25th International Conference on Electricity Distribution Madrid, 3-6 June 2019

Paper n° 2316

AERIAL MV COVERED NETWORKS: WORTH A NEW LOOK?

Robert Battle Rajesh Khanna Blaise Beauger

Director Asia Pacific Group Sicame Sicame India. Group Sicame France.
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

systems can now be designed which will achieve these

1. INTRODUCTION. levels of reliability and safety.
An increasing number of countries are deploying The authors are working closely with Indian utilities in
alternatives to bare conductors for aerial medium voltage developing cost effective MVCC systems for large scale
networks. This trend is mostly driven by increased deployments which address the many aspects of system
pressure on Distribution System Operators for aspects design and operation.
such as:
• Reliability of supply far more important now 2. MEDIUM VOLTAGE OVERHEAD
• Safety of overhead networks becoming very INSULATED / COVERED LINES.
important, particularly with respect to bushfire The push for ever increasing levels of reliability, reduced
ignition. tree clearing, and concerns for the protection of wildlife
• Tree trimming becoming both a cost and have meant that Electricity Distribution Authorities have
environmental issue. been forced to look for better ways of medium voltage
distribution.
• Wildlife concerns. Due to budgetary constraints and the immense difficulty of
• Linemen and contractors are now more trenching in heavily built up areas this has meant either
comfortable working with insulated networks. using MVABC or converting the existing overhead bare
circuits to MVCC.
While undergrounding networks addresses all of these The use of MVABC is still considered by many to be the
issues, the additional cost and lack of flexibility limits the ultimate solution due to its fully screened nature giving the
possibility to generalize these types of networks. cable a “safe to touch” characteristic however the costs
Various solutions exist for insulated overhead lines associated with the cable, its significant additional weight
resulting often in the need for pole replacement, its
mostly based on 2 families of conductors: 1/ MVABC requirement for highly skilled installers, and its difficulty
with fully insulated screened conductors and 2/ covered in the provision of connections has significantly limited its
conductors, typically unscreened. growth outside very specific areas where it can be the only
Medium Voltage Covered Conductor has been around for solution. The simpler connection and jointing of MVCC is
many years. Depending on the continents, various making it the preference in many countries such as India.
technical and network design approaches have grown. Figure 1 is a typical metallic screened MVABC with either
MVCC has shown in many countries that it can provide a an insulated or bare catenary.
very secure supply network for a reasonable cost
premium vs. bare networks.
Countries such as India are now looking for safe and
reliable methods of delivering medium voltage supply to
its ever-expanding population and MVCC is being used
on a rapidly increasing basis.
However, MVCC networks must be designed correctly to
achieve these levels of reliability. Some physical
phenomenon need to be addressed properly such as but
not limited to:
- Electrical stress around unscreened conductors
Figure1. Typical MVABC with screened phases and
- Corrosion related to water ingress catenary.
- Over voltage focal points
- Thermoplastics wear, tear, relaxation to weather and These limitations therefore forced Utilities to investigate
pollution other means of achieving their objectives and this
- Cover materials and behavior with temperature eventually led to the use of MVCC.
Various designs appeared in different countries, some
- Hotspots due to pour connections successful and others with very poor performance.
Various unfortunate returns on experience in some 3. EXPERIENCE
countries have occurred when some of these aspects were Medium voltage overhead covered conductors are not a
neglected leading to a limited foothold in either the new concept and they have been used with varying
maintenance or the construction of new overhead circuits. amounts of success in various countries over the last
Due to a better understanding of these aspects, simpler 30 to 40 years.

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Paper n° 2316

Every country has a different “driver” for the use of

these networks but in general they can be reduced to 4. MVCC TECHNICAL CHALLENGES
It could be argued that the use of MVCC around the
1. Safety world would be far more prevalent than it is, had the
2. Reliability many technical issues that present themselves with
3. Cost. this type of technology been fully understood.
There have been countless instances of MVCC built
For instance, the Japanese experience in the use of in many parts of the world with disastrous results due
MVCC started in the early 1970’s where there had to this lack of understanding.
been many accidents involving bare MV overhead
networks and after the introduction of a covered The largest risk of incorrectly built MVCC is tracking
system the rate of electrical accidents reduced by a and eventual pin holing of the cable sheathing.
factor of 50. This has occurred in many instances by using
metallic components in close proximity to an
The Northern European driver however was mainly energised insulated cable.
a reliability issue with the large number of trees in Any metallic component is always seen as a “floating
these countries causing snow laden branches to earth” and is charged and discharged every half cycle
clash with overhead lines in winter. of mains voltage.
North Eastern United States also had issues with The other mechanism for developing large voltages
reliability of lines in heavily forested areas and have across the MVCC insulation is in highly polluted
been using catenary supported spacer cable for more areas which, if conductive enough, simply moves
than 50 years with good success. most of the voltage drop across the MVCC
Australia introduced its own version of Medium insulation.
Voltage Covered Cable (MVCC) approximately 40
years ago in an attempt to reduce the number of As the insulation is not rated for continuous
bushfires ignited during summer months from either application of this voltage it eventually starts to fail
line clashing or broken conductors laying on the by tracking along the surface.
ground and starting catastrophic bush fires. This is typically what happens when using metallic
ties to hold the covered cable to the insulator, metallic
Despite the significant advances, however, in the preforms to hold the cable in tension at a pole or
design and manufacture of MV underground metallic suspension or strain clamps to hold the cable
systems they still remain prohibitively expensive, to either a suspension insulator or a cross arm.
especially in built up areas where the trenching of Figure 2 below shows the two mechanisms whereby
existing streets is very difficult. Heavily forested excess voltage is applied to the MVCC insulation.
areas also present great difficulties in using
underground cables.
Whilst undergrounding Electricity Distribution
Systems will result in the highest reliability, it does
not necessarily mean that it will obtain the best
Customer Minutes Lost (CML) due to the relatively
long repair times involved with underground
systems.
Many Electricity Distribution Authorities actually
attribute MVCC with the best CML time of all
methods of medium voltage distribution.
The relatively large degree of electrification of
much of the western worlds populations however
has meant a lower emphasis on the introduction of
new types of distribution systems, except in specific
cases such as Australia which still needs a solution
to the bush fire ignition issues created with the
existing bare overhead networks. Figure 2. Mechanisms for creating excessive voltages
Recently however, the large increases in the across MVCC insulation.
electrification of the Asia Pacific areas has once
again brought up the possibility of introducing Figures 3 and 4 below show typical cable insulation
MVCC into these markets with the increasing damage when using “floating potential” metal
emphasis on reliability and safety of its overhead components.
networks being brought into question.

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 25th International Conference on Electricity Distribution Madrid, 3-6 June 2019

Paper n° 2316

• We do not remove any insulation from the

covered cable.
• We minimise the possibility of pinholes
being produced.
• We provide ample overvoltage protection to
the circuit.
Whilst these are the most significant issues which
usually determine the applicability of a specific
MVCC design for a specific area there are others
which also need to be taken into consideration, such
as.
• Vibration. This usually becomes a problem
Figure 3. Cable insulation pin holing from the use of when building new lines in exposed
“floating potential” metallic pre-form tie. situations prone to laminar air flow and long
spans of reasonably high mechanical tension
are envisaged.
• Corrosion. This can be an issue where
MVCC lines are built close to the coast and
there is no water barrier built into the cable
construction. This can lead to water entering
the cable and sitting at the bottom of a span
which will eventually lead to corrosion of the
cable and eventual cable failure.
• Fault detection. In a situation where a
covered conductor is brought to the ground
by a tree or some other object it can
sometimes be difficult to detect the broken
conductor. Whilst in most instances it would
be not fatal for a member of the public to
Figure 4. Cable insulation damage from use of touch the insulation of an energised cable,
metallic dead-end clamp. the ends of the broken conductor may be
exposed which is a lethal hazard. The use of
When this was initially discovered to be a problem it Sensitive Earth fault protection relays is the
was decided to simply strip the cable insulation at most common method currently of detecting
these points and get around totally the effects of these situations, although this is still not a
tracking. total solution.
Unfortunately, what this created was a point where It becomes obvious then, that a specific MVCC
the insulation started and stopped. In times of configuration which may work well in one area
flashover from a nearby induced lightning strike, a may be prone to failure in other areas due to these
power arc would normally follow the flashover path. operating conditions.
This power arc in normal conditions on a bare line
tends to move to increase the arc length due to the When considering a certain MVCC design for a
motor effect caused by the voltage and the fault particular area we must therefore take into
current. The arc tends therefore to blow itself out. account, not only the basic engineering tenants
In a MVCC system with stripped insulation however, discussed above but also the specific
the arc can only advance to the point where the requirements of the customer.
insulation starts, and it therefore is restrained at that 5. MVCC Design for INDIA.
point which results in the subsequent melting of the
cable and ultimately cable failure. The recent rise in popularity of the
reconductoring of existing bare MV circuits in
India into MVCC circuits has the drivers of
Similar problems exist with the formation of “pin- circuit reliability and safety.
holes” in the cable insulation, where, if an induced The concept is that the existing poles, cross-arms
overvoltage causes a flashover, a cable burn down is and pin insulators would be maintained and an
possible. MVCC cable would replace the existing MV bare
The solution is therefore to build a system whereby: circuit.
In these situations, a pragmatic approach needed
• We do not have any “floating potential” to be taken, whilst at the same time as addressing
metallic components in proximity with the all of the issues described above.
energised covered cable.

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leakage currents during the salt spray test.

5.1 Cable
The first issue was the choice of an appropriate
MVCC cable.
A close association was formed with a reputable
local cable manufacturer and a design was
prepared which would provide good insulating
properties whilst affording good mechanical and
UV protection.
The cable design is shown below in Figure 5.

Figure 6. Salt fog testing of MVCC cable

supported on pin insulators using insulated tie.
The problem associated with the termination of
the cable at dead end poles was resolved by the
use of specially adapted wedge type clamps
Figure 5. Indian MVCC Cable design. which were based on designs normally
associated with Low Voltage Aerial Bundled
5.2 Cable support Cable systems with the addition of a special
The second design criteria is the attachment of insulation piercing connector which connected
the cable to the pin insulator. the metallic outer body of the strain clamp to the
In a perfect situation the voltage across the cable line potential effectively negating any floating
insulation can be reduced by using a post type potentials.
insulator with a completely insulated tie. Figure 7 below shows a tension pole with wedge
The use of porcelain pin insulators is not the ideal connectors with potential equalising connectors.
situation for an MVCC cable due to the relatively
high voltage appearing across the cable
insulation, particularly in polluted conditions.
As the circuit was only an 11 kV and with the use
of the multilayer cable this was not considered to
be a problem.
A UV stabilised insulated tie was developed to
suit the existing porcelain insulator and the
MVCC cable and performed well.
Interestingly there has been development and use
of semi-conductive ties for use with MVCC in
some countries however these were found to
initiate some tracking at the extremities of the tie
during the salt fog tests and in addition, the use
of the semi-conductive tie significantly reduced
the impulse flash-over value of the pole-top Figure 7. Wedge clamps with voltage equalising
structure. connectors.
The long-term performance of the insulated tie The design of the reconductored line was therefore
was confirmed by a 1000-hour test in salt fog complete.
energised at line voltage which is shown in figure The line however needed to be able to be connected
6. below. to transformers and other components of the medium
To negate any possibility of mechanical damage voltage network and provide easy methods of tee-
to the cable outer sheath which could lead to connection, provide easy methods of earthing during
premature puncturing of the sheath a small sleeve system maintenance and provide resistance to
was inserted between the cable and the pin damage from lightning strike.
insulator at the support point. This did not affect The following solutions were developed for these
the operation of the insulated tie and provided lines.
both mechanical abrasion protection and an
additional insulating layer at this critical point. 5.3 Connection.
This sheath was confirmed to also reduce the One of the most important elements which determine

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Paper n° 2316

the reliability of lines is the ability to connect to it. built up areas there were surge protection devices
Many linemen around the world now are very fitted at all transformers.
familiar with the use of insulation piercing Where a distance between transformers was greater
connectors on insulated lines and this method of than 400m, then arcing horns were added to the line
connection was therefore chosen for these lines. at those points.
The connectors must be chosen to enable correct Once again, adopting a pragmatic approach, it was
operation with the various insulation thicknesses considered that these lines already received a
likely to be encountered on such lines. significant amount of natural shielding due to their
Simply choosing a connector based upon its ability to location in heavily built up areas and therefore the
connect various cable sizes together can be a protection afforded by the use of the surge protection
dangerous practice in these conditions as it is equally at transformer locations and the use of arcing horns
a connectors ability to pierce a specific insulation elsewhere would be adequate.
thickness which will determine its effectiveness and
ultimate reliability. 6. Summary.
The ability of a connector to prevent water ingress is
also vitally important in order to stop any long-term The requirement for the provision of reliable and safe
corrosion occurring. Most modern IPC’s will provide distribution electrical energy is now just as important
this feature. in emerging countries such as India and solutions
The availability of IPC’s which can connect bare need to be developed to provide this.
overhead lines to insulated MVCC lines is also a The above paper demonstrates that if the subject is
significant benefit when interfacing an MVCC line understood then successful implementation of
with a bare overhead circuit. MVCC can be provided at reasonable cost.
It is interesting to note that for higher system voltages Whilst the ultimate design of MVCC might be
(>20kV) it was noticed that the metallic bolts of developed which will work in all environments and
IPC’s are also “seen” as floating potentials and provide a solution to all possible drivers for its
tracking can occur due to this phenomenon and implementation, this solution will not fit within the
specific connectors which negate this tracking were budgetary constraints of developing countries
therefore developed. electricity distribution utilities.
Due to the lower phase voltage of the Indian lines, A solution has been demonstrated here which will
however, this feature was not required in these provide the reliability requested and be of relatively
circuits. simple construction.
Several such lines have already been built and are
5.4 Earthing. providing very successful service.
Any medium voltage line must be capable of being It is expected that over 1000 kM of such lines will be
maintained at some point in its life and MVCC built in 2019 and this basic line design can now be
circuits are no different. extended and modified for use in other environments
The above-mentioned use of IPC’s has also enabled to also provide solutions to the varying requirements
the development of simple earthing systems. of utilities.
These earthing bails, which are connected to the
cable via the use of specific IPC’s, have been fully Acknowledgments:
fault current tested.
SICAME S.a 1 Avenue Basile Lachaud 19230
5.5 Lightning Protection. Pompadour
A major concern with the use of MVCC is its ability France
to withstand over-voltages which are normally the
result of induced ground strokes in the close vicinity SICAME INDIA CONNECTORS
to the line. Survey No 473/1 (Part), #96, Sirukundram
Of course, any direct strokes to any overhead line can
result in significant damage and therefore only Village ([email protected]), Chengalpattu -
induced stroke protection is considered. Thiruporur Rd, Sirukundram, Tamil Nadu
Insulation coordination studies conducted on MVCC 603108, India
lines usually indicate that the induced over voltage
needs to be limited somehow in these circuits. BESCOM
There are many ways to do this of which the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Ltd
following are the most common
• Surge diverters fitted to the line at regular MSEDCL
intervals. Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution
• Arcing horns fitted to the line at regular Company Ltd.
intervals
As the lines being re-conductored were in heavily

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