New technologies for transmission line uprating

Abstract

New technologies and methods have been applied to a 230 kV transmission line uprating project. Significant savings have been documented in field investigation efforts, data collection, design time, line outages and construction costs. Advancements in software and data collection instruments have been combined with innovative line engineering to improve the accuracy and reduce the costs of uprating projects. Laser surveying, span-by-span resagging and conductor temperature measurements have been combined to increase the ampacity rating by 30%, at a fraction of the cost of traditional uprating.