Tips & News - April 2012

TIPS NEWS &

Upgrading Surge Protection Past Behind: Leaving the By Denny Lenk Principal Engineer Hubbell Power Systems

Based on the article "Surge Arresters: Utility Surge Protection Upgrade Considerations," Published in NEMA electroindustry , July 2011, page 14.

U

tilities typically begin large scale improvements to their surge arrester ‘fleet’ in one of two ways: When they rebuild their system following a wide-scale disaster and after they realize that older arresters can significantly reduce system

reliability and efficiency.

For example, the tsunami in Japan and the recent severe tornado activity in the United States caused devastating damage to life and property. These violent, natural events also severely damaged the electrical grids in these areas. In Japan, the damage sustained by the three nuclear plants received major news coverage because of the environmental issues associated with the potential of nuclear meltdown. What did not get prime- time news coverage was the massive amount of work needed to repair and rebuild the damaged electrical infrastructure. • Voltage Generation at low voltage (LV) level (fossil fuel/nuclear generating plant, hydro dam, wind farm, or solar panels) • Transforming from LV generation to high voltage (HV) transmission voltages • Transmission of HV from generation to load (customer location) • Voltage transformation back to LV distribution (for residential or commercial use) The electrical grid consists of several important segments, including:

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