“ Replacing old assets which have high O & M costs is a win-win proposition if the increased value of the new assets is offset by reduced maintenance and higher availability.”
Brian Pokarier, Engineering & Projects Manager Powerlink, Australia May 1999
Photos: INMR ©
� Hoechst CeramTec( previously known as Rosenthal) was long one of the leaders in electrical porcelain in Europe and also one of the pioneers in developing silicone long rod insulators. But, during the mid- 1990s, the German chemical giant decided to divest itself of its legendary insulator unit and the business was sold to the Dynamit Nobel Group of Metallgesellscahft. It was at that time that INMR visited Board member, Dieter Kreuziger( right), as well as Bernhard Kahl( now MD at Lapp Insulators, the firm’ s current corporate identity) and Anke Schütz, one of the company’ s‘ bright young stars’ of the time.
� Utilities in South-East Asia seemed the ideal beneficiaries of new polymeric arrester technology introduced in the late 1980s and early 1990s, since all had long suffered from moisture ingress into porcelain-housed units exposed to continuous tropical conditions. Yet most of these same power companies approached the new technology with caution and decided to conduct local field tests to verify performance, such as one in Perak State by Malaysia’ s Tenaga Nasional Berhad. In 1996, ABB’ s Chris Schüpbach( left) accompanied INMR to meet TNB engineers Lee On Chye( center) and Hardanjit Singh Gosal who were overseeing trial installations of new polymeric arresters on a 22 kV network.
“ You should not aim to simply replace porcelain with a composite insulator because by simple substitution you will only realize half the possible benefits.”
Jens Innerling, Deputy Director( retired) Siemens, Germany, December 1995
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