Increasing Capacity of Overhead Transmission Lines – A Challenge for Brazilian Wind Farms

The Brazilian northeast wind resource makes the region attractive for the construction of wind generation projects and consequently brings the need for investments in new transmission lines to supply this increase in generation demand. This paper presents the case study of the increased ampacity of a 230kV overhead transmission line in the state of Pernambuco, responsible for the generation flow of a windfarm under different wind speeds. The study analyzes the impact of wind speed variations on the power transmission capacity. Analyzes of the wind atlas of the state of Pernambuco and information from the National Institute of Meteorology database are performed. The results showed that the increase in wind speed up to 4.0m/s results in the increase of wind farm installed capacity, with approximately 70% generation gains.