The Open Loop Scheme: An Effective Method of Ground Wire Loss Reduction

The ever increasing cost of energy has prompted many utilities to place more emphasis on methods of reducing transmission system losses. Although ground wire loss represents a small percentage of overall system losses, its reduction can result in a substantial savings. In the past, ground wires have been transposed or sectionalized in order to reduce losses. The present paper introduces a new technique, the ``open loop scheme.´´ This method is shown to be as effective in loss reduction as the others and in some cases to possess additional advantages.