Increasing the ampacity of underground power cables by an application of photovoltaic pavements," The 6th International Conference on Renewable Electrical Power Sources

Abstract

This article shows that a significant increase in the ampacity of an underground cable line can be achieved, if a photovoltaic pavement in combination with a ventilation channel is applied along the entire length of the line, and if the cable trench is completely filled with thermally stable bedding in order to improve the conduction of heat away from the cable line. An additional advantage of using the photovoltaic pavement is that it generates electricity. The present article examines this issue as well. A case study involving a 110 kV cable line is presented to show how the velocity of the air in the ventilation channel and solar irradiance affect the ampacity of the 110 kV cable line. In the considered case study, it is found that the ampacity can be significantly increased. This is verified numerically using the finite-element method in COMSOL.