Evaluation of Precipitation Rate Impacts on Overhead Transmission Line Ampacity

The worldwide fast pace at which wind power generation technology and its drive train is growing has increased the demand for wind farm connection into the power grid. The UK target of increasing wind energy contribution coupled with the excellent wind profile has led to growing demand for distribution and transmission connection points. The main obstacle hindering large scale of integration of the wind energy is the thermal capacity limits of the existing transmission lines infra structure. Thermal capacity computation techniques are based on heat balance equation stipulated in IEEE 738. This paper analyses the heat balance equation and proposes the addition of new variable to the set of heat balance equations, discusses the economic aspects of dynamic line ratings. The main objective of this paper is to mathematically integrate the effect of precipitation rate into the heat balance equation, based on empirical study conducted.