Chapter 1

Project Background
The Project
This project is all about the design of transmission lines connecting two substations in Luzon, Philippines
which are Guagua Substation located at Pampanga and BF Resort Village Substation of Las Pias. Elevation
from one point to another is very much important to consider in this design for the computation that needs
the height of each tower. Each design has different elevation levels. Each design also has different route and
path for connecting the said substations. The project will be focusing on sag and stress computation that will
be a factor in getting string efficiency and power transfer efficiency. The substation in Pampanga will have
an active power of 50 MVA and a power factor of 0.9 while the substation in Las Pias will have a 70 MVA
active power and a power factor of 0.85. Design 1 has come up to have a total distance of 81 kilometers,
Design 2 has 109 kilometers, then Design 3 has 79 kilometers, and Design 4 has 70 kilometers. Each design
has different length of distance depending on how they did the mapping for the path where transmission lines
and towers would pass.

Objectives
All designers have one specific objective: To design the interconnecting transmission lines between the
provinces of Pampanga and Las Pias City. Moreover, each designer also aims to design a transmission line
that can transfer a power of 70 MVA with 0.85 lagging power factor from Las Pias-Zapote substation to
Pampanga Electric Coop II substation and to design a transmission line that can transfer a power of 50 MVA
with 0.90 lagging power factor from Las Pias-Zapote substation to Pampanga Electric Coop II substation.
Designers really wanted to aim for a reliable transmission design.

The Client
Three designers have the same clients. These two are Pampanga Electric Coop II (PELCO) and MERALCO
Las Pias.

Scope and Limitation

All designs focused on the interconnection of transmission line in the provinces in Pampanga and Las Pias
City. The project involves the electrical calculations of the transmission where a load supply is set and the
parameters should be at least meet at the end of all the analysis or exceed it. Such parameters are at least
85% efficiency, maximum voltage regulation of 5%, and also string efficiency of 70%. Furthermore, the project
is to be made more than the usual protections for further electrical security. The project should resist the
effect of abnormal condition of the environment that may occur on the location of transmission lines by
increasing the safety factor due to the danger that may cause damage to the transmission lines, towers and
end-users.
The limitation of this project will only focus to Electrical Engineering works and services. This project will use
the Philippine Electrical Code (PEC) to comply with the requirements and standards. The proposed
transmission system design will focus mainly on the following: conceptualizing the supply system or
framework of transmission lines with the given inputs, using overhead transmission lines for the power
transfer, determining electrical parameters like voltage drops, voltage regulation, line losses and efficiency
of the system as well as sending and receiving parameters of the lines, applying principles of sag and tension
analysis in designing and choosing appropriate conductors, transmission towers and support systems,
calculating spaces and clearances in compliance to standards, and determining appropriate grounding and
insulating systems for reliability and safety purposes resulting to efficient transmission of electrical power.
This project will not include any works and services related to civil, mechanical, architectural, sanitary,
structural, and electronics engineering.
Significance of the Project
Each design has different point of views when it comes to how significant the project it is for them.
Interconnecting transmission lines will promote service of supplying electricity in both provinces.
Interconnected transmission lines promote improved reliability and economy. Interconnections grant upper
hand expenditures that cooperatives attain because of its size, amount or operation scale. It is granting the
electricity to be bought from substantial and adequate sources. Cooperatives can get power from different
sources from different regions to have a continuous supply of electricity and spread out the loads. In case,
one locality may be generating low-priced hydro power in an event of immense water seasons but below
water seasons, other locality may be generating low-priced power in wind, granting both localities to approach
low-priced energy sources through one another at the divergent times of the year. This project will benefit
both of the provinces and will promote service between the electric cooperatives of Pampanga Electric Coop
II (PELCO) and MERALCO Las Pias. The cooperatives can obtain power between regions and different
sources, compromising the reliability of the whole system, providing sustainable amounts of power supply
and electricity that can be distributed in different areas of load. Interconnecting the utilities will enable the
assistance of both regions aiding to cultivate a complete system frequency which will then regulate link
transfers between localities.

Project Development
The designers had an almost the same way on how they conducted their projected. The development of this
design starts with the gathering of data. The gathered data will be vital in this part because, those data will
determine the output of the design of transmission line. And then, the geographical study of Luzon is
conducted by using Google Earth pro, to know the elevation of the pathway that will interconnect the two
substations. The elevation of the pathway has a great factor in computing the sag and stress of transmission
line. Since wind pressure also contributes to the total weight of the conductor, a wind / weather study has
been done to the provinces/places that will be affected for the construction of the transmission towers. After
identifying the route of the transmission line, identify the elevation level of the route. There are a lot of
mountains that can be considered in building transmission towers and to build transmission towers on a high
elevated mountain is very unsafe, especially when landslide occurs. The choice of transmission lines is the
determining of clearance from ground to conductor through sag and stress analysis with the given elevations
along the route of the transmission with respect to proper spacing and appropriate standards. After getting
the best and safest route of the transmission lines and transmission towers, it will undergo through several
stages which requires computation from the load up to the performance and factors affecting the transmission
lines especially the safety of transmission lines to the environment and community. There are a lot of
standards that are needed to consider in designing the system. RLC parameters can then be calculated that
will be necessary for the computation of the necessary sending end voltage and current. The line performance
can now be tested and calculated and will be decided according to the needed requirements on effective and
efficient transmission system of, and ultimately, it will undergo to design tradeoffs where the application of
the constraints defined by each group will be presented and will be judged according to the effectiveness of
the resolution they come up to resolve it. After gathering all the necessary data, the mechanical design of the
transmission line is next. The mechanical design will depend on the allowable voltage that will pass through
in each tower. The sag, clearance and all the necessary data will be computed by using the formula from
different references of standards. After doing some computation, checking of output must be done. The
performance of the transmission line is checked by using all the necessary standards that is needed in
designing a transmission system. If the design passed all the standards, there will be a tradeoff where in
there will be a computation of all the constraints. If this has done correctly and is approved, the finalization
of the design will be made.

Figure 1.1 shows the project development and the step by step procedures to be made in the entirety of the
project.