001M

Drafting 3 months 0.08M 0 0.0001M

Conclusion

The normally rigorous manual process of route selection, terrain modelling, design &
drafting used by JPSCo. can now be optimally achieved with some automation via the
use of GPS, GIS and the application of available design software.

Although other methods of establishing 3-dimentional terrain models (total station,

photogrammetry, laser, etc.) are available, the method presented, offers significant
time and cost savings in most areas of the design and drafting process with
acceptable levels of accuracy.

Even in applications where better accuracies are required (terrain Modelling), this
method can be used to develop preliminary line routes with complete plan and profile
drawings from which the following benefits can be derived:

 Early submission to regulatory bodies and other interested groups for

approvals/considerations.
 Preliminary line costing.
 Preliminary material list.

Which provides the necessary lead time required for material and easement procurement,
facilitating the normally strict construction schedules.

Acknowledgement

I wish to acknowledge the contribution of the following persons whom have

contributed to this project from the conception to implementation and also for their
assistance in the preparation of this paper:

Dr. Jacob Opadeyi, Senior Lecturer, Department of Surveying and Land Information,
UWI St. Augustine, Trinidad, for his insight and contribution to the creation of this
method of terrain Modelling also for his assistance in preparing this paper.

Devon Dawson, Senior GIS Analyst, Jamaica Public Service Company Ltd. for his
support in interfacing GIS data with GPS & PLS-CADD.

Harold Nembhard, President Jamaica Institute of Engineers, for providing the vision
and setting of ambitious objectives while he was the Director of Transmission,
Jamaica Public Service Company Ltd. and for his contribution to this paper.

Garth McKenzie, Director of Transmission, Jamaica Public Service Company Ltd. for
leading and guiding the implementation of this new approach and for his contribution
to this paper.