Pollution Maintenance Techniques in Coastal High Voltage Installations

Pollution of outdoor high voltage insulators is a common problem for utilities, with a considerable impact to power system reliability. In an effort to prevent possible flashovers due to pollution, many methods have been applied, aiming to improve the insulation performance, either by suppressing the formation of surface conductivity or by increasing the possible insulation level. In the case of substations, the selection of the appropriate technique is complex due to certain issues correlated to the nature of the installation. In this paper, several techniques usually implemented by utilities, are investigated based on the experienced gained in the case of Crete, a Greek island in southern Europe, where due to the coastal development of the power system, the majority of high voltage installations are exposed to intense marine pollution. The technique of coating insulators with Room Temperature Vulcanized Silicone Rubber (RTV SIR) has proved rather efficient and therefore is presented extendedly. Correlation of the material behaviour with environmental conditions is discussed and results from long term monitoring, including environmental parameters and leakage current measurements, in a 150 kV Substation are presented. It is shown that RTV SIR coatings have remarkably suppressed surface activity and that porcelain insulators exhibit different activity period when coated

DIAGNOSTIC REVIEW OF A BLACKOUT IN RHODES

U radu se daje tehnička analiza jednog incidenta koji se dogodio 21. ožujka 2007. godine u 00:50 sati u noći i doveo do dvosatnog potpunog raspada elektroenergetskog sustava na otoku Rodosu. Analiza događanja temelji se na registriranim operativnim podacima kao i nalazima na terenu. Izvršena je tehnička analiza smetnji kako bi se utvrdili vjerojatni uzroci i čimbenici koji su pridonijeli pojavi smetnji. S obzirom da se radi o izoliranom sustavu koji je osobito je osjetljiv na poremećaje, ispitane su uloge zaštite sustava kao i kolebanja proizvodnje vjetroelektrana tijekom incidenta. Izvučeni su zaključci od praktičnog značenja i dane su preporuke korektivnih mjera koje valja provesti kako bi se u budućnosti spriječile takve smetnje.A technical review of an incident on March 21, 2007 that began at 00:50 a.m. and led to a two-hour blackout of the island of Rhodes electric power system is presented with the complete sequence, including all the relevant registered operational data as well as the on-site field findings. A technical analysis of the disturbance was performed to determine the probable causes and factors that contributed to the duration of the disturbance. Since the system is an isolated one, it is particularly vulnerable to perturbations. The roles of system protection and wind power generation during the incident are examined. Conclusions of practical importance are drawn, including recommendations for corrective measures to be implemented for preventing disturbances of this kind from reoccurring in the future

Automating the classification of field leakage current waveforms”,

Abstract-Leakage current monitoring is widely employed to investigate the performance of high voltage insulators and the development of surface activity. Field measurements offer an exact view of experienced activity and insulators' performance, which are strongly correlated to local conditions. The required long term monitoring however, results to the accumulation of vast amounts of data. Therefore, an identification system for the classification of field leakage current waveforms rises as a necessity. In this paper, a number of 500 leakage current waveforms recorded on a composite post insulator installed at a 150 kV High Voltage Substation suffering from intense marine pollution, are investigated. The insulator was monitored for a period of 13 months. An identification system is designed based on the considered data employing Fourier analysis, wavelet multiresolution analysis and a neural network. Results show the large impact of noise in field measurements and the effectiveness of the discussed system on the considered data set

Towards Next Generation Short-term forcasting of Wind power - The Anemos Project

International audienceThis paper presents the objectives and the research work carried out in the frame of the ANEMOS project on short-term wind power forecasting. The aim of the project is to develop accurate models that substantially outperform current state-of-the-art methods, for onshore and offshore wind power forecasting, exploiting both statistical and physical modeling approaches. The project focus on prediction horizons up to 48 hours ahead and investigates predictability of wind for higher horizons up to 7 days ahead useful i.e. for maintenance scheduling. Emphasis is given on the integration of high-resolution meteorological forecasts. For the offshore case, marine meteorology is considered as well as information by satellite-radar images. Specific modules are also developed for on-line uncertainty and prediction risk estimation. An integrated software platform, 'ANEMOS', is developed to host the various models. This system will be installed by several end-users for on-line operation at onshore and offshore wind farms for prediction at a local, regional and national scale. The applications include different terrain types and wind climates, on-and offshore cases, and interconnected or island grids. The on-line operation by the utilities will allow validation of the models and an analysis of the value of wind prediction for a competitive integration of wind energy in the developing liberalized electricity markets in the EU