CORONA PERFORMANCE OF A COMPACT 230-KV LINE
(1995)Abstract
Permitting requirements and the acquisition of new
rights-of-way for transmission facilities has in recent years become
increasingly difricult for most utilities, including Puget
Sound Power and Light Company. In order to maintain a
high degree of reliability of service while being responsive to
public concerns regarding the siting of high voltage (HV)
transmission facilities, Puget Power has found it necessary to
more heavi!y rely upon the use of compact lines in franchise
corridors. Compaction does, however, precipitate increased
levels of audible noise (AN) and radio and TV interference (RI
and TVI) due to corona on the conductors and insulator assemblies.
Puget Power relies upon the Bonneville Power Ad·
ministration (BPA) Corona and Field Effects computer program
to calculate AN and RI for new lines. Since there was
some question of the program's ability to accurately represent
quiet 230-kV compact designs, a joint project was undertaken
with BPA to verify the program's algorithms. Long-term
measurements made on an operating Puget Power 230-kV
compact line confirmed the accuracy of BPA's AN model;
however, the RI measurements were much lower than predicted
by the BPA and other programs. This paper also describes
how the BPA computer program can be used to calculate
the voltage needed to expose insulator assemblies to the
correct electric field in single test setups in HV laboratories.
