Development of a software tool for calculating transmission line parameters and updating related databases

Transmission lines are essential components of electric power grids. Diverse power system applications and simulation based studies require transmission line parameters including series resistance, reactance, and shunt susceptance, and accurate parameters are pivotal in ensuring the accuracy of analyses and reliable system operation. Commercial software packages for performing power system studies usually have their own databases that store the power system model including line parameters. When there is a physical system model change, the corresponding component in the database of the software packages will need to be modified. Manually updating line parameters are tedious and error-prone. This paper proposes a solution for streamlining the calculation of line parameters and updating of their values in respective software databases. The algorithms used for calculating the values of line parameters are described. The software developed for implementing the solution is described, and typical results are presented. The proposed solution is developed for a utility and has a potential to be put into use by other utilities.