DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMS AND SCHEDULE FOR OVERHEAD TRANSMISSION LINE DEVELOPMENT
Demonstration of a 1200-kV ac overhead transmission line system is a Department of Energy (DOE) R&D goal. Materials, components, and systems development for meeting this goal were scheduled soon after DOE (then the Energy Research and Development Administration) was established, and many of the milestones have been met. Demonstration of one or two 1200-kV systems between 1985 and 1990 will help improve design and make the technology available commercially to electric utilities by 1990.
Figure A provides an overview of the DOE R&D schedule for 1200-kV transmission systems, which is the particular responsibility of the Electrical Energy Systems (EES) Division. In addition, EES funds considerable research on the potential environmental effects of overhead transmission lines, including literature reviews to determine current understanding; systems studies to assist program and research planning; psychoacoustic studies to understand better human response to transmission line noise; and biological studies to understand better the potential for effects from exposure to electromagnetic
fields. DOE seeks to complete environmental research by about 1981 to allow equipment modification to meet environmental needs. Two important features of the schedule shown in Figure A are: (1) DOE involvement in developing 1200-kV systems will largely end in the 1980s and (2) DOE environmental research is primarily directed toward investigating the potential biological effects of operating the lines (e.g., potential problems from noise or electromagnetic fields).
The Environmental Control Technology (ECT) Division of
DOE assists in independently assessing if technologies under development
by other DOE divisions require new control technology to meet environmental
needs. In particular, DOE is concerned with meeting environmental needs
for current 765-kV overhead transmission lines, as well as for the higher
voltage systems under development. To better assess the possibility of new
or poorly understood impacts from 1200-kV lines, the ECT Division charged
SRI International with independent review of the controversy over possible
environmental impacts from 765-kV transmission lines. The data selected
for this study was the testimony in New York Public Service Commission Cases
26529 and 26559, which resulted in 72 days of hearings over a 3-year period
and which produced approximately 14,000 pages of testimony and 147 exhibits
from 31 witnesses. Appendix A briefly describes the history of the hearings.
This report, which reviews the testimony in the hearings, is designed to
help the ECT Division plan new programs and to assess the transmission line
program in the EES Division.
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