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Energy & Renewables vocabulary · Grid, Transmission and Distribution

Transmission losses

Meaning in energy & renewables, with examples

nounCommon term

In energy & renewables, transmission losses means: The part of the electricity that is lost as heat while it travels through power lines and transformers, so less reaches customers than leaves the power plant.

In Turkish: iletim kayıpları, şebeke kayıpları

How it is used

Expressed as a percentage of the energy carried. Losses are reduced by higher voltages, better conductors and efficient transformers. Reports often combine transmission and distribution losses as T&D losses or network losses.

Example sentences

  1. Transmission losses on the national grid are around 2 to 3 percent.

  2. Building solar plants near cities helps reduce transmission losses.

Common collocations

  • reduce transmission losses
  • network losses
  • T&D losses
  • line losses
  • transmission lineA high-voltage power line, usually on tall steel towers, that carries large amounts of electricity over long distances from power plants to substations.
  • high voltageA voltage level used to move electricity efficiently over long distances, such as 154 kV or 380 kV. The exact limits of low, medium and high voltage differ between standards.
  • distribution networkThe lower-voltage part of the power system that takes electricity from substations and delivers it through local lines and cables to homes and businesses.
  • transformerA device that raises or lowers the voltage of alternating current. Transformers make long-distance transmission possible and bring the voltage down to safe levels for users.

More terms: Grid, Transmission and Distribution

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