Street Railway Power Economics on the Cincinnati System

The Cincinnati Street Railway Company has, within the past few months, completed the rehabilitation of its entire power system. The system now consists of 19 full automatic synchronous converter substations upon which has been superimposed a complete system of supervisory control and remote metering. Papers have been presented by Frank W. Peters and Harley L. Swift covering the details of this installation. (See bibliography.) This paper discusses the economic factors involved in the selection of equipment and the design of the system. Part I points out that the most important economic consideration is service and presents a method for evaluating this factor. Part II discusses the design of feeder circuits with particular reference to the limitations of Kelvin´s Law. Part III discusses system design with reference to the economics involved in the location of substations, and in the selection of control equipment. A general method for conducting extensive system studies is implied. Part IV discusses system load shifting characteristics and Part V points out the advantages of supervisory control.