Underground Electrical Cable Vs Overhead Lines

Aesthetics underground s number one advantage.

Underground electrical cable vs overhead lines.

Reliability shorter outage durations because of faster fault finding and faster. Significantly less cost especially initial cost. 1 providing sufficient insulation so that cables can be within inches of grounded material. Overhead lines interfere with communication lines that are in close proximity have corona discharge radio and tv interference which does not happen with the underground lines.

And 2 dissipating the heat produced during the operation of the electrical. Following are the disadvantages of underground transmission. Longer life 30 to 50 years vs. Safety less chance for public contact.

The electric field of the cable lines is fully limited by the metallic screen. Hvdc are three times higher compare to overhead lines e g. Digging around underground feeders is a disaster waiting to happen. Undergrounding is the replacement of overhead cables providing electrical power or telecommunications with underground cables it demonstrates the higher technology in developed countries for fire prevention and to make the power lines less susceptible to outages during high wind thunderstorms or heavy snow or ice storms.

Safety factors of underground vs. Voltage drop there is more voltage drop in the overheads due to the fact that their cables are of much smaller diameter than underground cables for the same power delivery. The design and construction of underground transmission lines differ from overhead lines because of two significant technical challenges that need to be overcome. In overhead line inductor plays major roles and in underground cable the capacitor plays major role.

Cost overhead s number one advantage. With overhead lines you have to watch that tall trucks farm implements augers and other tall pieces of equipment don t get tangled in them. It is difficult to find and repair the wire breaks in case of failure of system. Cost of underground cables e g.

With underground feeders you have to watch out when you are digging. According to the may 2011 paper underground electric transmission lines published by the public service commission of wisconsin the estimated cost for constructing underground transmission lines ranges from 4 to 14 times more expensive than overhead lines of the same voltage and same distance. To minimize a large charging current produced in high voltage cables the length of the cable should be minimized. Moreover laying or burying cost of underground lines are greater compare to overhead lines.

Overhead lines are nothing but a conductor laid on the top of earth by installing transmission tower.