Correction: Ultra high voltage - the future of electricity transmission

This news release replaces that of July 17,2007: Please note the
corrected numbers in the first paragraph.

Studies in the USA indicate that the world's
electrical consumption is set to rise to 30 000 billion kWh by 2030
from 15 400 billion kWh in 2006. Governments and utilities today need
to plan to supply large amounts of electrical energy efficiently,
inexpensively and with minimal impact on the environment.

In countries with growing populations and rising economies, such
as Brazil, China and India, demand for electricity will become
intense and the challenge will be to deliver large quantities of
electricity from power generating stations to urban centres that can
be thousands of kilometres away. Ultra high voltage, or UHV, offers
the promise to meet this challenge.

UHV is needed to deliver electricity to cities without increasing
the number of transmission lines. In growing cities where demand is
on the rise but room for transmission lines is limited this is
critical because it means only one power line corridor is needed, not
several.

The world's two leading organizations involved in this question -
the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the
International Council on Large Electric Systems (CIGRE) - are holding
a symposium in Beijing from 18-21 July to determine the best ways
forward on developing UHV.

The main issues for this technology involve equipment reliability
(protection for people) and stability (uninterrupted service when a
line fails). New transformers, circuit-breakers and associated
equipment and new transmission lines designed for UHV will need to be
developed. International Standards for this do not exist yet so they,
too, need to be developed to ensure the safe and efficient use of
this technology. It is a technical challenge for manufacturers and
utilities, and a regulatory issue for governments - one that is now
being addressed by the IEC and CIGRE.

Contact:

Dennis Brougham (Mr.)
Communications Manager
International Electrotechnical Commission
Tel.: +41/22/919'02'60 (direct)
Fax: +41/22/919'03'00 (general)
E-Mail: db@iec.ch
Internet: www.iec.ch