Partial Discharge (PD) is a pre-breakdown phenomenon that occurs in cables, switchgear and
accessories. IPEC have pioneered PD monitoring technology as a tool for use in asset
management over the last 8 years, largely in collaboration with EDF Energy on their London
and South East based distribution network. As the technology has developed and markets
evolved it has become apparent that the most compelling business case for installation of
permanent monitoring is on high criticality circuits where a failure would pose safety
concerns or have a high financial impact. As a result IPEC’s strongest sales have been in the
industrial sector and in particular process plants for instance, chemical plants, steel plants and
semi-conductor fabs. In order to do this we have developed very sophisticated data acquisition
and analysis algorithms that can detect the small PD signals in very high background noise.
Much of IPEC’s business has been overseas into regions investing in manufacturing so
although gross margins on the technology are high so are the costs of sale. A typical
installation for a single substation may cost in the region of £25-35K.
With the high and rapidly increasing investment in off-shore wind farms around the UK, IPEC
have identified an opportunity to bring the benefits PD monitoring to offshore asset
management. The working environment of the high voltage network connecting wind turbines
is harsh, increasing the likelihood of defects and failure. In addition the cost of repairing a
failed component and the consequential damages are very high.
By permanently monitoring the network of subsea cables and switchgear that interconnect the
turbines, the asset operators will be able to identify and very accurately locate defects before a
failure occurs. In many cases this will allow preventative maintenance to be carried out thus
avoiding failure altogether.
Off-shore wind farms generally have a 20 year design lifetime and it is estimated that the cost
of this monitoring technology would be offset by avoiding just two failures over this period.