Electrical utility operators face a growing number of challenges every day for the reliable operation of the transmission grid. These challenges range from man- aging aging infrastructure to meeting compliance re- quirements as the transmission operators focus more and more on achieving performance and safety tar- gets. The average age of operating power transform- ers in North America is around 40 years, which well beyond the projected operating life of the asset. Age is an important factor to be considered when analyz- ing the failure mechanisms. Although age by itself could be meaningless as a risk factor, its combination with other parameters could play an important role in the analysis of the failure mechanisms and statistics.. In addition to the age of the entire installation, other factors including protection devices and gauges, availability of spare parts, expert knowledge and in- formation about a given outdated design, lack of his- torical operational data and test results, cumulative effects of external stresses such as through faults, lightning and overloads, among others, must be con- sidered. Combined, all the above aspects certainly in- crease the risk of failure, particularly in the regions where demand growth and power quality play a lead- ing role, as additional constraints to an already aged infrastructure.
展开▼
