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Breakers & Relays


Vacuum Interrupter Testing for Circuit Breakers

How to predict field life using vacuum interrupters BY FINLEY LEDBETTER, Group CBS Utilities have widely replaced older air-magnetic and oil interrupters for circuit breakers rated at one kilovolt (kV) or higher with vacuum interrupters (VI) due to higher interrupt capability. Vacuum interrupters...

Substation Technologies


Ethernet Cable Selection for Utilities

Electric utilities are constantly searching for the most efficient, reliable and cost-effective methods to deliver electricity to customers. A vision for accomplishing this is the migration of the electrical grid from a reliable, but inflexible system to the Smart Grid, which promises adaptability...

Lightning Protection


Lightning Strikes

In Canada, lightning flashes occur about 2.34 million times a year; with the highest levels of concentration during the summer months. While most lightning on earth is ground-to-cloud,  recent research has identified that the majority of lightning events to tall structures, such as wind...

Substation Testing & Maintenance


High Voltage Testing with AC Power Frequency

High Voltage, Inc. is a small design and manufacturing company located in the Hudson Valley region of New York State. Although small, we are a large presence in the electrical test equipment industry with a representative organization covering most of the world and a highly respected product line...

Substation Protection


Physical Security & Monitoring


Current Trends in Transmission and Distribution

Sargent & Lundy has provided comprehensive engineering, development, permitting, high-level consulting, construction management, and commissioning services for electric power generation and power delivery projects worldwide—approximately 2,000 clients in nearly 100 countries—since...

Electrical Substations

Properly Grounded Substations

Adequate utility grounding improves power quality, but more importantly, it is essential for worker safety as well as public protection. Design is critical in maintaining a safe equipotential environment all around the substation.

Construction is important to accommodate fault currents without leaving the substation with dangerous potential gradients.

A tester must establish a sufficiently low resistance to remote earth so that operation remains within safe parameters. Similarly, safe step and touch potentials must be...

Electrical Substations Articles