Malaysia’s power system operates in a region of intense lightning activity that adversely impacts performance of certain lines, such as 132 kV Kuala Krai to Gua Musang line located in the northeast and the 500 kV Ayer Tawar to Bukit Tarek line which runs along the western coast of the Malay peninsula.

American Transmission Company (ATC) own and operates transmission lines in the States of Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota and Illinois. The system originally belonged to local utilities that had different standards and this resulted in a variety of different line surge arrester installations at 69 kV and 138 kV.

Application of gapped (EGLAs) or non-gapped (NGLAs) transmission line surge arresters (TLSAs) offers perhaps the best opportunity for power engineers to improve system reliability. However, as important as this may be, the value of using them transcends this one objective alone.

Protection against overvoltages using gapless zinc oxide surge arresters has been accepted and adopted worldwide. In particular, assets such as transformers, cables and gas-insulated substations are highly vulnerable to transient surges from lightning and switching.

Bushings are key components of HV substation equipment such as transformers and switchgear, allowing conductors to transfer energy from one insulating medium to another. Most typically, this is from an oil or SF6 insulation environment to air.

Not long ago, a HV cable termination operating in a Mediterranean country experienced catastrophic failure, sending high velocity porcelain shards in all directions.