Insulated Cross Arms - 132kV Trials

Completed

Other Power and Storage Technologies(Electricity transmission and distribution)

Applied Research and Development

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Electrical and Electronic Engineering)

Not Cross-cutting

Project Contact
Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution plc (SHEPD)

Network Innovation Allowance

Ofgem

01 April 2011

01 April 2015

48 months

£394,000

Power

Scotland

Network Innovation Allowance

Project Contact, Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution plc (SHEPD)

Install Insulated Cross Arms on an operational 132kV tower line. Capture the learning of the installation methods. Monitor and evaluate the installed trial Insulated Cross Arms for both electrical and mechanical performance in order to establish their readiness for use in the real operational environment. The successful installation of the crossarms along with capturing the learning from their installation.

Currently the only method open to Transmission Network Owners (TOs) who wish to uprate their 132kV lines to 275kV is to rebuild the towers to a higher specification (i.e. larger towers), at a significant cost, due to the increased clearances from ground required by law for higher voltage lines. Insulated Cross Arms (ICAs) will enable the uprating without the need to rebuild the towers (by effectively raising the height of conductors from the ground). This would allow greater throughput of power on the existing network with less expense on upgrades and quicker time frames for increasing network capacity. The aim of the Insulated Cross Arms is to maximise the capacity of existing infrastructure without rebuilding tower lines. Under IFIT_2009_01, the Insulated Cross Arm technology was successfully tested for mechanical integrity on a de-energised line at the Lecht in Scotland and for electrical performance in a simulated non-operational environment at St Fergus also in Scotland. This project will install 6 Insulated Cross Arms on two 132KV towers as a trial of the retrofit Insulated Cross Arm concept on a real operational tower line. The trial crossarms will then be monitored for up to two years for mechanical and electrical performance.Note : Project Documents may be available via the ENA Smarter Networks Portal using the Website link above

20/08/18