Concept & Case for Nationwide
EHV/HSR Transport
Mike George
CEATI International
2019 submission to the Congress on Large Electric Power Systems (CIGRE)
The Design Concept
It is one goal of this proposal to assemble a cross-functional design team comprising a cross-section of electrical, electromagnetic, civil, mechanical, environmental, and safety/health experts. While technical details of this design have yet to be defined collaboratively, the overall design objective would be to marry the utilization of a common right-of-way for both high-speed rail (HSR) and EHV transmission, thus forming a robust “transport backbone” of a shared rail/power transmission system.
Naturally, the EHV system would power the high-speed train engines to propel passengers along the corridor. Electrostatic/-magnetic synergies could be achieved by utilizing stray electric field effects from the nearby EHV lines to “assist” with train propulsion; this would also mitigate stray/undesired electrostatic/-magnetic effects outside the ROW. Furthermore, the steel tracks for the rail line would provide an extremely solid ground source, dramatically improving voltage stability and reducing overvoltages from nearby switching or other system events.
With a dedicated freight rail line, bulky EHV transformers could be installed permanently on flatcars (similarly as roadbased mobile transformer units), even while connected to the EHV system during normal (or standby) operation. This would provide a brand-new “analog” means for transmission operators to “slide” these assets dynamically along the corridors of the system to maximize their effectiveness at facilitating load allocation and voltage stability throughout this flexible “super-grid.”
With a dedicated freight rail line, bulky EHV transformers could be installed permanently on flatcars (similarly as roadbased mobile transformer units), even while connected to the EHV system during normal (or standby) operation. This would provide a brand-new “analog” means for transmission operators to “slide” these assets dynamically along the corridors of the system to maximize their effectiveness at facilitating load allocation and voltage stability throughout this flexible “super-grid.”
This dynamic means of asset deployment would also eliminate supply chain/logistical “choke points” and greatly improve response time for stabilizing the system after large-scale system events, because manufacturing/shipping lead time for large power apparatuses could potentially be eliminated, with the provision of spare equipment that could be available on a standby basis at a nearby laydown/railyard facility.
Regular rail traffic among shared transmission line corridors could be leveraged indirectly as an ad-hoc means of network surveillance, as there are then many more “eyes on the ground” among commuters and utility maintenance personnel that could “see something, say something, do something!” in order to deter vandals and quickly alert authorities to imminent threats of hijacking and/or disruption.
Providing a dedicated maintenance/service line would enable safe and systematic ways for field personnel to access remote facilities for routine maintenance, reducing travel-related O&M expenses and risk from motor vehicle accidents while on the job. By reducing the need of motor vehicles to perform daily maintenance work, worker safety could vastly be improved, given the number of safety incidents that often occur in electric power companies from motor vehicle accidents.
