Design Considerations of Uprating 132 kV D/C line to 400 kV S/C line for Enhancing Power Transfer Capacity

Electricity demand has been increasing at a rapid rate, being this increase specially accelerated in the last decade. In order to meet the demand for electricity, generation capacity is being increased a faster pace; however, transmission capacity is not being upgraded to match the increase in generation and to transfer bulk power due to technical, economical and environmental concerns. The major difficulty in developing and populated countries is to find new corridors to construct overhead lines as it is not easy to obtain the right of way for new transmission lines, and in many cases it is simply impossible. Thus, there is a need to examine the alternatives available for transfer of bulk power. In this regard, uprating the capacity of the existing transmission lines can be efficient, economical and environment friendly to a certain extent. In this paper, it is proposed to study the possibilities for uprating a 132 kV transmission line to 400 kV to increase the transmission capacity so that additional power can be transmitted within the existing right of way.