Could somebody please explain why we step up the voltage when transmitting electricity over long distances? I have read it is to reduce energy losses. Why does a high voltage not result in high energy losses? Could you also show me it using the p=v^2/R equation as thats where my difficulties lie. If the voltage is really high would the power losses not me bigger?
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In your expression $v$ is the voltage drop across the cables which will decrease as the resistance of the cables $R$ is decreased.
In your expression for the power loss the voltage term is squared and so the numerator $v^2$ decreases faster than the denominator R as the resistance decreases, thus the power loss in the cables decrease as the resistance of the cables decreases.
If the current is $I$ then the voltage drop across the cables $v=RI$ and so the power loss is $\dfrac{\left ( RI\right )^2}{R}=I^2R$ which is perhaps a more familiar form?
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