Transmission and Distribution Electrical Engineering

International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education, Jan 1998 by Jenkins, Lawrence

Transmission and Distribution Electrical Engineering: C. BAYLISS (Butterworth-Heinemann,1996, 920 pp., 75.00)

Since the 1960s, Electrical Engineering undergraduate curricula have become very broad-based, due to the introduction of courses in control theory, computer programming, digital circuits and electronics. While this updating has been inevitable, and indeed desirable, so as to permit the subject matter to reflect the diverse nature of the field, as well as to meet the needs of industry, an unavoidable side effect has been a reduction in the number of power systems and related courses. The typical EE graduate takes a course on AC and DC machinery, and one on the concepts of transmission and distribution; some may also take an elective or core course in power system protection. While this limited exposure to power topics may be adequate for the professionals in most sub-specialities, the graduate engineer in the power industry needs a knowledge of substation design, transmission line and cable installation practices, switch gear operation and maintenance and other relevant power topics. With this objective in mind, the larger organizations do provide in-house training programmes for freshly recruited employees, and all engineers also learn on the job from their team leaders and mentors, but this is not sufficient, and a considerable amount of self-study is essential. The book under review is intended for such self-study, and also to serve as a reference for the practising engineer.

Since a basic degree in the subject is assumed, the first chapter provides only an overview of load flow, stability and short circuit analysis; the reader may find it useful to refer to any standard undergraduate text, before proceeding further. The other chapters can be read on their own, although their material is drawn from research papers, manufacturers' specifications, standards manuals and trade articles. They deal with topics such as substation layout, transformers, insulators, earthing practices, insulation coordination, relay protection, fuses, cables, switch gear and overhead line routing. The coverage of this material is extensive, and it is well-organized. Apart from a few omissions in punctuation (some commas are missing), the style of writing makes the book very readable.

The book will be a very useful addition to the collection of any practising power engineer, since it provides both an overview of each area of interest to him, as well as a listing of relevant papers and other publications. The chapter on project management is particularly important, given the current requirements of the profession, and will make up for the deficiencies which are the norm in the formal training of many engineering graduates. In summary, the author is to be commended for a very useful and wellresearched book.

LAWRENCE JENKINS Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India