LECTURE 6

Introduction
• In AC power systems, a transmission line carries a time varying voltage
different in each phase. This causes the changes in charges stored on
conductors.

• Changing charges produce a changing current, which will increase the

current through the transmission line and affect the power factor and voltage
drop of the line.

• Line capacitance (C) and conductance (G) form the shunt admittance (Y).

• The line capacitance supplies reactive power to the system.

• G usually is neglected because its contribution to Y is very small.

• G is also very variable and difficult to determine e.g. leakage at insulators

changes with atmospheric conditions, properties of the dirt that collects at the
insulators; corona also varies with atmospheric conditions. 2
 Introduction
• Capacitance is due to the potential difference between current carrying
conductors which charges them like the plates of a capacitor.

• Capacitance is the charge per unit of potential difference.

• Line capacitance depends on the size and spacing of the conductors.

• An AC voltage causes the charge on the conductors to increase and

decrease as the voltage alternates.

• The current caused by this charging and discharging of a line due to an

alternating voltage is called the charging current of a line.

• Charging current is independent of the load and flows even at no load

to supply the charge on the conductors.

• It depends on the line capacitance, the applied voltage and the

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frequency.
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Capacitance of symmetrically spaced 3-phase line
• Thus, applying (1) to the 3-wire line gives:

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• The greater the spacing between the phases of a transmission line, the
lower the capacitance of the line. Since the phases of a high-voltage
overhead transmission line must be spaced further apart to ensure proper
insulation, a high-voltage line will have a lower capacitance than a low-
voltage line. Since the spacing between lines in buried cables is very small,
shunt capacitance of cables is much larger than the capacitance of overhead
lines. Cable line are normally used for short transmission lines (to min
capacitance) in urban areas.

• The greater the radius of the conductors in a transmission line, the higher
the capacitance of the line. Therefore, bundling increases the capacitance.
Good transmission line is a compromise among the requirements for low
series inductance, low shunt capacitance, and a large enough separation to
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provide insulation between the phases.
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 Practice Question
 A single-circuit 3-phase transmission line operated at 60 Hz is arranged as
shown in Fig. 8. The conductors are ACSR with an external diameter of 2.8
cm. Find the capacitance and capacitive reactance for 1 km length of the
line. If the total length of the line is 280 km and the normal operating
voltage is 220 kV, find the capacitive reactance to neutral for the entire
length of the line, the charging current per km, and the total charging MVAr

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Solution

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 Practice Question
 A three phase 50 Hz transmission line has twin conductors as shown in Fig. 9 with
horizontal spacing of 6 m. Each sub-conductor of the bundle has a diameter of 25
mm and spacing between the sub-conductors is 0.3m. Each phase group shares the
total load current and charge equally. The line is completely transposed.

 a) Determine the capacitance to neutral and the capacitive reactance to neutral per
kilometer of the line.

 b) If the sub-conductors of each phase are replaced by single conductors, calculate

the percentage increase in capacitance due to bundling. Assume the cross-sectional
area of each single conductor is equal to the total area of the two sub-conductors of a
phase.

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Solution

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 Important Terms

• Voltage regulation: When a transmission line is carrying current, there

is a voltage drop in the line due to resistance and inductance of the line.
The result is that receiving end voltage (VR) of the line is generally less
than the sending end voltage (VS). This voltage drop (VS −VR) in the
line is expressed as a percentage of receiving end voltage VR and is
called voltage regulation.

• The difference in voltage at the receiving end of a transmission line

between conditions of no load and full load is called voltage regulation
and is expressed as a percentage of the receiving end voltage.

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• Transmission efficiency: The power obtained at the receiving
end of a transmission line is generally less than the sending
end power due to losses in the line resistance.

• The ratio of receiving end power to the sending end power of

a transmission line is known as the transmission efficiency of
the line i.e.

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 Voltage regulation of a Short Transmission Line

 For the phasor diagrams of Fig. 2, the receiving-end voltage is the

same for the three cases.

 The sending-end voltage and hence voltage regulation is highest

when load p.f. is lagging and lowest for leading p.f. to maintain a
given receiving-end voltage.

 The voltage drop in the series impedance is the same in all cases.

 These relationships between p.f. and VR also hold for longer lines.

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 Effect of Load p.f. on Regulation and Efficiency

i. When the load p.f. is lagging or unity or such leading that IR cos ϕR > IXL sin ϕR , then
voltage regulation is positive i.e., receiving end voltage VR will be less than the sending
end voltage VS.
ii. For a given VR and I, the voltage regulation of the line increases with the decrease in p.f.
for lagging loads.
iii. When the load p.f. is leading to this extent that IXL sin ϕR > IR cos ϕR , then voltage
regulation is negative i.e. the receiving end voltage VR is more than the sending end
voltage VS.
iv. For a given VR and I, the voltage regulation of the line decreases with the decrease in p.f.
for leading loads.

Effect on transmission efficiency. The power delivered to the load depends upon the power
factor

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 Practice Question
1. Qn. 1: A 10 km long star connected three phase line delivers 5 MW at 11 kV, 50
Hz, 0.8 power factor lagging. The power loss in the line is 10% of the power
delivered. The line conductors are made of hard drawn copper (ρ = 1.7774 x 10-6
Ω-cm) and are situated at the corners of an equilateral triangle of 2 m side.
Determine the voltage and power factor at the sending-end.
2. Qn. 2: A single-phase 50 Hz generator supplies an inductive load of 5MW at a
power factor of 0.707 lagging by means of an over head transmission line 20 km
long. The line resistance and inductance are 0.0195 Ω and 0.63 mH per km. The
voltage at the receiving-end is required to be kept constant at 10 kV. Find:
a) the sending-end voltage and voltage regulation of the line;
b) the value of the capacitors to be placed in parallel with the load such that the
regulation is reduced to 50% of that obtained in part (a); and
c) compare the transmission efficiency in parts (a) and (b).
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Solution Qn. 1.

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 Practice Question

• Qn. 3: A 3-phase 50 Hz transmission line has conductors of section 90

mm2 and effective diameter of 1 cm and are placed at the vertices of an
equilateral triangle of side 1 metre. The line is 20 km long and delivers
a load of 10 MW at 33 kV and p.f. 0.8. Neglect capacitance and
assume temperature of 20oC. Determine the efficiency and regulation
of the line.

• Qn. 4: Determine the voltage at the generating station and the

efficiency of transmission for the following single-phase system:

Transformer ratio 2 kV/11 kV. The resistance on L.V. side = 0.04 Ω and H.V.
side 1.3Ω. Reactance on L.V. and H.V. side is 0.125 Ω and 4.5 Ω. 32
Solution Qn.3

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Solution Qn. 4

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 Medium Length Transmission Line
 It has been mentioned previously that transmission lines with lengths between
80 km and 160 km are categorized as medium length lines where the parameters
are assumed to be lumped.

 As the length of the line increase, the line charging current becomes appreciable
and the shunt capacitance must be considered.

 The ABCD parameters of a medium length transmission line is calculated using

a lumped shunt admittance, along with the lumped impedance in series to the
circuit.

 The shunt capacitance is either assumed to be concentrated at the middle of the

line or half of the total capacitance is concentrated at each end of the line.

 The two configurations are known as nominal-T and nominal-π respectively.

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 Nominal-T Representation
 The medium length transmission line may also be represented by the T-circuit
where all the shunt admittance is lumped up and the series impedance divided
equally between the two series arms as shown in Fig. (a)

 For the nominal-T circuit, the following circuit equations can be written:

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 Nominal π Circuit
 The total shunt capacitance is lumped up for the whole length of the line
and then half of it is located at each end of the line as shown in Fig. (b).

 In this method the total line capacitance is divided into two equal parts
which are lumped at the sending- and receiving-ends resulting in the
nominal-π representation as shown in Fig. (b).

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 Practice Questions
 Qn.1: Determine the efficiency and regulation of a 3-phase, 100 km, 50 Hz
transmission line delivering 20 MW at a p.f. of 0.8 lagging and 66 kV to a
balanced load. The conductors are of copper, each having resistance 0.1
ohm per km, 1.5 cm outside dia, spaced equilaterally 2 metres between
centres. Neglect leakages and use (i) nominal-T, and (ii) nominalπ method.

 Qn. 2: A 140 km long three phase, 50 Hz transmission line delivers 36 MW

at 60 kV (phase), 0.8 power factor lagging. The line constants per conductor
are; R = 2.5Ω, L = 0.1 H, C = 0.25 µF. Shunt leakage may be neglected.
Determine the voltage, current, power factor, active and reactive powers at
the sending-end. Also, determine the efficiency and regulation of the line.
Use (a) nominal-T method (b) nominal-π method.

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