Efficient design of high-voltage power cables is important to achieve an economical delivery of electric power from wind farms and power plants over the very long distances as well as the overseas electric power. The main focus of this thesis is the investigation of electromagnetic losses in components of high-voltage power cables. The objective of the ongoing research is to develop the theory and optimization techniques as tools to make material choices and geometry designs to minimize the high-frequency attenuation and dispersion for HVDC power cables and the power losses associated with HVAC cables. Physical limitations, dispersion relationships and the application of sum rules as well as convex optimization will be investigated to obtain adequate physical insight and a priori modeling information for these problems. For HVAC power cables, the objectives are addressed by performing measurements and estimation of complex valued permeability of cable armour steel in Papers I and II. Efficient analytical solutions for the electromagnetic field generated by helical structures with applications for HVAC power cables have been obtained in Paper III. For HVDC power cables, estimation of insulation characteristics from dielectric spectroscopy data using Herglotz functions, convex optimization and B-splines, has been investigated in Papers V and VI. The unique solution requirements in waveguide problems have been reviewed in Paper IV.