How do Electric Transmission Lines Work?

Discussing some of the fascinating engineering that goes into overhead electric power transmission lines.

In the past, power generating plants were only able to serve their local areas. As power plants grew larger and further away from populated areas, the need for ways to efficiently move electricity over long distances has become more and more important. Stringing power lines across the landscape to connect cities to power plants may seem as simple as connecting an extension cord to an outlet, but the engineering behind these electric superhighways is more complicated and fascinating than you might think.

Writing/Editing/Production: Grady Hillhouse

Tonic and Energy by Elexive is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License

This video is sponsored by Hello Fresh.

[pieguy]

We need more YouTubers like you.
1. No BS; cuts to the point
2. Intelligent
3. Informative videos
4. Videos are easy to understand, yet supply the viewer with significant information
5. Doesn’t clutter the videos with ads
6. Doesn’t ramble on about the sponsor at the 1 minute mark until the 3 minute mark

[Lexarfrk]

I am a Transmission and Distribution Civil Engineer, I shared this video with my coworkers. They all appreciated the video! I would have enjoyed if you integrated the difference in dead end and tangent structures. Still a very well done video.

[thenerdnetwork]

At 6:14 You say that the wires on top are to protect against lightning strikes, while this is correct, in recent times the company who owns the transmission lines will actually install OPGWs (fiber optics). As you can imagine these transmission lines travel vast distances, so the transmission company can lease dark fibers (no service on the line, but a communications company can cross connect through that fiber to maximize their route miles of fiber to connect to other cities). If you ever are driving out in a rural area, and cross near a transmission tower that is accessible from the road, you may see the ground wires at the top coming down to a lower point on the tower, coiled up, with a silver case in the middle, this is a fiber splice case for OPGWs. These splice cases are spaced out under 7, 000 feet apart.


This is such a genius idea, just to help give our country that over the top internet capacity by utilizing our power transmission grid. While the fiber doesnt go directly to an average consumer, it does provide incredible amounts of bandwidth to upstream providers such as primarily Level 3 and others like Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, and Cogent.


I went a little too far into detail, but why not I guess!


Cool video tho :D

[Emerson-pxlp]

As a 41 yr old electrician that is always wanting to learn more i really appreciate this video. Being able to simply brake down complex information is a gift. Keep up the good work

[jacktorborg]

Being a mechanical (civil, mechanical degree) engineer, and having been through Physics 2 and circuits classes in college, I've never seen power lines and voltage steps explained in this easy of a way. This channel always manages to teach me something cool and interesting, and I'm always surprised at how nicely these videos are put together. You would make a great college professor!

[Orbis]

Probably the most educational use of two microwave death trap transformers I've seen so far :)

[CasuallyPlayinGames]

Loved the hair dryer transformer bit was a brilliant idea. Always good to see a video from you :)

[xdave]

Great to see another video on power engineering. I had to pause my day just to watch this.

I wanted to add that the thought and preparation you put into your physical demonstrations is what really makes your channel stand clear above the rest. A good engineering teacher doesn't just explain how something works, but also why it was done that way.

[Hexlattice]

Dude. That demonstration with the tiny wires was AWESOME.

[utuber]

This is by far the best description of electrical transmission for the non-engineer that I have seen. Thank you, and keep up the good work.

[kartikeysingh]

I got asked in my job interview "how can you tell what is the transmission voltage level by simply looking at the transmission tower?". I knew the answer but my point is these videos are actually very informative for people who are curious about Power systems in general.

[ianmcclymonds]

Correction at 3:35...

V=IR is not the equation that shows that increasing the voltage would decrease current. If you made V larger, I would also be larger to keep the same R. In reality, transformers change the load, so Ohm's law is not violated.

Rather, the correct equation is P=IV. This equation shows that you can deliver the same amount of power with lower current if you increase the voltage.

I just wanted to comment in the event that someone was confused. Thanks again for your great videos, Grady!

[MrSmeagolsGhost]

*Leave work designing power lines and see YouTube notification. *

Ooooh.

*video is literally work*

*watches anyway*

[alexbean]

"This lost power is pretty easy to calculate, if you're willing to do a little algebra (which I always am)"

This is why I love this channel.

[ryancafferty]

the hair dryer demonstration almost had me weeping with new understanding. i’m 43 and learning new things doesn’t happen as easily as it used to. i really love your wonderfully composed videos. you’re amazing :)

[markchatman]

I build transmission lines for a living. And hydro dams. Your channel is right up my alley. In the past few years I’ve done my part to build a 735KV line. A 550Kv line and a 325kv line and am currently working on a 695 megawatt hydro dam. Good money in electricity!!

[MrSmeagolsGhost]

Wind also has a very large positive effect, with small amounts of winds ~2m/s + greatly increases the heat dissipation of a power line.

Also earth wires are typically used for communication as well with multiple fibre optic cables embedded with in them.

[jawjuk]

I never really understood the low current/high voltage reasoning of transmission until now; thank you for this great explanation, Grady!

[KaziNazmulYT]

In my last semester's final viva, I was asked by my examiner to describe the transmission line system. So, I started to explain this to him in my own way. He then stopped me and said I had to explain this as an electrical engineer. I wasn't sure how to explain that topic from an electrical engineer's point of view. After watching this video, I understood the actual thought of transmission lines. I'm pretty sure that my examiner wanted this type of explanation from me. Thank you so much for this easy but meaningful explanation. Love from Bangladesh.

[lluisfargaslopez]

I have just covered this topic in my introduction to electrical engineering class as a mechanical engineering student. You explained it far better than my teacher.