A COMPARISON OF ALTERNATIVES TO ENHANCE THE UTILIZATION OF TRANSMISSION-LINES

While the growing environmental concerns and other economic and regula tory factors make it very difficult for utilities to build new transmi ssion lines, the need for new transmission facilities is compounded by the trend to deregulate the electric power industry. The need to buil d new lines may be lessened if existing transmission lines can be more effectively utilized. The objective of this paper is to provide a com parison of various alternatives that can enhance the utilization of tr ansmission lines. The major constraints that limit real power transfer are identified and various ways to overcome one or more of these cons traints constitute the various alternatives to improve the power and e nergy transfer capabilities of transmission lines. An evaluation frame work has been developed to provide a quantitative comparison of variou s alternatives. The results demonstrate that utilization of transmissi on lines can be significantly enhanced by several alternatives. The be st alternative in each performance category and the best alternative f rom the viewpoint of overall performance are presented. (C) 1997 Elsev ier Science S.A.