Predicting the Structural Performance of Transmission Lines Uprated by Reconductoring

Uprating of transmission lines by reconductoring can be facilitated with the use of a relatively simple technique for comparing design alternatives, including existing ones, on the basis of weather records for the area of consideration. The method is illustrated for a typical 230-kV transmission line in Southern Ontario and a convenient computer program (SPUR) is described. In addition to design optimization, the new method can serve as an aid to economic decision making (cost/risk optimization) by analyzing structural performance on a statistical basis.