An intelligent weather-based system to support optimal routing of power transmission lines

The recent increase in demand for power and the proliferation of remotely located renewable energy sources, have put pressure on electric power utilities to upgrade and expand their existing transmission infrastructure. Unfortunately, the construction of new power transmission lines is a costly and time consuming endeavour. In order to maximize the return on investment in the construction of new power transmission lines, this process should be supported by information on the climatological conditions in the planned area, and their effect on the power line operating conditions and ageing. This paper presents an intelligent system that supports the optimization of the line routing process using high-resolution meteorological data. The proposed system selects waypoint coordinates for the transmission line using an algorithm that attempts to minimize the line temperature by avoiding locations that are prone to cause temperature hot-spots. This, in turn, provides gains in additional transmission capacity when coupled with Dynamic Thermal Rating technology, allowing utility companies to increase the return on investment even further.