Condition assessment of installed shielded cable systems

Reliability of assets is of utmost importance to electric asset owners because the operational and financial consequences of failure are significant. The ability to assess the condition, probability of failure, and remaining financial lifespan of all assets is key to high reliability and optimum financial performance. Medium and high voltage cables are of particular interest because they tend to have higher than average failure rates. In addition, it is difficult to assess their condition due to their very nature. Partial discharge testing has been proven to provide insight into potential failures of cables and can be done non-invasively. This paper discusses technology available for non-invasive testing and gives example field results.