IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - March/April 2020 - 16

guest editorial

Sundar Venkataraman, Jim Feltes, and Rafael de Sá Ferreira

transmission systems
applications of innovative technologies

T

THE FIRST TRANSMISSION LINE
was put into service in 1889, just a few
years after the first gas-powered automobiles were developed. While transmission systems are a mature technology,
innovation has not slowed. Just as today's
automobiles have little in common with
those first ones, except for the most basic
ideas of an engine and four wheels, today's transmission systems employ technologies well beyond the imaginations of
early electrical pioneers.
Transmission systems cover vast geographic areas and supply essential services to power industries, raising people's
standard of living worldwide. The articles
in this issue of IEEE Power & Energy
Magazine describe the efforts underway in
the United States, Europe, Asia, and South
America to improve operations and system
reliability, especially with the transition
from a fossil-fueled, centralized power
grid to one that employs variable energy
resources such as wind and solar generation and battery energy storage systems
(ESSs). This issue describes applications
of innovative technologies that address
high levels of variable generation, overcome the difficulties of building new lines
by maximizing the use of existing infrastructure, utilize sensors to improve maintenance practices, and rely on advanced
controls to optimize system operation.

In This Issue
The first article, by Bruce Fardanesh,
Adam Shapiro, Philip Saglimbene, Ricardo DaSilva, George Stefopoulos, and
Ahad Esmaeilian, provides a vivid picture of the transformation that the New
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPE.2019.2959284
Date of current version: 19 February 2020

16	

ieee power & energy magazine	

York Power Authority (NYPA) transmission system is undergoing. The authors
discuss how NYPA is deploying innovative technologies, such as advanced
sensors, high-speed communication
systems, monitoring systems, and digital
control schemes, that could increase situational awareness as well as operational
effectiveness, efficiency, and the reliability of assets. The authors identify five
fundamental steps that NYPA is pursuing, which any utility could also utilize to
make its grid smarter. The steps are
1)	 deploying a robust, secure, and
scalable communications network
2)	 installing sensors and other intelligent electronic devices across the
grid to collect system and equipment sensory data
3)	 enhancing grid-control devices
4)	 using analytics, computational algorithms, and simulation for asset
performance optimization
5)	 ensuring the secure deployment of
the previous steps.
The authors describe implementing
innovative technologies, such as digital
substations; phasor measurement units;
smart sensors; and the integrated smart
operation center, a cutting-edge comprehensive central monitoring center
that uses predictive analytics software to
forecast and prevent equipment failures
and significant power system components outages. The authors also discuss
a simulation and testing facility that can
accelerate the commercialization of new
equipment and technologies and also enable real-time simulations of the state's
electrical grid.
In the second article, Carlos Kleber
Arruda, Luís Adriano M.C. Domingues,

Arthur Linhares Esteves dos Reis,
Farith Mustafa Absi Salas, and João
Clavio Salari discuss Brazil's experience
with new transmission technologies including high-surge impedance loading
lines and dynamic line rating (DLR) devices to improve the performance of new
and existing transmission lines. The authors present Brazil's experience with an
expanded bundle technology, which increases the transmission bundle size for
each phase with an associated boost in
transfer capability. The DLRs represent
another approach that has been widely
adopted to increase the power transfer
capabilities of shorter lines. The authors
cite an example that combines the modeling, analysis, and real-time monitoring
of line conductors and ambient conditions to increase the rating of an existing
transmission line connected to a wind
farm. They also provide an overview of
research conducted by Brazil's Center for
Energy Research in the electromagnetic
and thermal behaviors of conductors.
The third article, by Bruno Meyer,
Jean-Yves Astic, Pierre Meyer, FrançoisXavier Sardou, Christian Poumarede,
Nicolas Couturier, Mathieu Fontaine,
Christian Lemaitre, Jean Maeght, and
Clémentine Straub, discusses the latest
advances in power transmission technologies at RTE, the French transmission
system operator. The article describes
case studies of a dynamic line-rating application and an interesting pilot project
that integrates optical fibers with power
cables to provide a real-time thermal rating of underground cables. The authors
also discuss applying distributed flexible
ac transmission devices that increase the
impedance of a transmission link, which
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IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - March/April 2020

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