California-Oregon 500-kV transmission line development of design criteria

The California-Oregon Transmission Project (COTP) encompassed the design and construction of a third 500-kV ac intertie between California and the Pacific Northwest Transmission system. Sargent ampersand Lundy's (S ampersand L) scope of work in the COTP includes the design of approximately 150 miles of new single-circuit, 500-kV transmission line from southern Oregon to the vicinity of Redding, California. This paper presents the development of the design criteria for this segment of the project, which crosses diverse topographic and climatic regions. This project is an example of the increasing utilization of computers in transmission line engineering. Almost all aspects of design involved the use of the computer. Also, the development of the design criteria for this project coincided with an early release of the TLWorkstation software package by EPRI. TLWorkstation is an engineering workstation containing a family of programs for various aspects of transmission line design. This engineering software allows for increasing refinement in the design and economic optimization of transmission lines and is becoming an important design tool for transmission engineers