WHY IS THE HIGH VOLTAGE TRANSMISSION LINES

USED?

The best answer to that question is that high-voltage

transmission lines transport energy over long
distances.
much more efficient than low voltage distribution
lines for two main reasons. First, high-voltage
transmission lines take advantage of the Power
equation, that is, the Power is equal to the Voltage
per Current. Therefore, at a high voltage it allows to
decrease the current to transmit the same amount of
Power. Second, since transport losses are a function of
the square of the current flowing in the conductors,
the increase in voltage will drastically reduce
transport losses. In addition, the reduction of the
current allows smaller conductors to be used.

The previous figure shows a three-phase 500 kV

transmission line with two conductors per phase. The
option of two conductors per phase is called grouping.
Electric companies bundle multiple double, triple, or
more conductors - to increase the power transport
capacity of a power line. The type of insulation used in
this line is known as V-string isolation. V-sequence
isolation, compared to I-insulation chain, provides
stability in windy conditions. This line also has two
static wires at the top to protect it-auto from
lightning. Static wires in this case have no insulators; -
Instead, they are connected directly to the metal
towers so that the rays are immediately grounded.
Hopefully this shield will stay with the main power
conductors to experience a direct lightning discharge.

The increase in voltage to reduce the current

Increasing the voltage to reduce the current reduces

the size of the conductor and increases the insulation
requirements. Let's take a look at the power equation
again:

Power = Voltage x Current

Voltage In × current In = Output voltage × current Exit

From the power equation above, the increase in
voltage means that the current can be reduced by the
same amount of energy. The purpose of elevator
transformers in power plants, for example, is to
increase the voltage to reduce the supply current for
long-distance transport. Then, at the receiving end of
the transmission line, reducing transformers are used
to reduce the voltage for easier distribution.

For example, the amount of current required to

transport 100 MW of power at 230 kV is half the
amount of current required to transport 100 MW of
power at 115 kV. In other words, doubling the tension
cuts any required in half.

Higher voltage transmission lines require larger

structures with longer insulator chains in order to
have larger air spaces and the necessary insula- tion.
However, it is generally much cheaper to build larger
structures and wider right-of-way for high voltage
transmission lines than it is to pay for the continuous
cost of high losses associated with low voltage power
lines. In addition, for the transport of a given amount
of energy from point "a" to point "b", a line of higher
voltage may require much less land right on the way
to multiple low voltage lines that are side by side.

The increase in tension to reduce losses

The cost due to losses decreases dramatically when

the current drops. The energy losses in the conductors
are calculated by the formula I 2 R. If the current (I)
doubles, the power losses are quadrupled for the
same type of conductor with a resistance (R). Again, it
is much more cost effective to transport large
amounts of electric power over long distances using
high voltage transmission lines since the current is
lower and the losses are much smaller.