Energy is globally crucial and must be provided when and where needed to avoid a serious impact on society. Among all forms of energy, electricity has an increasingly central role. The rapid and large-scale introduction of renewable energy sources to provide sufficient clean energy to help solve the problems related to climate change is a priority for many governments. It is expected that by 2050 electricity consumption will represent 1/3 of all energy use.
Electricity security is the power system's capability to withstand disturbances or contingencies with an acceptable service disruption level and it represents a crucial concern for policy decision making at all levels in any country. In Europe, energy security is 1 of the 4 actions of the Integrated Roadmap of the EU Strategic Energy Technology Plan. Because electricity is difficult to store efficiently, demand and supply must be matched in real time, hence the need to ensure the resilience of transmission and distribution networks is paramount. Often, service disruption is due to cable insulation damage, which is something often associated with partial discharge (PD) events. PDs are localized electrical discharges that partially bridge the insulation between conductors. PDs are one of the best early-warning indicators of insulation degradation and potential failure meaning that PD location is an excellent method to monitor network integrity and a desirable protection method to enhance electricity security.
The emiT project’s main aim was to develop a new on-line PD location method, based on the innovative electromagnetic time reversal (EMTR) theory, in a way that can overcome the shortcomings associated with classical PD location techniques, resulting in improved accuracy, tolerance of electrical noise, coping with uneven and jointed cables, and reaching these goals using only one observation point (OP) thus avoiding the use of complex synchronised measurements necessary for the classical location approach.
The project focused on 3 specific objectives:
1. To develop a numerical simulation of the system useful to analyse PD events and PD signal propagation on power networks, through training on computational electromagnetics (CEM) at the Host Institution.
2. To design a new EMTR-based method, studying EMTR theory in collaboration with the Academic project partner, The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, where the first applications of EMTR in the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) field have been studied.
3. To experimentally validate the method in networks on service, with HVPD ltd, in Salford, UK, the industrial project partner , experts in on-line PD condition monitoring.
