Abstract
IN a progress report by C. F. Bolton and R. H. Abell on the transmission and distribution of electricity (J. Inst. Elec. Eng., April) there are several points of special interest. The British Grid uses a pressure of 132 kilovolts, but there is a large number of systems operating at 220 kv. in different parts of the world. In Sweden a hydro-electric power station operates over 200 miles at 220 kv. In France there is a line at this pressure which brings hydro-electric power to Paris. Great activity has been shown in electric development in Russia, and the Dnieper system operates at the same pressure. The Boulder Dam project on the Colorado River represents one of the outstanding engineering achievements of recent years. A part of the energy developed, 1.3 million kilowatts, will be transmitted 266 miles to Los Angeles by a 287 -5 kv. transmission line. German engineers have constructed several of their 220 kv. lines so that they can be converted ultimately to work at 380 kv. A scheme using a transmission voltage of 400 kv. has been proposed for the establishment of a large water-power station in Norway for supplying power to Sweden, Denmark and Germany. The main transmission system is to be some 650 miles in length. It terminates at Hamburg, and will have intermediate stations at Goteborg and Copenhagen. The generating plant will have a capacity of nearly a million kilowatts (1.34 million horse-power). The British Grid scheme is now completed, and through it, the considerable water-power sources now available in Scotland are being exploited. The problem of ‘system stability’ arises when large blocks of power are transmitted over long distances. In Great Britain it is not of special significance.
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Transmission and Distribution of Electricity. Nature 138, 109 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/138109b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/138109b0