Economics

of Power
Transmissio
 Economics of Power
Transmission
While designing any scheme of power transmission,
the engineer must have before him the commercial
aspect of the work entrusted to him. He must design
the various parts of transmission scheme in a way
that maximum economy is achieved. Two
fundamental economic principles which closely
influence the electrical design of a transmission will
be discussed in this lecture.
 Economic choice of Conductor size.
 Economic choice of transmission voltage.
Selection of
Conductors
(Kelvin’s Law)
Selection of Conductors
There are several factors in designing a
line. Economy is also one of the
consideration which is taken into account
to select a conductor for the line. The cost
of conductor material is a substantial part
of the total line cost. It is, therefore,
necessary to choose economic size of
conductor. A design is considered to be
the most efficient if the total annual cost is
a minimum.
 Selection of Conductors
The total annual cost consists of two parts:
a) The fixed standing charges, and
b) the running charges
The fixed charges consists of the interest on capital
cost of the conductor, the allowance for depreciation,
and the maintenance cost. The running charges consist
of cost of electrical energy wasted due to losses during
operation. But the capital cost and cost of energy
wasted in the line are governed by the size of
conductor. A bigger size would be more costly, but due
to its lesser resistance the cost of energy
corresponding to I2R will be smaller.
Selection of Conductors
On the other hand, if a smaller size
of conductor is selected it will be
cheaper, but its greater resistance
will increase the cost of energy
loss, and, therefore, the running
charges.
 Kelvin’s Law
The cross section of a conductor is selected
according to heating limits rather than voltage, as
voltage drop in a feeder can be compensated using
devices like shunt capacitors or boosters. Kelvin’s
law gives the cross section of a feeder conductor,
based on an economic balance between expenditure
on structure (capital cost) and expenditure on
operation (running cost).
 Kelvin’s Law
The cost of the conductor and therefore, the
standing charges, namely, the interest and
depreciation on initial investment will be directly
proportional to the area of cross-section of the
conductor. The cost of energy loss will be
inversely proportional to the conductor section.
 Kelvin’s Law
Mathematically, they can be written
as:
C1 ∝a
C1 = k1a
 Kelvin’s Law
and annual cost of energy
dissipated in the line

C2 ∝ 1 / a
k2
C2 =
a
 Kelvin’s Law
Where K1 and K2 are constant and ‘a’ represent the
area of cross section of conductor. The total amount
may therefore, be given, by

k2
C = C1 + C2 = k1a +
a
 Kelvin’s Law
For an economical design there will be one size
of conductor at which the total cost is a
minimum. For the most economical cross section,
the total annual cost is differential with respect
to the cross section and result is equated to zero

dC
=0
da
 Kelvin’s Law
d  k2 
 k1a +  = 0
da  a
k2 k2
k1 − 2 = 0 : k1a =
i.e
a a
k2
C1 = C2 and a=
k1
 Kelvin’s Law
Hence the most economical cross-
sectional area of the conductor is
that which makes the annual cost
of energy loss equal to the annual
interest and depreciation on the
capital cost of the material.
 Limitations of Kelvin’s Law
 Interest and depreciation of on the capital outlay
cannot be calculated correctly.
 The law does not take into account other important
factors like current density, corona, losses etc.
 The calculation from this formula gives such a small
cross section of the cable that it may cause too much
voltage drop and corona losses.
 The kelvin’s law gives high current density, which
cause excess heating.
 It is difficult to calculate energy losses in the line,
without the load curve which is not available.
 Modified Kelvin’s Law
In our previous discussion we have not
considered the cost of poles or towers,
insulators, erection etc. in an overhead
line. Similarly, for an underground cable
no account has been taken of the cost of
the cable insulation and its laying. In
practice its not true. As the size of
conductor increases mechanical stress are
increased. More strong towers and
insulators are required. The cost of labour
for erection also increases.
 Modified Kelvin’s Law
To achieve a close approximation to the true
conditions G. Kapp assumed that the initial
investment on the complete installation of the
line may be divided into two parts namely,
a. one part which is independent of conductor
size, and
b. the other part which is directly proportional
to the conductor section.
 Modified Kelvin’s Law
The initial investment ma therefore be written as

Where k o
’
C '
1 = k o +k a
' '
1
is a constant and represent the part of the
capital investment which is independent of the
conductor size.
If x be the rate of annual interest and depreciation
per unit, the annual cost of the line

C1 = (k o + k a ) x
' '
1
 Modified Kelvin’s Law
the annual cost of power loss

k2
C2 =
a
the total annual cost

k2
C = C1 + C2 = (k o + k a) x + ' '
1
a
 Modified Kelvin’s Law
For the cost to be a minimum

dC
=0
da
k2
k x− 2 =0
'
1
a
 Modified Kelvin’s Law
k2
= k 1 xa
'

a
and

k2
a= '
xk 1
 Modified Kelvin’s Law
Hence the most economical cross section is
that for which the annual cost of energy loss
is equal to the annual cost of interest and
depreciation on that part of initial
investment of the line which is proportional
to the conductor area. This is the
modification of Kelvin’s Law.
 Kelvin’s Law
Kelvin’s law can be stated as;
“ The most economical cross-
sectional area of the conductor is
the area for which the variable part
of annual charges is equal to annual
cost of the energy wasted”
Graphical representation
Kelvin’s law can be illustrated graphically as shown the figure.
The annual cost C1 of the conductor is directly proportional to
its cross section. It can, therefore, be represented by a straight
line passing through the origin. The variation of cost C2
of energy wasted with the conductor size is represented by
rectangular hyperbola. The total cost C for any conductor
section is the sum of the two components costs, C1 and C2 for
that cross section. The sum curve is represented by C.
Graphical representation
The lower point p on the total cost curve gives
the most economical area corresponding to the
point of intersection of the two components cost
curve C1 and C2 .At the point of intersection the
two components costs are equal. The most
economical area is ‘om’ and minimum cost is
‘mp’ in the figure shown.
Graphical representation
 Selection of Transmission
Voltage
As we know that if transmission voltage is increased,
the volume of conductor material required is
reduced. This decrease the expenditure on the
conductor material. It may be appear advisable to
use the highest possible transmission voltage in
order to reduce the expenditure on conductors to a
minimum. However it may be remembered that as
the transmission voltage is increased, the cost of
insulating the conductors, cost of transformers,
switchgear and other terminal apparatus also
increases.
Selection of Transmission
Voltage
(cont…)
Therefore, for any transmission
line, there is optimum transmission
voltage for which the cost of
conductors, cost of insulators,
transformers, switch gear and
other terminal apparatus is
minimum is called economical
transmission voltage.
 Methods of Finding
economical Transmission
Voltage
Method 1: (Now rarely used)
In this method power to be
transmitted, generation voltage,
and length of transmission are
assumed to be known. We choose
some standard transmission
voltages and work out the
following cost:
 Methods of Finding
economical Transmission
Voltage (Cont…)
a) Transformers, at the generating and receiving
ends of transmission line. For a given power
this cost increases slowly with the increase in
transmission voltage.
b) Switchgear. This cost also increases with the
increases in transmission voltage.
c) Lightning Arrestor. This cost increases rapidly
with increase in transmission voltage.
d) Insulation and support. This cost increases
sharply with the increase in transmission
voltage.
e) Conductor. This cost decreases with increase
in transmission voltage.
 Methods of Finding
economical Transmission
Voltage (Cont…)
The sum of all above costs gives the total
cost of transmission for the voltage
considered. Similar calculations are made
for other transmission. Then, a curve is
drawn for total cost of transmission
against voltage as shown. The lowest point
(P) on the curve gives the economical
transmission voltage. This method is rarely
used due to low degree of accuracy.
 Methods of Finding
economical Transmission
Voltage (Cont…)
 Methods of Finding
economical Transmission
Voltage (Cont…)
Method 2:
The present day trend is to follow
certain empirical formulae for
finding the economical
transmission voltage. Thus,
according to American practice,
the economic voltage 3P between
V = 5.5 0.62l +
lines in a 3-phase150 a.c system is
 Methods of Finding
economical Transmission
Voltage (Cont…)
V = Line Voltage in kV
P = Maximum kW per phase to be delivered
to single circuit
l = distance of transmission line in km
It may be noted here that in the above
formula, power to be transmitted and
distance of transmission line have been
taken into account. It is because both these
factors influence the economics voltage of a
transmission line.
Thank You