How much electrical power is lost in transmission?

Question

Not only transmission, but also conversion?
I have seen numbers from 7% to 60% depending on who is doing the math.
Why ask:
In West Texas they are putting up hundreds (if not thousands) of wind turbine only to send the power directly to the large cities in Eastern Texas hundreds of miles away. There are nearby smaller cities that could be powered locally by the local wind who have to see the MANY windturbines across the horizon. Why not supply the local grid first then overflow to the large city grids with the leftovers?

fred · Accepted Answer

power loss = square of current x resistance

higher voltage the lower the current needs to be, so the lower the losses, hence Tesla's ac from Niagra out performed edisons dc Newyork local generated power (which can't be transformed up to a higher voltage)

the grid will supply local demand first by it's design; the power does not usually go hundreds of miles if there is demand locally. unless those further away are paying more, or put in investment capital etc as happens with some big dam projects in Africa and Asia

Generally a national grid is about 90% efficient. but it varies by load and demand.

Nata T · Answer

Electricity takes the path of least resistance, so, the power from the wind turbine will go to the closest user first.  They do not have a seperate line from Pampa to Dallas for the elctricity from those tubines.

The loss can be found on www.eia.doe.gov, but its about an average of 15%, you can't pick and chose and say that I live next door to a power plant so my electricity has less loss than those of you that live 200 miles from the power source.

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How much electrical power is lost in transmission?

2 Answers