Mapping of installed optical cables on electric energy transmission lines in Brazil and possible new applications

A great number of optical cable has been installed on electric energy transmission lines in Brazil. This work has been done by power utilities and telecommunication companies, which are, in general, state owned companies. However most of this work has been done independently. However, it became necessary to agglutinate this information. Cepel, the Brazilian Electric Energy Research Center, decided to compile all information related to the installation and use of optical cable on transmission lines (OCTL) in Brazil. We believe this work will help companies to link all the existing and planned systems, and to improve their connections and compatibility. The authors show tables and graphs with updated information. They also discuss how these systems can be used to monitor the energy transmission lines in a remote way to improve the system performance.