abstract: In the United States, especially in metropolitan areas, transmission infra-structure is congested due to a combination of increasing load demands, declining investment, and aging facilities. It is anticipated that significant investments will be required for new construction and upgrades in order to serve load demands. This thesis explores higher phase order systems, specifically, six-phase, as a means of increasing power transfer capability, and provides a comparison with conventional three-phase double circuit transmission lines. In this thesis, the line parameters, electric and magnetic fields, and right of way are the criteria for comparing six-phase and three-phase double circuit lines. The calculations of the criteria were achieved by a program developed using MATLAB. This thesis also presents fault analysis and recommends suitable pro-tection for six-phase transmission lines. This calculation was performed on 4-bus, 9-bus, and 118-bus systems from Powerworld® sample cases. The simulations were performed using Powerworld® and PSCAD®. Line parameters calculations performed in this thesis show that line imped-ances in six-phase lines have a slight difference, compared to three-phase double circuit line. The shunt capacitance of compacted six phase line is twice of the value in the three-phase double circuit line. As a consequence, the compacted six-phase line provides higher surge impedance loadings. The electric and magnetic fields calculations show that, ground level electric fields of the six-phase lines decline more rapidly as the distance from center of the lines increase. The six-phase lines have a better performance on ground level magnetic field. Based on the electric and magnetic field results, right of way re-quirements for the six-phase lines and three-phase double circuit line were calcu-lated. The calculation results of right of way show that six-phase lines provide higher power transfer capability with a given right of way. Results from transmission line fault analysis, and protection study show that, fault types and protection system in six-phase lines are more complicated, com-pared to three-phase double circuit line. To clarify the concern about six-phase line protection, a six-phase line protection system was designed. Appropriate pro-tection settings were determined for a six-phase line in the 4-bus system. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Electrical Engineering 2012

abstract: The worldwide demand for electric energy is slated to increase by 80% between the years 1990 and 2040. In order to satisfy this increase in load, many new generators and transmission lines are planned. Implementations of various plans that can augment existing infrastructure have been hindered due to environmental constraints, public opposition and difficulties in obtaining right-of-way. As a result, stress on the present electrical infrastructure has increased, resulting in congestion within the system. The aim of this research is to analyze three techniques that could improve the power transfer capability of the present electric grid. These include line compaction, use of high temperature low sag conductors and high phase order systems. The above methods were selected as they could be readily employed without the need for additional right-of-way. Results from the line compaction tests indicate that line compaction up to 30% is possible and this increases the power transfer capability up to 53%. Additional advantages of employing line compaction are the reduction in electric and magnetic fields, increase in system stability and better voltage regulation. High temperature low sag conductors that were applied on thermally limited lines were seen to increase the power transfer capability. However, a disadvantage of this technique was that the second most congested line, limits the power transfer capability of the system. High phase (six phase) order system was noted to have several advantages over three phase system such as lower voltage requirement to transfer equal amount of power and lower electric and magnetic field across the right of way. An IEEE 9 and 118 bus test system were used to evaluate the above mentioned techniques. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Electrical Engineering 2012