3672 IEEE Transaction on Power Apparatus and Systems, Vol. PAS-103, No.

12, December 1984

TRANSMISSION LINE INSULATION DESIGN AT HIGH ALTITUDE

T. H. Frick J. R. Stewart A. R. Hileman C. R. Chowaniec T. E. McDermott

Member Sr. Member Fellow Member Member
Public Service Company Westinghouse Electric Corporation
of Colorado Pittsburgh, PA

Abstract. The Public Service Company of TABLE I

Colorado plans to initiate 345-kV transmission at
altitudes of 1250 to 3680 m. Compared to sea-level 345-kV Line Characteristics
designs, the increase in the required tower strike
distance has been predicted at about 50% for
altitudes of 3600 m [1]. However, by use of surge Altitude, m Length
arresters at station entrances and preinsertion Line Range Average km Conductor
resistors in the circuit breakers, the tower
insulation design is comparable to present lower Southeast
altitude designs.
Waterton 1250-2260 1620 351
INTRODUCTION Smoky Hill 1250-1830 1550 322 Ortol an*
Boone 1250-1430 1310 134
The planned system expansion of the Public
Service Company of Colorado (PS Colorado) consisted San Luis-Taos 2130-2440 2270 142 Rail*
of (1) a 1000-MW generation station at Southeast
with 345-kV transmission northward to Waterton and Basalt-Malta 2090-3680 2950 82 Bittern**
Smoky Hill, and westward to Boone, (2) 345-kV
transmission from Taos, New Mexico to San Luis, Dillon-Blue 2570-3070 2870 27 Bittern**
Colorado, and (3) uprating from 230-kV to 345-kV the River
high-altitude lines from Basalt to Malta and from
Dillon to Blue River. The altitudes and lengths of Two-conductor bundle arranged
these lines are shown in Table I along with the * horizontally or ** vertically
two-conductor bundles selected by PS Colorado. The
vertical to horizontal span length ratio is
approximately 1.00 for these lines except for the
Basalt-Malta line where the ratio varies from 1.00 Two types of designs are investigated: (1)
to 1.15 and for the Dillon-Blue River line where the V-string insulators on all phases and (2) the IVI
ratio is approximately 1.18. design having I-strings on the outside phases and
This 345-kV system was to be initiated in 1983. V-strings on the center phase. In addition, the
However, decreased load growth and the slowing of uprating of the 230-kV Dillon-Blue River line to 345
the oil-shale projects led to postponement of the kV is analyzed.
Southeast plant and the three lines emanating from In this paper, "insulator," refers to a 146 x
this plant. 254 mm (5.75 x 10 inch) insulator.
The purpose of this paper is to present the
results of a study to develop the tower insulation
requirements for these lines. The essential POWER FREQUENCY REQUIREMENTS
features of the analysis will be demonstrated by
considering two of the lines: (1) the The contamination environment for the 345-kV
Southeast-Waterton line having the longest length lines may be classified as very light to none. Since
and a large altitude range and (2) the no laboratory test data exists to estimate the effect
Dillon-Blue River line having the shortest length at of altitude, the experience of other utilitiles was
high altitude. used as the sole basis of selection. Based on the
The essential philosophy of design is to first successful use of 18 and 15 insulators (I-strings) by
select the insulation requirements for lightning and Utah Power and Light at altitudes of 3 km and 1.8 km,
power frequency voltages and to control switching respectively, 16 insulators were selected for the
surges to the extent that the switching surge Southeast and San Luis-Taos lines, and 18 insulators
insulation requirements are equal to or less than were selected for the Ba! It-Malta and Dillon-Blue
those for lightning and power frequency voltages. River lines.
The lightning and power frequency requirements are
selected by comparison with present 230- and 345-kV
designs, and thus the primary emphasis of this paper LIGHTNING REQUIREMENTS
is placed on switching surges.
The lightning insulation requirements are based
on the acceptable performance of the present 230-kV
84 T&D 317-4 A paper recommnended and approved lines. Keraunic levels range from 50 to 70
by the IEEE Transmission and Distribution Committee thunderstorm days per year. Using 16 insulators in
of the IEEE Power Engineering Society for presenta- the mountainous areas and 14 insulators in the
tion at the IEEE/PES 1984 Transmission and plateaus, the lightning tripout rates at 230 kV are
Distribution Conference, Kansas City, Missouri, 0.8 to 1.5 and 0.6 to 1.3 tripouts per 100 km per
April 29 May 4, 1984. Manuscript submitted
- year, respectively. These tripouts are primarily
November 4, 1983; made available for printing attributed to the backflash event.
February 29, 1984. Assuming that the 345-kV lines will have the same
grounding conditions and will be located in the same
terrain, almost identical performance can be achieved
for the 345-kV lines by increasing the number of
insulators and the clearance to account for the
0018-9510/84/1200-3672$01.00O©1984 IEEE
 3673
increase in power frequency voltage, the decrease in TABLE II
coupling factors, and the increase in tower height.
One additional insulator is required to account for Switching Surge Study Results,
power frequency [2] and another insulator is added 345-kV Reclosing Voltages in Per Unit of
to account for the other two factors. Thus, the Nominal Crest Line-to-Ground Voltage
lightning requirements are: (1) 16 insulators for (345-kV Nominal System Voltage)
the Southeast and San Luis-Taos lines and (2) 18
insulators for the Dillon-Blue River and Highest
Basalt-Malta lines. The strike distance from the Line Arrester Resistor p.u.
U Voltage
phase conductor to the tower should be equal to the
insulator string length [1]. For I-strings, this Southeast - No No 3.48 0.13 RE
distance is set at a zero-degree swing angle. Waterton No Yes 2.13 0.09 RE
Yes No 2.15 0.07 1/2*
Yes Yes 1 .82 0.05 3/4*
SWITCHING SURGE REQUIREMENTS
Dillon- No No 3.44 0.17 RE
The required strike distance and number of Blue River No Yes 2.28 0.17 RE
insulators are determined using a switching surge Yes No 2.16 0.05 1/2*
flashover rate (SSFOR) design criterion of 1.0 Yes Yes 1.78 0.05 SE
flashovers per 100 switching surges or per 100
reclosures of the three-phase breaker. (In this * The value, 1/2, refers to the mid-point of the line,
paper the SSFOR will be given in terms of per the value, 3/4, refers to 3/4 of the line length
100 switching surges.) To determine the SSFOR as a from Southeast. RE = Receiving End. SE = Sending
function of strike distance, the switching End.
overvoltages (SOV) along the line and their
statistical distributions are first determined
using the ANACOM transient network analyzer . The
statistical variability of insulation strength as 3.4 NO R
modified by relative air density, and by wind in the
case of I-strings, was then convolved with the SOV
distributions to determine the SSFOR. _ R
Surge arresters will be employed at the line Cf 2.6
entrance to all stations. Therefore, the primary w
NO R
question concerns the necessity of pre-insertion 4
- - c

resistors in the circuit breakers. However, to 1.8

compare results and to illustrate the effect of 0

arresters, cases without arresters will also be

presented. IA

ANACOM Study Results D I LLON 1/2 BLUE

RIVER
SOV distributions were estimated by the
voltages obtained from 200 random closings of the
breaker. The cases which resulted in the largest Fig. 1. SOV Profiles on the Dillon-Blue River Line,
SOV's are presented in Table II for the two lines Switching at Dillon, No Arrester,
considered. The random time of breaker closing was ------ With Arresters.
approximated by a Gaussian distribution truncated at
+ 3 standard deviations from the mean with the
standard deviation of the main contacts of 1.33 ms.
For breakers with pre-insertion resistors, the mean
resistor insertion time is 10 ms with a standard
deviation of 0.67 ms. Two resistors, 300 and
450 ohms, were considered. The cases which resulted
in the larger SOV's are listed in Table II.
The metal-oxide arrester modelled has a maximum a.

continuous operating voltage of 209 kV. The gap

located across a portion of the metal-oxide sparked 49
over at 1.80 p.u. of the nominal crest
line-to-ground voltage (345-kY nominal system 0

voltage) and the crest discharge voltage at 3 kA was

also 1.80 p.u. The maximum current recorded through
the arrester was 1.4 kA, and the maximum energy was
less than half of the rated capability. -SOUTHEAST 1/2 3/4 WATERTON
The SOV's obtained are approximated by Gaussian
or piece-wise Gaussian distributions. These
distributions are defined by two parameters: E2,
the statistical switching overvoltage [3]; and a/E Fig. 2. SOV Profiles on the Southeast-Waterton Line,
where a is the standard deviation. Table II alio Switching at Southeast, No Arrester,
lists the location on the line at which the largest ------ With Arresters.
SOV's were recorded and to which the values of E2
and a/E refer. the lowest values of E2, which approximates the
Thg effect of both breaker resistors and switching surge protective level of the arresters. A
arresters can be noted from Table II. The use of further insight into this effect is shown in Figures 1
either breaker resistors or arresters decreases the and 2 which show the voltage profiles along the line
value of E2 to approximately the same value. The for the maximum voltage recorded. For Figure 1, only
combination of arresters and resistors results in the ends and the mid-point of the short Dillon-Blue
3674
River line were monitored. Of the two amel io-
rating devices, the arrester (with no resistor) is
superior to the breaker resistor (with no arrester).
With arresters and resistors, the voltage along the
line is essentially constant. Figure 2, for the
longer Southeast-Waterton line, shows that the
arrester at Waterton significantly decreases the
voltage for about half the length of the line. The
arrester at Southeast, because the voltage at this
switched end of the line is low, has only a small
effect on the voltage profile. For this longer
line, the resistor is more effective in decreasing
the voltage over the entire line. However, the
arrester maintains lower voltages within 1/4 of the
line from Waterton. Again, the combination of the
arrester and resistor results in the lowest
voltages.
The effect of arresters in modifying the
statistical distribution of SOV's is illustrated by
Figure 3 for the Southeast-Waterton line. The
horizontal lines indicate the maximum recorded SOV.
The straight lines drawn through the data for cases
without the arresters appear to approximate the data
reasonably well. However, the distribution at the
receiving end (RE) with the arrester shows the
distribution approximated by three straight lines.
Before gap sparkover, the arrester characteristic is
approximated by two piece-wise linear resistors.
The point at which the second lower valued resistor
becomes effective is at 1.72 p.u., which is
reflected as a point of discontinuity on the curve
of Figure 3.
2.3
2.1
a:
1.9
0
4t
I-i>
0 respectively.
1.7
1.
20 40 60 90 98 99.5
PROBABILITY, PERCENT LESS THAN ORDINATE
Fig. 3. SOV Distributions (on Gaussian Probability
Paper) for Southeast-Waterton Line With
Pre-insertion Resistors.
Switching Impulse Insulation Strength and Wind Speed
The equations and assumptions for the switching
impulse insulation strength for this study are
identical to those of [1]. However, the statistical
distribution of wind speed used in this study
differs from that of [1]. In brief review:
1. The statistical insulation strength was
characterized by a cumulative Gaussian
distribution, having a mean equal to the CFO
and a coefficient of variation of 5%. The
equation for the CFO, in kV, is:
CFO = k ( 1) 8 (1)
6 = 0.997 - 0.106 (A) (2)
m = 1.12 - 0.12 (S) (3)
k = 1.15 and 1.24 (4)
for V-string center and
outside phases, respectively
where S is the strike distance in meters, A is
the altitude in km, and 6 is the mean relative
air density. (The standard deviation of 6 is
small and need not be considered.) For
I-strings, k is assumed to be 1.24, and S is the
smallest of three strike distances: to the tower
side, to the tower truss, and the insulator
string length divided by 1.05. This latter
factor accounts for the degradation of insulation
strength of the insulator string under wet
conditions.
2. For I-string insulators, the effect of wind in
decreasing (or increasing) the strike distance is
considered by conservatively assuming that the
wind direction is normal to the phase conductor
and that the wind speed is simultaneously applied
to the entire line. The statistical variation of
wind speed is approximated by an Extreme Value
(positively skewed) distribution, since this
distribution was found to better fit the wind
speeds measured at Denver [1]. The two selected
parameters of this distribution are (1) a
100-hour wind speed of 60 km/h and (2) a slope
parameter equal to 15% of the 100-hour wind speed
[1]. The insulator swing angle, as, is
approximated by the equation,
a = tan1 (Kv1.6) (5)
K = 1.138 x 10-4 V7F[
D/W (6)
where v is the wind speed in km/h, D is the
conductor diameter in cm, and W is the conductor
weight in kg/m. V and H are the vertical (or
weight) and horizontal (or wind) span lengths,
Calculation of SSFOR
To calculate the SSFOR for the line, each of
the lines was divided into constant altitude
sections as illustrated in Figures 4 and 5.
Calculations of the SSFOR for the line were performed
assuming a constant value of strike distance for the
entire line. Therefore, the CFO and the resultant
SSFOR for each section differs from that of other
sections. For example, the section SSFOR's are
presented in Figures 4 and 5 for a total line SSFOR
of 1.0 and using the CFO for a V-string, center phase.
All values in these figures are for cases with
arresters. The largest section SSFOR would be
expected to occur at the highest altitude section,
however the section SSFOR is also a function of the
voltage profile and the number of towers (or the line
length) in that section. For example, for the line of
Figure 5, with no resistor, the highest SOV occurs at
the middle of the line, and therefore the middle
section should have the highest SSFOR if all sections
were at the same altitude and had the same number of
towers. For this case, the effect of the voltage
profile and number of towers dominates since the
mid-section of the line, Section 2, has the highest
SSFOR (.619). For the case with resistors, the
voltage profile is flatter, the effect of altitude
predominates, and the highest altitude section has the
largest SSFOR (.832).
 3675
10

E 0
.0 A
D^ 5 CENTER
2.9 L...03 OUTSIDE\

Za8- w

2.7 UI)

2.6 DILLON BWE RIVER U0.5

25 0
UA.
0 5 10 15 20 25 0.1

LINE LENGTH, km
Fig. 4. Altitude Profile of Dillon-Blue Ri ver Line 0.05
1.8 2.2 2.6 32 34
Showing Approximation By Eight
Constant-Altitude Sections. STRI KE DISTANCE, m
Fig. 6A. Required V-String Strike 'Distances For
Switching Surges, Dillon-Blue River Line,
Z.4 .120
With Resistor, Without Arrester.
---Average of Two Outside
SSFOR
.832 and One Center Phase
2.2
NO RESISTOR--.573
E 2o WITH RESISTOR- 27
.W 1 ~~~~~~~~114
1.8 .619

1.6
1.4
'.4
12 SOUTHEAST WATERTON

I.0
100 200 300
LINE LENGTH, km

Fig. 5. Altitude Profile For Southeast-Waterton 2.2 24 2.6

Line Showing Approximation by Five STRIKE DISTANCE,m
Constant Altitude Sections.
Fig. 6B. Required V-String Strike Distances For
Determination of Strike Distances Switching Surges, Dillon-Blue River Line,
Without Resistor, With-Arrester.
The SSFOR was calculated for several strike ---Average of Two Outside
distances, and typical results for the Dillon-Blue and One Center Phase
River line are plotted in Figures 6 and 7. Two
designs are considered: the "all V-string" design
and the IVI design. Ul)
For the all V design, the V-strings on each
phase are assumed to have the same strike distance.
The outside phases will therefore have a higher
strength than the center phase, which is reflected
in the larger value of k used in (1) for the outside
8
phase (1.24 versus 1.15 for the center phase). The
solid curves of Figures 6A and 6B show the resulting 0
SSFOR for the outside and center phases plotted as a
function of strike distance. The total line SSFOR
Cl)
4g
for any specific strike distance is the average of LU
UI.
the two outside phase SSFOR's and the center phase
SSFOR. This total line SSFOR is plotted as a dotted
curve in Figures 6A and 6B for the all V design. Cl)
Ul)
The required strike distance is then determined by
entering the ordinate at the design criterion, such
as an SSFOR of 1, and reading the corresponding ..2 2.6 3.0 34
value of strike distance from the dotted curve. For STRIKE DISTANCE,m
the case with pre-insertion resistors but no line
entrance arresters (Figure 6A), the required strike Fig. 7A. Required I-String Strike Distances For
distance is approximately 2.56 meters. With line Switching Surges, Dillon-Blue River Line,
entrance arresters but no resistors (Figure 6B), the Outside-Phases. Inward, Swing Toward Tower
required strike distance is reduced to about 2.52 and Outward Swing, With Resistor, Without
meters. Arrester'.
3676

resi stors.
O 5 \
The strike distance selection procedure for an
I STRING
-
IVI design should result in strike distances for the
5 NESC I-strings and for the center phase V-string so that
16 INSULATORS the average of the center phase SSFOR and the two
0 outside phase SSFOR's equals the design criterion.
0
For a design SSFOR of 1.0 with pre-insertion resistors
but without line entrance arresters, the curves of
WI

o
Figure 6A (solid curve for center phase) and Figure 7B
0
18
are entered at a SSFOR of 1.0 resulting in strike
'
0.5 -
distances of 2.69 m for the center phase and 2.55 m
-j
LU. for the outside phase for an 18-insulator I-string.
The minimum insulator string length for the V-string
is 1.05 times the strike distance. Therefore, the
_ minimum center phase string length is 2.82 m, which is
0.1 20
equivalent to 19 insulators. To meet NESC
requirements [4], the strike distance for the
0.05 I-strings must be increased to 2.76 m. At this strike
1.8 2.2 2.6 5O 3.4 distance, using 18 insulators, the SSFOR from Figure
STRIKE DISTANCE, m 7B is 0.8. To achieve a total SSFOR for the line of
Fig. 7B. Required I-String Strike Distances 1.0, the center-phase SSFOR can be as high as
[3-2(0.8)] = 1.4. For this SSFOR, the center phase
For Switching Surges, Dillon-Blue River V-string strike distance is 2.62 m, and 19 insulators
Line, Outside Phases. Average of Inward are still required.
and Outward Swing With Resistor, Without Similar calculations can be performed for the
Arrester. case in which line entrance arresters and no pre-
insertion resistors are used. From Figures 7C and 6B,
and neglecting NESC requirements, the minimum I-string
10 and center phase V-string strike distances are 2.46 m
W
10
-
\)\ I- STRINGS
IS INSULATORS
and 2.60 m, respectively. Nineteen insulators would
still be required for the center phase. Using an
G \A
|\ I-string strike distance of 2.76 m to meet the NESC
AVERAGE requirements results in an SSFOR of 0.11 for the
8
outside phases, thus permitting an SSFOR of 2.78 for
the center phase V-string. From Figure 6B, a center
phase strike distance of 2.53 m is obtained, and the
w

O.S
number of insulators is reduced to 18.
-
SWING IN Table III presents the results for various
SWING OUT
combinations of pre-insertion resistors and/or line
entrance arresters using this methodology. For either
NESC
line, use of either pre-insertion resistors or
0
arresters alone results in almost the same
0.1 strike distance and insulator requirements. For
either line the use of both pre-insertion resistors
2.0 2.2 2A 2.6 2. 3.0 and arresters results in the smallest values of
required strike distance.
STRIKE DISTANCE,m

Fig. 7C. Required I-String Strike Distances OVERALL REQUIREMENTS

For Switching Surges, Dillon-Blue River
Line, Outside Phases. Inward and Power frequency voltage and lightning consider-
Outward Swings and Average Without ations require the use of 18 insulators for the
Resistor, With Arrester. Dillon-Blue River line and 16 insulators for the
Southeast-Waterton line. Considering lightning, the
The metbodology
for the IVI design is somewhat strike distance when the string is in the vertical
more wind direction normal to the
i nvol ved. For a
position should be equal to the insulator string
line, one I-string swings in toward the tower, and length. The strike distance required by lightning is
the other ILstring swings out. Therefore, the SSFOR compared to that for switching surges in Table III.
for the line is the average of these two SSFOR's and Using the philosophy that switching surges should be
the SSFOR .Jor the center phase V-string. The controlled so that lightning and/or power frequency
SSFOR's with resistors and without arresters for the requirements dictate the design, the comparison of
I-string swung in toward the tower and the I-string strike distances indicates whether resistors are
swung out from the tower are plotted in Figure 7A as required in the circuit breaker.
a function of strike distance, with the number of
As stated
previously, arresters will be used at the station line
insulators as the parameter. The strike distance entrances. For the all V-string design, breaker
for I-strings used in this paper is measured to the resistors are not required for either line. If NESC
side of the tower with the string hanging vertically requirements are neglected for the IVI design, again
(i.e. no-wind conditions). As the strike distance resistors are not required. However, employing the
increases, a point is reached beyond which the NESC clearances for I-strings shows that if resistors
insulator string length determines the SSFOR and the are used, the strike distance may be decreased by
curves become horizontal. The average of the two 0.31 m for the Southeast-Waterton line but by only
SSFOR curves in Figure 7A is plotted against strike 0.13 m for the Dillon-Blue River line. Based on these
distance in Figure 7B. Figure 7C shows the SSFOR's values, a breaker resistor is consioered desirable
of the two outside phases and the average SSFOR for only for the Southeast-Waterton line, and then only
the I-strings with arresters and no pre-insertion for the IVI design.
 3677
TABLE III
Switchi ng Surge Insulation Requirements
Compared To Those For Lightning

Al 1 IVI
Desi gn V-Strings I ~ Vv
Line Arrester Resister Criterion S, m Ins S, m Ins S, m Ins
Southeast- No Yes SSFOR 2.25 16 2.23 16 2.34 17
Waterton No Yes NESC 2.25 16 2.61* 16 2.23 16
Yes No SSFOR 2.26 16 2.21 16 2.34 17
Yes No NESC 2.26 16 2.65* 16 2.26 16
Yes Yes SSFOR 1 .95 16 1.96 16 2.02 16
Yes Yes NESC 1.95 16 2.35* 16 1.95 16
Lightning 2.34 16 2.34 16 2.34 16
Dillon-Blue River No Yes SSFOR 2.56 18 2.55 18 2.69 19
No Yes NESC 2.56 18 2.76* 18 2.62 19
Yes No SSFOR 2.52 18 2.46 18 2.60 19
Yes No NESC 2.52 18 2. 76* 18 2.53 18
Yes Yes SSFOR 2.07 18 2.07 18 2.13 18
Yes Yes NESC 2.07 18 2.38* 18 1.99 18
Li ghtni ng 2.63 18 2.63 18 2.63 18

* NESC Requirement

UPRATING DILLON-BLUE RIVER From a, lightning 'viewpoint, the center phase

The present 230-kV tower used on the
Dillon-Blue River line, shown in Figure 8, employs
16 insulators on all phases and has a 2.29 m strike
distance for the center phase and a 3.19 m strike
distance for the outside phases with the I-strings
in the vertical position. Using 18 insulators
results in an increased outside phase strike
distance of 3.30 m, but decreases the center phase
strike distance to 1.91 m. If the vertical bundle
is changed to a horizontal bundle, the center phase
strike distance of 2.13 m is below the previously
stated requirement s of 2.63 m. However, this
requirement was based on a horizontal or flat con-
figuration of phase conductors. For the tower in
Figure 8, the center priase, being in closer proximity
to the ground wires, has a higher coupling factor.
Therefore, the lightning surge voltage across the
center phase insulation will be lower. To achieve
equal surge voltages across each of the phase
insulations, the center phase strike distance may be
reduced by the ratio of (1 coupling factor) of the
-

strike distance increases to 2.13 m. With arresters
located at station entrances, the SSFOR for the
center phase, the outside phases, and the total line
are presented in Table IV. The SSFOR for a
16-insulator V-string in the center phase is
presented for comparison purposes. All strike
distances exceed the NESC requirements. The values
of Table IV show that to achieve the stated SSFOR
design criterion of 1.0, a breaker resistor is
required and the conductor bundle should be in the
horizontal position.
center to the outside phases. Coupling factors to
the center and outside phases are 40% and 20%,
respectively. Therefore, the approximate strike
distance requirement for the center phase is 75% of
2.63 m or 1.97 m. Thus the strike distance *of 2.13 m
with 18 insulators meets all requirements.
In conclusion, uprating of this line requires
the use of pre-insertion resistors in the breakers,
and the center phase bundle should be in a hori-
zontal configuration.

TABLE IV CHANGING TOWER DESIGN WITH ALTITUDE

SSFOR's For Uprated Dillon-Blue River For a specific line where the altitude changes
Line, Arresters At Station Entrances appreciably along the line, consideration may be
given to designing two or more towers having
different strike distances to achieve a lower cost
Brkr Outside Phase Center Phase Total line. Considering the two lines of this study, based
R Ins. SSFOR Ins. CB S, m SSFOR SSFOR on the maximum change in altitude, the
Southeast-Waterton line with a variation of 1010 m
No 18 .10 16 Vert 2.29 22 7.4
appears to be a better candidate for study than the
18 Vert 1.91 50 17 Dillon-Blue River line which varies in altitude by
18 Hort 2.13 40 13 only 500 m. In addition, the highest section SSFOR
for the Dillon-Blue River line is not at the highest
Yes 18 0 16 Vert 2.29 0.03 0.01
altitude (see Figure 4). For the Southeast-Waterton
18 Vert 1 .91 19 6.3 line, for the case where both arresters and resistors
18 Hort 2.13 1.2 0.4 are used, the largest section SSFOR occurs at the
highest altitude (see Figure 5). Therefore, this
Brkr R = Breaker Resistor latter case represents a possible candidate for
CB = Conductor Bundle Configuration alternate tower designs at different altitudes.
3678
Table V insulation dimensions at high altitude may be
Results of Study of Alternate Altitude made similar to present designs at lower
Design for Southeast-Waterton Line, altitudes.
With Arresters and Resistors 2. The present 230-kV Dillon-Blue River line may be
uprated to 345-kV.
CFO = 646 kV Two-Al ti tude 3. Station line entrance surge arresters are
Section S, m SSFOR S, m SSFOR effective in reducing switching overvoltages on
lines, with the reduction being greater on
1 Southeast
- 1 .82 0.10 1.93 0.01 shorter length lines.
2 1.93 0.62 1.93 0.62 4. For I-string insulators, NESC clearances for
3 2.01 0.34 2.09 0.06 switching surges are the limiting design
4 2.09 0.20 2.09 0.20 criterion.
5 - Waterton 1.97 0.06 1.93 0.18 5. Investigations are needed to determine insulation
requirements for power frequency voltages at high
Line SSFOR 1.0 0.9 altitude.
REFERENCES
[1] A. R. Hileman, "Weather and its Effect on Air
Insulation Specifications," to be presented at
the IEEE/PES Winter Meeting, Feb., 1984.
[2] J. M. Clayton and F. S. Young, "Estimating
Lightning Performance of Transmission Lines,"
IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems
Nov., 1964, pp 1102-1110.
[3] American National Standard for Power Systems -
Insulation Coordination, ANSI C92.1-1982.
[4] National Electric Safety Code, ANSI C2, 1984
Edition.

Fig. 8. Dillon-Blue River 230-kV Tower,

16 Insulators.
To assess the effect of alternate strike
distances at each altitude, the latter case was
studied-by setting the CFO of all towers of the line
constant at 646 kV for an assumed center phase
V-string. This value of CEO produced a total line
SSFOR of 1.0, and the resultant strike distances and
SSFOR's for each of the constant altitude sections
are presented in Table V. These strike distances
should be compared to a strike distance of 2.02 m
which, if used in all sections, also results in a
line SSFOR of 1.0. The maximum variation in strike
distance for the constant CFO design is 0.27 m, or
13% of the strike distance for the constant strike
distance design.
Usually, the incremental change of strike
distance with attitude for all of the five sections
would not be, practical. Therefore, a two-altitude
design is considered using a strike distance of
1.93 m in three sections and 2.09 m in the two
higher altitude sections. As shown in Table V, this
design results. in a total SSFOR of 0.9. The change
in strike distance for the two-altitude design is
reduced to only 0.16 m. Although an. economic
assessment has not been made, it appears reasonable
to conclude that for this line, a two (or more)
altitude design is not justified.
CONCLUSIONS
.The following conclusions are limited to this
specific study:
1. By use of station line entrance surge arresters
and pre-insertion breaker resistors, line

Discussion
Kent C. Jaffa (Utah Power & Light Company, Salt Lake City, Utah):
This a very interesting paper illustrating the effects of altitude, line ar-
resters and pre-insertion resistors on insulation design. It should prove
to be a helpful reference showing how these factors should be handled
as part of an insulation coordination study.
The authors discussed UP&L Company's operating experience. As
mentioned, we have generally had very good performance with 18 in-
sulators (V or I string configurations) at altitudes of 1.8 to 3.0 km. The
15-insulator experience is on a transmission line which was converted
from 230 kV to 345 kV in 1977. This converted line consists of 800 H-
frame towers with either 15 or 17 insulator I-strings. There are approx-
imately the same number of 15 and 17 insulator towers which are ran-
domly distributed along the line. The performance of this line has been
good with few storm and explained outages. This line has experienced
about 1.7 unexplained outages/100 miles/year. Overall, it has been a
satisfactory line.
In the fall of 1980, another 345-kV line was built essentially adjacent
to the converted line. It is a steel lattice H-frame with 18-insulator V-
strings. Recently, it became apparent that this new line with more in-
sulation was having more outages than the converted line. This is
somewhat confusing since the new line should have better performance.
During the first two years, the new line had 19.9 and 17.3 unexplained
outages/100 miles/year. The cause of these outages is unknown; however,
the theory of bird excretion appears to be the most logical explanation. [A]
During the Summer of 1982, bird discouragers were installed on a 5-mile
section of this line which was near a small reservoir. In 1983, the unex-
plained outages dropped to 8.6. It is too early to tell the meaning of these
statistics, but it does tend to indicate that birds may be the problem.
EPRI along with Sierra Pacific Power & Light and Idaho Power Com-
panies and BPA, are presently performing an indepth study on unex-
plained outages.
The above experience is mentioned to show that UP&L Co. has had
good experience with 15 insulators at 1.8 km. It also shows that a utility
needs to pay attention to special insulation problems unique to a par-
ticular area. In this case, an adjacent line with 18 insulators has had a
poorer performance level than 15 insulators. It is postulated that V-strings
offer a bigger target for birds than I-strings. The EPRI study will cer-
tainly help line designers in this regard. Unfortunately, this additional
information was not available earlier. It may not have any impact on
the study since this problem occurs only on a few lines in particular areas
and past experience may not warrant that it be considered. Generally,
UP&L Co. has had good experience with the insulation levels mention-
ed in the paper.
It is mentioned that previous lightning performance was used to ar-
rive at using 16 insulators in plateau areas and 18 insulators in moun-
tainous areas. What is this difference attributed to: 1) tower footing
resistance, thunderstorm activity or poorer shielding on mountain peaks
or side-hills; or 2) is it due of the effects of altitude on lightning insula-
tion strength?
The question arises as to what smaller strike distances and insulator
requirements really mean in regard to the overall cost of the line. Is it
more economical to have strike distances of 2 meters rather than 3 meters?
How do strike distances affect the cost of towers and foundations? On
new construction, some believe that smaller strike distances result in sav-
ings. Others believe that smaller strike distances result in tower cost sav-
ings which must be spent on stronger foundations. This is an important
and interesting question which needs to be addressed. The EPRI line op-
timization study will hopefully provide insight into the overall design
strategy. Do the authors have any comments on this?
For uprating line projects, the above question is not as important. In
this case the line is already built and one wonders if it can be uprated
with minor modifications. Economics dictate shorter strike distances per
kV and sometimes a higher SSFOR, etc. This paper points out the benefits
of pre-insertion resistors and line arresters which should be considered.
For power frequency requirements past experience on similar lines has
been used which is a very good method. UP&L Co. investigated uprating
a 230-kV line to 345 kV at an altitude of 1.3 to 2.8 km with an average
of 2.1 km. Will 14 or 15 insulators be acceptable at this higher elevation
since past experience with 15 insulators at 1.8 km has been acceptable?
To answer this question, one might consider contamination performance
at higher altitudes. Unfortunately, there is very little information on this
subject and it appears that more research would be beneficial for high
altitude designs.
This is a very good paper illustrating insulation design at high altitudes.
The authors' comments on this discussion are appreciated.
3679
REFERENCE
[A] H. J. West, J. E. Brown and A. L. Kinyon, "Simulation of EHV
Transmission Line Flashovers Initiated By Bird Excretion," IEEE
Trans. on Power Apparatus and Systems, July/Aug. 1971, pp.
1627-1630.
Manuscript received May 10, 1984.
T. H. Frick, J. R. Stewart, A. R. Hileman, C. R. Chowaniec, and T.
E. McDermott: As stated in the paper, for power frequency voltage, the
selection of 18 and 15 insulators for the high and low altitude 345-kV
lines was based on the successful use of 18 and 15 insulators by Utah
Power and Light at altitudes of 3 km and 1.8 km, respectively. Mr. Jaf-
fa, while confirming this performance, also presents evidence to indicate
that bird excretion severely degraded the performance of a 345-kV line
using an 18-insulator V-string at an altitude of 1.8 km. The experience
of the Public Service Company of Colorado indicates no high outage
rates for the present 230-kV lines using V-or I-strings. Therefore, we
assumed that the bird problem did not exist. Mr. Jaffa postulates that
I-strings perform better than V-strings under this condition, and thus,
perhaps, I-strings should be considered in areas prone to bird problems.
We, however, agree with Mr. Jaffa that a change to I-strings, if more
costly, may not be warranted.
in answer to Mr. jatta's question on the lightning performance of
lines, the use of a higher number of insulators in mountainous areas is
attributed to (1) higher tower footing resistance, (2) higher Isokeraunic
level, and (3) higher altitude. As a possible mitigation, it appears that
the lines in the mountainous areas, which are primarily located in the
mountain valleys, are partially shielded by terrain conditions and trees.
In contrast, the lines in the plateaus are relatively exposed.
In more detail, the measured footing resistances in the mountains rang-
ed from 10 to 400 ohms with a mean value of about 150 ohms. In the
plateaus, footing resistances ranged from 1 to 50 ohms with a mean value
of about 13 ohms. However, these measured values are severely reduc-
ed by the effects of surge current. Approximations of this effect are
presented by Popolansky [1], and as expected, the higher resistance values
in the mountains are reduced more than the lower resistance values in
the plateaus. Using Popolansky's approximation, and assuming an
Isokeraunic level of 50 for both the mountains and plateaus, indicated
that the calculated flashover rate for the 230-kV lines was about twice
the actual flashover rate.
Concerning the larger Isokeraunic level in the mountains, weather maps
indicated a 10 to 307o increase in the mountain areas. However, as is
well known, these mean values of Isokeraunic levels shows large yearly
variations. For example, the Isokeraunic level at the Denver airport has
a standard deviation of 24 percent of the mean [2].
The higher altitude of the mountainous areas compared to the plateaus
results in a decreased lightning impulse insulation strength. For exam-
ple, assuming an altitude in the plateaus of 1500m and an altitude in
the mountains of 2900m, the insulation strength at the higher altitude
decreases by about 18%, and thus to compensate the number of insulators
in the mountains, should increase by this amount.
Thus, all of these factors contribute to the lightning performance of
the lines and the method of calculation as presently proposed [3] could
be modified by these factors. The method could be further modified,
if required, so that the calculated results agree with the actual perfor-
mance. That is, the calculation method could be calibrated and then us-
ed to estimate the insulation requirements at 345-kV. In this paper, a
similar but more direct calibration method was used. First, assuming that
the line performance at 230-kV is satisfactory, the increase in insulation
strength at 345-kV to achieve this same performance can be estimated
by considering the increase in power frequency voltage and changes in
tower configuration, i.e., increased tower height and decreased coupl-
ing factor.
The question as to the economics in the decrease of strike distance
is presently debatable. If the conductor size is held constant, decreasing
the strike distance should not only decrease the tower cost but also
decrease the foundation cost. As a point of reference, in 1970 W. S. Price,
in a discussion of Ref. [4] shows a 22% reduction in cost of a 500-kV
line for a 4-ft reduction in strike distance.
And finally, we are happy to see that Mr. Jaffa agrees with our last
conclusion of the paper. In conclusion, we thank him for his thought-
provoking questions and hope they are adequately answered.
3680
REFERENCES
1. F. Popolansky, "Generalization of Model Measurement Results of
Impulse Characteristics of Concentrated Earths," CIGRE SC33-80,
Trondheim, Norway, 1980.
2.A. R. Hileman, "Weather and Its Effect on Air Insulation Specifica-
tions," IEEE Trans. on Power Apparatus and Systems, Paper
84WM216-8, 1984.
3. "A Simplified Method for Estimating Lightning Performance of
Transmission Lines," Working Group Report, IEEE Trans. on Power
Apparatus and Systems, Paper 84SM698-7, 1984.
4. A. R. Hileman, P. R. Leblanc, and G. W. Brown, "Estimating the
Switching-Surge Performance of Transmission Lines," IEEE Trans.
on Power Apparatus and Systems, Sept./Oct. 1970, pp. 1455-1469.
Manuscript received June 22, 1984.