Transmission System Operations

Review of Fundamentals The objective of this course, the first in the series on transmission system operation, is to review relevant fundamentals of electricity to provide a firm foundation on which to build an understanding of the more advanced concepts which will be presented as the program progresses.

On completion of this course, the participant should be able to understand the following concepts and apply them in day-to-day operation:

• To provide unbiased control of system operation
• The establishment of Independent System Operators (ISOs) or other similar entities
• The tasks of the system operations group; controlling the transmission system
• Frequency control of the power system through matching of power production and consumer demand plus losses
• Load impedance and its effect on current flow through transmission lines
• The effect of conductor resistance in a transmission line, i.e. voltage drop and energy loss due to heat dissipation
• The effect of line voltage on system energy losses
• The difference between power and energy, i.e. watts versus watt-hours
• Typical power generator prime movers
• Fundamentals of electric power generation
• The sine wave and RMS values
• Factors that determine frequency of generation
• The effect of pure resistance in an AC circuit as shown by sine waves and vector diagrams
• The effect of pure inductive reactance and capacitive reactance in an AC circuit
• Power generated in resistive, inductive, and capacitive circuits
• The flow of reactive power, positive and/or negative vars
• The power triangle and power factor
• Combined R, XL, and Xc circuits
• The impedance triangle and voltage triangle
• Power factor correction
• The effect of transmission line inductance on voltage drop
• The development of a power angle across a transmission line due to line inductance
• Three phase power generation
• The application of a common neutral conductor
• A balanced three phase load with no neutral conductor
• Voltage and current characteristics of the Wye and delta connections
• The calculation of three-phase power
• Current and voltage relationships between primary and secondary of a Delta/Wye connected transformer