The Apple Grove 750-kV Project- Equipment Design and Instrumentation

The Apple Grove 750-kV project, jointly sponsored by American Electric Power Service Corporation and Westinghouse Electric Corporation, with six other participating companies, was designed to provide data on corona loss and radio influence performance of conductors at a nominal voltage of 750 kV and to determine the technical and economic feasibility of transmitting power at this extra-high-voltage. The project also incorporates facilities for studying conductor configuration, insulator assemblies, spacers, connectors, splices, hardware, and steel structures. Operating experience has been gained on a 750-kV transformer, lightning arresters, coupling capacitors, and line traps, as well as on a typical 500-kV line design. This paper describes equipment design, instrumentation, and special project features, such as the determination of conductor performance on a statistical basis by the use of simultaneous comparison under the same environmental conditions.