SURGE IMPEDANCE LOADING (SIL) The surge impedance loading or SIL of a transmission line is the MW loading of a transmission line

at which a natural reactive power balance occurs. The follow ing brief article will explain the concept of SIL. Transmission lines produce reactive power (Mvar) due to their natural capacitanc e. The amount of Mvar produced is dependent on the transmission line's capaciti ve reactance (XC) and the voltage (kV) at which the line is energized. In equat ion form the Mvar produced is:

Transmission lines also utilize reactive power to support their magnetic fields. The magnetic field strength is dependent on the magnitude of the current flow in the line and the line's natural inductive reactance (XL). It follows then th at the amount of Mvar used by a transmission line is a function of the current f low and inductive reactance. In equation form the Mvar used by a transmission l ine is: A transmission line's surge impedance loading or SIL is simply the MW loading ( at a unity power factor) at which the line's Mvar usage is equal to the line's M var production. In equation form we can state that the SIL occurs when: If we take the square root of both sides of the above equation and then substit ute in the formulas for XL (=2pfL) and XC (=1/2pfC) we arrive at: The term in the above equation is by definition the "surge impedance. The t heoretical significance of the surge impedance is that if a purely resistive loa d that is equal to the surge impedance were connected to the end of a transmission line with no resistance, a voltage surge introduced to the sending end of the line would be absorbed completely at the receiving end. The voltage at the receiving end would have the same magnitude as the sending end voltage an d would have a phase angle that is lagging with respect to the sending end by an amount equal to the time required to travel across the line from sending to rec eiving end. The concept of a surge impedance is more readily applied to telecommunication sy stems than to power systems. However, we can extend the concept to the power tr ansferred across a transmission line. The surge impedance loading or SIL (in MW ) is equal to the voltage squared (in kV) divided by the surge impedance (in ohm s). In equation form:

Note in this formula that the SIL is dependent only on the kV the line is energi zed at and the line's surge impedance. The line length is not a factor in the S IL or surge impedance calculations. Therefore the SIL is not a measure of a tra nsmission line's power transfer capability as it does not take into account the line's length nor does it consider the strength of the local power system. The value of the SIL to a system operator is realizing that when a line is loade d above its SIL it acts like a shunt reactor - absorbing Mvar from the system and when a line is loaded below its SIL it acts like a shunt capacitor - supplyi ng Mvar to the system. Figure 1 is a graphic illustration of the concept of SIL. This particular line h as a SIL of 450 MW. Therefore is the line is loaded to 450 MW (with no Mvar) flo

w, the Mvar produced by the line will exactly balance the Mvar used by the line.

Figure 1 Surge Impedance Loading of a Transmission Loading

Characteristic impedance This article is about impedance in electronics. For impedance of electromagnetic waves, see Wave impedance. For characteristic acoustic impedance, see Acoustic impedance. Schematic representation of a circuit where a source is coupled to a load with a transmission line having characteristic impedance Z0. The characteristic impedance or surge impedance of a uniform transmission line, usually written Z0, is the ratio of the amplitudes of a single pair of voltage a nd current waves propagating along the line in the absence of reflections. The S I unit of characteristic impedance is the ohm. The characteristic impedance of a lossless transmission line is purely real, that is, there is no imaginary compo nent (Z0 = Z0 + j0). Characteristic impedance appears like a resistance in t his case, such that power generated by a source on one end of an infinitely long lossless transmission line is transmitted through the line but is not dissipate d in the line itself. A transmission line of finite length (lossless or lossy) t hat is terminated at one end with a resistor equal to the characteristic impedan ce (ZL = Z0) appears to the source like an infinitely long transmission line.