Moving power through the northeast corridor

Most urban utilities in the northeast and midAtlantic regions lack sufficient generation to meet their peak loads, and in the summer rely on daily imports in the hundreds of megaWatts from other utilities with power to sell. Since extensive transmission networks mean more reactive power losses, utilities are increasingly turning to capacitor banks, which can be installed close to inductive loads, to supply reactive power. Another side effect of long-distance transmission across grids, called wheeling, is caused by a basic law of alternating current networks: the paths over which current is going to flow cannot be chosen for all practical purposes; rather, they are determined by electrical characteristics, namely, the relative voltages, phase angles, and reactance of various points in the network. This results in parallel power flows where part of the power flows into areas that do not want it. A solution to this problem is the phase-angle regulator, a transformerlike device that lets dispatchers change the relative phase angle between two system voltages, thereby helping them control real power transfers between the two systems.<>