Envisaging links between fundamental research in electrical insulation and electrical asset management

The trend of industrial and even institutional funding for research in the electrical energy world is going clearly in the direction of short-term, applied projects. On the one hand, this may be unavoidable with globalization and the fast increase in the energy needs of developing countries, while on the other hand it may affect in the long term the capability of developing base research in a sector that requires, more than many others, innovation and interdisciplinarity. Research financial institutions, such as the EC, EPRI, CRIEPI, etc., are going in the direction of promoting applied work. This can be seen with favor as long as it can correct distortions of the past, when fundamental research had been seen sometimes as a permanent exercise of speculations without oversight for an applied end; but the risk is to lose the fundamentals of knowledge which is the only way to promote real and stable innovation. Speaking at the International Symposium on Electrical Insulation in Vancouver, June 2008, we recognize that electrical insulation is the weakest part of most electrical apparatus, in both MV and HV systems. Transformers, rotating machines, switches, overhead lines, and of course, cables present failure modes which in most cases involve electrical, thermal, mechanical, and environmental degradation of electrical insulation, resulting in the loss of capability to withstand operational stresses. Reliability, maintenance, and availability of electrical assets involve, therefore, the knowledge of ageing processes of electrical insulation, of insulating material behavior as a function of various operational factors (e.g. from frequency to temperature or environmental conditions), of diagnostic properties and methodologies, of new technologies and new materials (such as extra-clean manufacturing, nanostructured, or composite materials). These aspects have roots that must come from fundamental interdisciplinary research which involves the physics and chemistry of insulating materials. This paper has, therefore, the purpose of showing how much fundamental research has contributed to practical topics such as management of electrical assets, which is a key point for reliability, availability, cost saving, and energy quality of any electrical system, highlighting how much the latter can benefit from the former. After a broad introduction, the focus of the paper is on how base research has contributed to the development of diagnostic tools that are fundamental for maintenance decisions involving electrical assets.