CHAPTER VIII 



HIGH-TENSION NET-WORKS 



ONE of the most important tendencies of electric- 

 power transmission at the present time is to connect 

 numbers of transmission lines into large high-tension net- 

 works. The Southern Power Company, of North and 

 South Carolina, and neighboring companies with which 

 it is interconnected, making over 1,000 miles of 100,000- 

 volt lines connected together, and reaching across nearly 

 800 miles of country, and the Pacific Gas and Electric 

 Company, of California, with a net- work of over 1,500 

 miles of 60,000- and ioo,ooo-volt lines, are conspicuous 

 examples. The tendency is exhibited in all parts of the 

 country by the steady growth of net- works, and by the 

 unification of different transmission lines and net-works 

 into large power systems. A short discussion will be 

 given of the causes for the growth of power net-works, 

 and the relation thereto of the principles of the con- 

 stant-voltage method of control. 



The unification of the power systems of a section of 

 country offers large financial rewards. Such a combi- 

 nation has probably more attractive possibilities of gain 

 than are contained in the formation of the usual large 

 industrial combinations, as of transportation or manu- 

 facturing companies, because in addition to the usual 

 commercial advantages, the union of power systems has 

 large engineering advantages. 



Any large combination of industrial concerns is able 

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