Experience of Live Line or Zero Shutdown Reconductoring in India Shachidevi T. K.1, Yadav Madan Gopal1, Mishra Rajesh1 1Sterlite Power Transmission Limited, India Online Published on 12 May, 2022. Abstract India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. This growth is fuelled by increasing infrastructure and creation of more opportunities by public and private players. This high growth is spurring an increase in the demand for electric power in Indian cities. Cities like Delhi, Bengaluru Chennai, Hyderabad are clocking annual growth rates of 8 to 8.5%[1],[2]. Achieving such growth comes with multiple challenges and one such major challenge is to ensure the availability of reliable and quality power for all. The readiness of power transmission and ensuring uninterrupted power supply becomes critical for such rapid growth for the cities which are now growing at a rate, higher than country's GDP. To address such challenges there is an urgent need for appropriate transmission planning by Transmission companies (Transco) to meet the increase in demand for power by enhancing transmission capacity. Power transmission capacity enhancement can be addressed by two options, i.e., building a new line or, upgrade/uprate of the existing transmission infrastructure. Building new transmission lines is challenging due to non-availability of the space in cities, it is also highly capital intensive and time consuming. Hence, uprating/upgrading of the existing infrastructure of transmission lines is emerging as a more viable and opted option for almost all cities. Uprate/upgrade is generally done by taking power shutdown of the exiting line. Such shutdown schedule depends on power demand and varies every day causing variation in the execution plan. Hence project planning and execution becomes a difficult task. Project management costs increase and there is a negative social impact due to disruption caused to the normal life and activities of the public during extended shutdowns. Uprating is the process of increasing the line current resulting in enhanced power flow. Generally, the uprating the current is preferred to voltage upgrading as it is a quicker execution option. Congested lines, which are usually overloaded and can't be shut down easily are the ones that Top Keywords Live line, Zero shutdown, Reconductoring, Right of Way (ROW), Hot stick, Bare hand methods are usually needing uprate, Further, if these congested lines are in congested corridors, Then a bigger challenge is posed. Top |