Electric Power Systems, Multinational Interconnected

electric power systems that constitute a form of economic integration and cooperation in the generation and consumption of electricity.

The interconnection of electric power systems of different countries provides a great many technological and economic advantages: improvement in the reliability and quality of the electricity supplied, reduction of the installed capacity of electric power stations as the result of combined load curves and the reduction in the reserve capacity required, the possibility of joint construction and use of large power plants by countries that are members of the interconnected system, the possibility of efficient use of hydroelectric resources, and improvement in the composition of generating capacities as a result of the building of large electric power stations with generating installations of high unit capacity.

The largest multinational interconnected system in Europe in 1978 was the Union for the Coordination of the Production and Transmission of Electricity (UCPTE), in which Austria, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, and Switzerland participate. The total installed power of the system is 203 gigawatts (GW), and the amount of electricity exchanged is 5.5 percent of the total volume generated. The energy systems of the individual countries are linked by 119 power transmission lines, with a total transmission capacity of 35 gigavolt amperes (GVA). The Mir integrated electric power grid is the second largest European multinational interconnected system. The Union for the Generation and Transmission of Electricity, which includes France, Spain, and Portugal, has a total capacity of 76 GW, with an exchange of 0.9 percent of the total volume of electricity generated; the system has eight power transmission lines, with a capacity of 2.2 GVA. The system that unites Austria, Greece, Italy, and Yugoslavia has a total capacity of 63 GW, with an exchange of 0.3 percent of the total electricity produced; the system has eight power transmission lines, with a capacity of 1.3 GVA. The Union of the Northern European Countries, in which Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Sweden participate, has a total capacity of 53 GW, with an exchange of 5.9 percent of the electricity generated; the system has 11 power transmission lines, with a capacity of 4.0 GVA.

North America has an interconnected system linking the eastern and central regions of the USA with the electric power systems of the eastern regions of Canada; the system has a capacity of approximately 400 GW. The electric power systems of the USA and Canada are connected by 11 power transmission lines, with a total capacity of 5 GVA. Approximately 1 percent of the total electricity generated is exchanged.