Anwar Mufti

Present State, Challenges, and Future of Power Generation in Saudi Arabia

Electricity consumption rates in Saudi Arabia have been steadily on the rise over the past three decades. While the population of about 26 million is growing at a high rate of 3%, the growth in total number of power utility customers is increasing at a higher rate of 5%. Between 2006 and 2007, the Saudi Electric Company, SEC reported an 11.9% growth in total peak loads, which reached 34,953 MW in 2007. Studies show that power demand in Saudi Arabia is expected to continue its rapid increase to reach 60,000 MW over the coming 15 years. In addition to the high rate of population growth, the expanding in industrialization and development plans is among the factors contributing to the rapid increase in power demand in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, major steps need be taken to prepare for the expected future increase in power demand. This paper addresses the actions already taken to increase power generation and availability in Saudi Arabia, and presents recommendations for other actions needed, including the importance of shifting towards renewable energy.

Analysis of corona losses on monopolar dc transmission lines

This paper presents a charge-simulation-based method to solve the equations describing the ionized field around monopolar transmission lines. The method is applied for calculating the corona power-loss and ground-level current-density profile of the conductor bundles of two and three subconductors. Different orientations of the conductor bundle is sought to investigate how the ground-level current-density profile is influenced by the orientation of the bundle with respect to the ground plane. The change of the corona onset voltage from point-to-point on each subconductor is taken into account. The calculated corona power-loss and ground-level current-density of bundle conductors agreed fairly with those measured experimentally for a laboratory model.

OPEN-BOUNDARY FINITE-ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF IONIZED FIELD AROUND MONOPOLAR TRANSMISSION LINES

Abstract This paper presents a new iterative finite-element ballooning technique to solve Poissons equation for different numbers of ballooning layers to set different boundaries of the ionized field around the transmission-line coronating conductor. This is aimed at explaining how the accuracy of calculation increases with the increase of the number of ballooning layers. A laboratory model was built to check the accuracy of the calculated corona current and the ground plane current density.

Optimizing field stress on high voltage bushings

A method is described for optimizing the field stress on HV bushings-penetrating through a flat grounded casing-by modifying their profile, seeking a uniform distribution of the tangential field along the bushing surface. This results in an increase of the inception voltage for surface flashover on the bushing surface. The dominant effect in the optimization process is ascribed to the inclination angle and the height of the bushing outside the casing.<<ETX>>

SF6 Voltage/Pressure Characteristics Modification with Added N2 and Other Gases Mixtures

The fast development of gas insulated switchgear (GIS) equipment using pressursied SF6 as an insulant, and the recognition that insulation failures are often encountered in practical systems due to electrode surface imperfections, presence of free particles and sharp edges, there is a great concern to substitute SF6 for promising candidates gas. In this regard, nonuniform field breakdown data of SF6/gas mixtures are of considerable interest as they provide valuable information on the fundamental physical processes.

Adaptive Finite-Element Ballooning Analysis of Monopolar Ionized Field@@@تحليل انتفاخي متكيف بطريقة العناصر المحددة لمجال متأين أحادي القطبية

This paper presents an adaptive finite-element technique for the analysis of monopolar ionized field in conductor-to-plane configurations without resort to Deutsch’s assumption. A new iterative-element ballooning technique is proposed to solve Poisson’s equation wherein the commonly used artificial boundary around the transmission line conductor is simulated at infinity. The proposed technique seeks a solution to only one second-order partial differential equation (PDE) rather than a solution to a nonlinear third-order PDE or a solution to two simultaneous second order PDEs as reported in the literature. The calculated corona current and the ground plane current-density agreed well with those measured experimentally for a laboratory model. Accuracy and simplicity in programming characterize the proposed method.

Adaptive Finite-Element Analysis of the Bipolar Ionized Field@@@تحليل متكيف بطريقة العناصر المحددة للمجال المتأين ثنائي القطبية

This paper presents an adaptive finite-element iterative method for the analysis of the ionized field around high-voltage bipolar direct-current (HVDC) transmission line conductors without resort to Deutschs assumption. Unlike all attempts reported in the literature for the solution of ionized field, the constancy of the conductors surface field at the corona onset value is di- rectly implemented in the finite-element formulation. The present paper con- siders both the unequality of the +ve and - ve ion mobility and onset voltage values. In order to investigate the effectiveness of the proposed method, a laborato- ry model was built. It has been found that the calculated V-I characteristics and the ground-plane current density agreed well with those measured experimen- tally. It has been found that taking into account the unequality of +ve and -ve mobility and onset values improved the calculated results towards the experi- mental values.