Power Loss Evaluations for Long Distance Transmission Lines

Abstract

Long distance power transfer is a major problem for renewable energy sources located far away from the major load centres. This issue in particular is more pronounced for the prospective geothermal power plants in Australia. This problem involves analysing the cost of investment and operation and types of interconnection used for transmitting the bulk power from a remote area to a major load centre. As the level of power transfer and the transmission distance increases, the power loss of the transmission line tends to increase. For these reasons, it is essential to carefully analyse the impact of interconnection on the total loss of a power system, subject to changes in operating conditions and varying transmission distances. The typical approach for very long transmission lines is to use high voltage (HV) based on either DC or AC. In theory, the HVAC line has higher resistance and reactance, therefore, it has a high loss in the line compared to the HVDC option. On the other hand, the HVDC scheme has a significant proportion of loss in its converter/inverter stations. Up to a certain distance called the