How to repair a 230KV, 10 mile long coaxial power cable | Hacker News Reader

How to repair a 230KV, 10 mile long coaxial power cable

jwz.livejournal.com

28 pointsmhb12 comments

Take a look at this brochure of some of these types of cables: http://www.taihan.com/customer/pdf_down.asp?file=Oil-filled....

Amazing feat of engineering!

I had no idea that brochures were made for these types of things. Who is the target reader?

Electrical engineers mainly. I don't typically deal with cables at these voltages, but I've had to purchase subsea cables at 33kV and all the manufacturers tend to have these glossy brochures. Oil-filled cable manufacturers wouldn't be any different.

I guess you can make a killing these days selling high-voltage cables in emerging markets. They have to build their infrastructure, don't they?

People who make decisions on how to wire grids. Private companies in US. Governments in other countries.

Also check out http://www.ccbda.org/publications/pub21e/21e-Section6.html#A... for a shorter overview

Kinda makes you wonder if it was worth burying it in the first place. Above-ground lines may be ugly, but they don't require chemists and mechanical engineers to repair....

You can't have above-ground lines for such a high-power line.

You couldn't be less correct. 230KV is actually a low-voltage transmission line in the utility world. My father works for a regional utility in the northeast, and I know that their above-ground lines start at 350KV, and go as high as 750KV. Larger distribution networks may go higher.

But hey...why believe me, when two seconds of Googling will provide the facts:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_power_transmission

"Due to the large amount of power involved, transmission normally takes place at high voltage (110 kV or above). Electricity is usually transmitted over long distance through overhead power transmission lines. Underground power transmission is used only in densely populated areas due to its high cost of installation and maintenance, and because the high reactive power produces large charging currents and difficulties in voltage management."

I'm talking about power and not about voltage; the diameter of a conductor is mostly defined according to the current (hence, power) it will carry through (we're talking about a 300 MW line, at peak time). You simply can't have conductors as large as trunks in the air.

Amazing feat of engineering; really puts into perspective the problems associated with supplying large amounts of power to densely packed areas.

Bonus points are awarded for suggesting that the 'Akira' be introduced as a unit of measurement for this kind of power.

Back in the day reddit had this post. I wonder what they are doing right now. (But I do not care to look.)

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