Abstract
Electric power may be tapped straight from the high voltage transmission lines either for consumption to meet the needs of rural and remote areas, and telecommunication establishments located in remote sites; or as a scheme to enhance the capacity of another utility or grid along a trans-national or trans-continental transmission corridor. The importance and interests the technologies to accomplish this has generated necessitate the need for a review of the state of the art of this subject so as to delimit research actions and allow research interests to be appropriately promulgated. This paper therefore reviews, in two parts, the state of the art of tapping electric power from HV and EHV ac and dc transmission lines. Part one focuses on the general conditions for tapping, presents the principles on which tapping methods are based, reviews methods for tapping from HVAC transmission systems, and concludes with a general discussion on tapping from HVAC. The companion paper completes the study, by presenting the part two of the work.