I am creating a database that lists all available voltages by region, state or providence and city. I have all the low voltage but need assistance in finding and verifying the medium and high voltage. Interested in AC only. An example of what I am looking for is

United Kingdom:
Frequency = 50Hz +/- 1%

LV: 230/400V official (still 240/415V in practical terms)
MV: 11, 33kV (plus some old 6.6kV in a few areas)
HV: 66, 132, 275, 400kV

This example I found on this site provided by pauluk it's exactly what I am looking for on all countries.

Thanks in advance for your assistance

HONG KONG
Transmission & Distribution System(CLP):
http://www.clpgroup.com/clpgroup/CLPPower/FacServ/TransDistSys/?lang=en



Transmission & Distribution System(HEC):
http://www.hec.com.hk/hec/useful/index5.htm
SUPPLY VOLTAGE & FREQUENCY
http://www.hec.com.hk/hec/customer/form_3b_2.htm

MACAO
http://www.cem-macau.com/english/info_major_tran.php

[This message has been edited by Cn_HK (edited 05-27-2004).]

May I ask what the purpose is? The information you are trying to obtain is virtually impossible to get for the majority of countries. Even getting the low voltage part right is difficult at best.

Look in my profile for a link to a list of the low voltage systems. As far as I know, it is the most up to date there is. Despite this, there are numerous errors and ambiguities in it. It turned out to be a lot more difficult than I first expected to compile a correct list, mainly because of the amount of misinformation out there.

P.S. If you are serious about this, I'd be happy to cooperate with you. The number of lists out there is too large today.

{edit} I just noticed that Macao is now 230V according to the above website. I'll have to update my database accordingly. {/edit}

[This message has been edited by C-H (edited 05-27-2004).]

I am compiling the information because AcadAME electrical software gives engineers a list of available voltages for an area. The mechanical software has the requirements for 1559 cities in different countries. I have added the low voltage for electrical and now want to add the medium and high voltage. I am very serious of accomplishing this and have found it to be a very large task. All assistance is greatly appreciated.

I think this is a mammoth task indeed. As C-H said, the sheer amount of contradictory information out there makes independent verification important.

By the way, are you including only transmission and distribution voltages for general usage, or specialized systems in widespread use as well?

For example, in the U.K. there is the widely used 25kV AC system on electrified rail lines, run from sub-stations tapped off the regular national grid.

We are including any voltages that an Engineer would need to know to design a building in any particular area. We do not work with power company installation. We work with electrical engineers for Residential, Commercial and Industrial buildings. So in answer to the question if sub-stations are tapped off of the lines we need to include them.

We are verifying all the information in several different ways. We are comparing our list of low voltage to C-H's list and will contact him with any discrepancies we find.

I am sure we will not get all of the voltages the first try but we are hoping to get as close as possible.

We have been verifying voltages and have several countries that have a lot of discrepancies in the low voltage. Can anyone assist?
The countries in question are
Algeria, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Botswana, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Congo Republic, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Falkland Islands, French Polynesia, Gambia, Greece, Guadeloupe, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Isle Of Man, Italy, Jordan, Loas, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxenbourg, Macao, Malta, Mongolia, Myanmar - Burma, Nepal, Netherlands, Northfolk Island, Panama, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Samoa, San Marino, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Trinidad, Tunisia, Turkey, Tuvalu, United Kingdom, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Virgin Islands, British, Virgin Islands, U.S.

Still need a lot of information on Medium and High Voltage for all Countries.

This is a huge task! However, I would suggest that you contact the technical committees (e.g. ETCI in Ireland www.etci.ie or the IEE in the uk etc) and ask them for specfic details. Most of the information on the web is either so ridiculously out of date that it's laughable or just plain wrong.

To start you off for Ireland:

Low Voltage:

Domestic/Office/Similar environments:

Single Phase: 230V 50hz connected via BS1363 13A plugs all of which are polarised and grounded. (Older plug/socket systems, Schuko & BS546 were used but in general will not be found in any building these days)

----** Domestic/Similar socket outlets installed after 1980 are legally required to be protected by a 30 mA RCD (GFCI) Older installations may/maynot have RCD protection as it was not compulsary.

3-phase appliences are rare but where they do exsist in domestic/similar environments, they are hardwired.

Construction Sites:

Supplies on construction sites in Ireland are a little weird. Portable power tools must use 110V 50hz supplied via a local centre-tapped transformer providing 2 hots at about 55V.

Portable lighting on construction sights uses even lower voltages.

Any 230V equipment that is permitted, e.g. in site offices must be protected by 30mA RCDs.

Industrial:

230V 50hz single phasesupplied via 16A blue CEEform plugs (Grounded and polarised)
400V -50hz 3phase - Supplied via Red CEEform plugs, polarised and grounded.

Note: All outlets up to 32A MUST be RCD protected.

Medium Voltage:

10kV 50hz
20kV 50hz
38kV 50hz

Direct industrial connection at these voltages and at 110kV is not unusual. A substation would be designed in conjunction with the power company.

High Voltage supplies are always negociated and designed in conjunction with the power company.

Transmission voltages:

110kV 50Hz
220kV 50Hz
and 400kV 50Hz


Remember that large-scale industrial installations are rarely off-the-shelf and may be transformed to and from various voltages! I really can't see the relevance of providing engineers with all of the local supply voltages it's more important to know wheather a sufficiently sized supply is available from the network in a given area.

E.g. you might be ill-advised to locate a huge electric arc furnace in a rural area !

[This message has been edited by djk (edited 06-04-2004).]

As far as LV in the U.K. is concerned, the different levels you may have seen quoted show the historical development of the network. Prior to the early 1970s, the nominal specification varied from area to area. For 3-ph 4-w the most common specs were 220/380, 230/400, 240/415 and 250/433V(the latter often listed as 250/440).

In the early 1970s full standardization was achieved across the country, the nominal supply then being 240/415V with an allowable tolerance of +/-6%.

A few years ago we adopted the new "Euro" standard specification of 230/400V, but it was the usual bureaucratic muddle and to allow the nominal voltage to be changed without actually doing anything, the British specification became 230/400V +10/-6%. The idea is that eventually our specification will be changed to 230/400V +/-10%.

So officially we are now 230/400, but in most areas for all practical purposes supplies are still 240/415.

Does that explain the varying figures you've seen, or does it confuse matters even more?

Frequency here is specified as 50Hz +/-1%.

By the way, on MV it's quite normal for industrial operations to take a supply at 11 or 33kV. Note that these levels are always distributed as 3-wire (no neutral) with delta-connected transformers at the receiving end. We don't use 4-wire MV distribution with some xfmrs wired phase-to-neutral as is common in the States.

Wenborg — US/ANSI standard C84.1-1995 has ~22 60Hz entries 120-1,100,000V. Available in PDF format for a fee at places like http://global.ihs.com/doc_detail.cfm?item_s_key=00008289




[This message has been edited by Bjarney (edited 06-04-2004).]

This is what I know in my neck of the woods (rural Ontario Canada), MV is distributed at 44KV Delta (sometimes in pairs, it is not uncommon to see six 44KV lines along major routes), that go directly to large industry, or substations down to 4-7 KV Wye (4KV for urban, 7KV for rural), either single, 3, or sometomes even 2/3 phases.

Austria is simple. 230/400V, 50Hz +/- 1%. MV IIRC usually 15kV, HV 110(?), 230 and 400kV. Distribution of anything exceeding 400V are a delta arrangement.

Note on Germany: from what I was told recently in some remote areas 230V delta supplies w/o neutral may still be encountered.

Below is a copy of an e-mail I sent Wenborg
---------
Hi!

I have taken the freedom to duplicate my reply in the thread on ECN. This to open it to public scrutiny and correction.

There are a large number of questionable pieces of information in my list. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to get the information verified. Much of the 230 vs. 220V/240V confusion is likely to stem from the fact that IEC has recommended 230V as the standard voltage for 50 Hz systems for many years. Even if utilities in many countries use is it today, they rarely have a campaign to tell the world. Unless voltage tolerances are strict, you leave the old transformers set to 220/240V and set the new to 230V.

>We have compared your list of available voltages and ours. There are several discrepancies. We
>have verified ours and ask that you recheck yours that do not match. Please let us know your
>findings. The list below are the countries in question.

I'm interested in how you have verified your list.

I have put I "No reference" for the countries where I have no reference, other than Steve Kroplas website or a single source of questionable credibility. I'm afraid the nice formatting in your message is lost when I reply.

>Country Your List Our List
>Algeria 133/230/230/400 127/220

No reference.

>Andorra 230 220/240

Andorra is between Spain and France and too small to be part of CENELEC, but it will almost certainly follow the same standard as Spain and France.

>Austria 230/400 220/380

230/400V is correct. The EU / CENELEC members switched to 230V 1 Jan 1995.

> Belgium 230/400 127/220/380/

230/400V. Belgium also has the old 127/220V system in use, but today only the phases are used and the voltage is nominally 230V.

> Botswana 230/400 220/380

No reference.

>Bulgaria 230/400 220/380

If it hasn't already changed to 230V it will do so in the future, as it is set to become a member of EU in 2007 and it is already an associate member of CENELEC.

>Cambodia 230/400 120/220/380
>Congo Republic 230/400 220/380

No reference.

>Croatia 230/400 230/380

230/380V is impossible as the phase to phase voltage is always 1.73 times the phase to neutral voltage in a wye system. Yes, I know you know that

>Cyprus 230/400 220\240\

The utility (there's only one) still lists 240/415V as the nominal voltage. I changed my list to 230/400V recently as Cyprus joined Cenelec on 1 Feb and the EU on 1 May 2004. This puts it in the common market and Cyprus has to accept 230/400V equipment.

>Czech Republic 230/400 220\400\

230/400V. Member of the EU from 1 May 2004.

>Denmark 230/400 220\240\380\

230/400V. See comment under Austria.

>Falkland Islands 240/415 220/240/380

I have tried to find information on this. 240/415V is merely an educated guess, not a fact.

>French Polynesia 220/380 120\127\220\
>Gambia 230/400 220\380\

No reference.

>Greece 230/400 220/380

230/400V. See comment under Austria.

>Guadeloupe 230/400 220/380

French overseas department. I have no reference for a change to 230V, but it is likely

>Iceland 230/400 220/380

230/400V. See comment under Austria. (I could give you a reference in Icelandic )

>India 240/415 220/230/380
>Indonesia 230/400/127/220 127/220/380

No reference.

>Ireland 230/400 220/380

230/400V See comment under Austria.

>Isle Of Man 230/400 240/415

This is a small island between Britain and Ireland. Officially independent, it has strong ties to the UK and gets its power from an underwater line from the British mainland. Likely to use 230/400V as everyone around them do.

>Italy 230/400/ 220/380

230/400V. See comment under Austria.

>Jordan 230/400 220/380

I have found no source to confirm the 230V. Go with 220/380V.

>Laos 230/400 220/380/

The only reference I have is a contact with a utility engineer working in Laos.

>Latvia 230/400 220/380/

I was in contact with the Latvian standards organisation last year. They were in the process of adjusting to 230V.

>Lebanon 230/400 110/220/380

The Lebanese power system was wrecked in the civil war and has been rebuilt in the 90's after Syria invaded. Apparently it was rebuilt to the same standard as in Syria (i.e. the European system) 220/380V or 230/400V.

>Libya 127/220/230/400 230/400

No reference.

>Liechtenstein 230/400 220

See the comment under Andorra. Lichtenstein is located between Switzerland and Austria. In addition it is a member of EFTA and thus part of the common market in Europe.

>Lithuania 230/400 220

230/400V or will soon be. Member of the EU from 1 May 2004.

>Luxembourg 230/400 120/208/220/380

See the comment under Austria.

>Macao 220/380 230/400

My list is now reads 230/400V.

>Malta 230/400 240/415

I was in contact with the standards org. in Malta last year. According to them, the nominal voltage was changed from 240/415V to 230/400V in 2002.

>Mongolia 230/400 127/220/380
>Myanmar - Burma 230/400 220
>Nepal 230/400 220/400

No reference.

>Netherlands 230/400 220/380

230/400V. See comment under Austria.

>Northfolk Island 240/415 230/400/
>Panama 110/120/240 110/115/120/220/230/240/

No reference.

>Philippines 125/216/220 110/120/220/230/

You are more likely to be correct.

>Poland 230/400 220/380

230/400V. Member of the EU from 1 May 2004.

>Portugal 230/400 220/380

230/400V. See comment under Austria.

>Romania 230/400 220/380

See comment under Bulgaria.

>Rwanda 230/400 220/380

No reference.

>Samoa 230/400 240/400

No reference. 240/400V is impossible. :-)

>San Marino 230/400 220/240

230/400V or maybe 230V. It's a small country in the middle of Italy.

>Senegal 133/230 230

No reference, but 230V is probably the correct one.

>Slovakia 230/400 220/380

230/400V or will be. Member of the EU from 1 May 2004.

>Slovenia 230/400 220/380

230/400V or will be. Member of the EU from 1 May 2004.

>Solomon Islands 240/415 220

I know I found it listed as 240/415V somewhere. I really should have made a list of references.

>Timor-Leste 230/400 220/240
The electrical system is being rebuilt/improved by international, in particular Australian, help after the Indonesians left. I don't think the nominal voltage matters, as the capital suffers from rolling blackouts. The team working on the power system have a webpage with the schedule somewhere. You could e-mail them. (Again, I should have made a list of references)

>Trinidad 115/230/230/400 115/220/380
>Tunisia 220/380/230 127/220/380

No reference.

>Turkey 230/400 220/380
No reference at hand.

>Tuvalu 240/415 60Hz 220 50Hz

This one has caused me some headache. As is the case with many a small island, trustworthy information is almost impossible to find.

>United Kingdom 230/400 230/415

230/400V. The law that changed to voltage from 240/415 to 230/400V can be found on line. And of course, 230/415 is an impossible voltage

>Vanuatu 240/415 230

See the comment under Tuvalu.

>Vietnam 127/220/380 120/127/220/380

I think I had a reference for this. (I really, really should have written the sources down!)

>Virgin Islands, British 110 220
>Virgin Islands, U.S. 110 120/240

No reference.

Regards,

Clas-Henrik


[This message has been edited by C-H (edited 06-06-2004).]

I can state nothing definite to what has already been stated, but I'll add a few extra thoughts on some of those entries.

>Algeria 133/230/230/400 127/220
A former French colony in North Africa, so 127/220 and 220/380 are quite likely in the past. If they've raised the 220 specification to 230, then it's possible that any old 127/220 systems (now maybe with only phase-to-phase loads) have been re-specified as 133/230.

>Falkland Islands 240/415 220/240/380
British territory, so it's quite likely that they standardized at 240/415 and have now adopted 230/400. I cannot confirm though.

>Guadeloupe 230/400 220/380

French overseas department. I have no reference for a change to 230V, but it is likely
Agreed. The French DOMs (Department Outre Mer) are considered a part of France itself officially, so the official French 230/400 standard would probably be adopted automatically. Ditto the nearby island of Martinque, also a French DOM.

>India 240/415 220/230/380
I've seen some references which indicate India still has 250/433 in places, as well as 3-wire DC services. I get the impression that there is yet to be full standardization across the country.

>Luxembourg 230/400 120/208/220/380
A small country less than the size of Rhode Island. 120/208 is most likely a misquote. It's more likely that the old lower-voltage systems were 127/220 like neighboring France and Belgium.

>Trinidad 115/230/230/400 115/220/380
It seems hard to get reliable information on the many Caribbean nations. There are odd variations from what one might expect, e.g. British territories like Bermuda using 120V at 60Hz and some places using 120V with American fittings but at 50Hz.

> Botswana 230/400 220/380
>Congo Republic 230/400 220/380
>Gambia 230/400 220\380\
>Rwanda 230/400 220/380
For many of these poor African countries the voltage regulation is so poor that it probably doesn't make that much difference whether it's nominally 220 or 230V.

I want to thank everyone for all the comments. They are all very helpful. The information you have provided does answer some of the questions of why there are so many discrepancies.

Any additional verification anyone can provide will be greatly appreciated.

In the above data, Wenborg, why is there no mention of Australia, South Africa, Madagasgar or New Zealand?.

[This message has been edited by Trumpy (edited 06-07-2004).]

That's a joke isn't it? Tell me it's a mistake or a joke!
Possibly @60Hz too? *shaking head in disbelief*

Liechtenstein doesn't even generate their own power, their grid is supplied from the Swiss power company. Or maybe it was the Austrian. In either case it should be 230/400V, 50Hz.

Several countries were not mentioned because there seemed to be total agreement on them. If you have information that you know is accurate on any country please include it. The countries listed were the ones that are very inconsistent in people’s lists.

For Luxembourg I have 230/400V 50Hz
For Liechtenstein I have 230/400V 50Hz

I should have added that the U.K. also uses the 110V for building-site power tools, the same as DJK described for Ireland.

Just to clarify the situation, there is no main PoCo distribution at these lower voltages. Building sites simply use a portable transformer which steps down the incoming supply from our standard LV level to either:

(a) a single-phase center-tapped 110V supply, so that each line is at 55V to ground, or

(b) on large sites a 3-phase transformer running a 64/110 wye secondary with all tools connected phase-to-phase.

There are also odd uses of "foreign" systems outside their normal region in places which aren't really in any country at all. For example, some of the North Sea oil rigs are apparently wired entirely to U.S. standards.

Non-standard voltage can also be be found on military bases, isolated hotels and quite possibly a few other businesses. (Oil fields and mines comes to mind as possible examples. Does anyone have any experience?)
Hotels sometimes offer both 110 and 220V for the guests' convenience.

Here is a reference for several countries:
http://www.copper.org.sg/publications/spotlight/v1_i1_2qtr_2003/story2.html

If 230/460V for the Phillipines looks odd, there is an explanation: Influenced by American practice (and using the US NEC), center tapped single phase is common.

Looking specifically at Vietnam:
http://www.copper.org.sg/publications/spotlight/v1_i1_2qtr_2003/1_coverstory2.html

and
http://www.copper.org.sg/publications/spotlight/v1_i1_2qtr_2003/story5.html

I find this interesting from a historical perspective as it shows the electrical systems of the colonial powers frozen in time: 110V was used long ago in France/Europe, both AC and DC. The Soviet Union had 127 volts until it converted to 220V sometime in the 1960's.

P.S. I have just paid for space at a real web server and will move my often non-working site there in a few weeks.

Quote from the above site: "It was noted that Vietnam’s fatality rate due to electric shock was ten times that of Malaysia (which in turn was ten times that of UK). The statistic underscored the potential of improvement in the electrical safety standards in Vietnam and the urgency of the issue of electrical code transition."

That leaves some room for improvement...

[This message has been edited by C-H (edited 06-09-2004).]

In general here's how it goes:

For LV it's relatively simple

Europe is extremely well harmonised.

*ALL* of Europe uses 230V 50Hz single phase and 400V 50Hz 3 phase.

With the exceptions of the UK, Ireland, Cyprus, Malta (BS1363), Italy, Denmark and Switzerland the CEE 7/7 grounded connector is effectively the universal standard. This fits 2 types of outlet: The more common German style with side-scraping ground contacts and the French style with a protruding ground pin (both outlets are recessed)) The 2.5A 2-pin flat ungrounded "Europlug" is universally acceptable in all countries and can be used in the BS1363 countries by means of a permanently fitted fused adaptor.

It can be safely presumed that any country that used 220-240V single phase 380-415V 3 phase at 50Hz will follow the Cenelec guidelines and move to 230V.

230V specified appliences will work happily in ALL European countries and in any other country using between 220 and 240V 50Hz.

----------------------------

Countries using 110-125V 60Hz generally follow trends in the USA.

------------------------------------------------

Exceptions:

Japan uses 100V 60Hz and 50Hz depending on which side of the country you are on! and some unusual 3-phase voltages.

Appliences specified for Japan must be 100V 50-60Hz.

-------------------------------------

Several countries continue to use the now long obsolete 110V and 127V 50Hz European systems.

However, in general you'll find information about these systems hard to come by and it's quite likely that they actually use 220-230V with 2-hots in many instances.

US appliences, particularly older products, may not be very happy on 127V 50Hz!!

---------------------------------------------