DDGs & Reference Insulators Help Utility Monitor Pollution Across South Africa
Few factors more influence performance and life expectancy of insulators than the service conditions where they are installed. Knowing the levels of pollutants that deposit onto insulators during the course of the year is therefore the best way for power engineers to quantify and plan for the stresses that will affect reliability of overhead lines and substations.
One utility that has suffered from recurring pollution flashovers over the years is South Africa’ s Eskom – among the largest power companies in the world and alone the generator of 45 % of all electrical power on the African continent. With a vast network operating under the effects of coastal and industrial pollution as well as periodic bush fires, Eskom has for decades invested in carefully monitoring its service environment.
INMR accompanies Eskom technical specialist, Robert Faraday Watson, on such a data-gathering trip across more than 4000 km of varying landscapes and pollution sources.
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