Electric Utility Operations

Line Life Podcast: Monitoring and Mitigating Flashovers on Transmission Lines

March 18, 2022

Manitoba Hydro's Jeffrey Laninga shares his utility's experience studying flashovers on HVDC lines in the March 2022 podcast.

Amy Fischbach

Lineworkers constructed high voltage direct current (HVDC) lines to transmit power over long distances in Manitoba, Canada. As soon as Manitoba Hydro constructed the Bipole I and II HVDC lines, the utility detected unexplained flashovers, which are electrical discharges from energized conductors to ground.

These flashovers occurred mainly in the remote northern portion of its service territory, in the afternoon or early evening, during the summer months, mainly from July to August, and only on the negative poles during steady-state conditions with no switching surge.

In our March 2022 Line Life podcast, Field Editor Amy Fischbach interviews Jeff Laninga, live line and electrical effect section head at Manitoba Hydro, about how the utility is monitoring and mitigating the flashovers. Also, look for a feature story in the April 2022 Electric Utility Operations section about the research project.

To listen to the podcast, click on the link below. You can also visit the podcast landing page or send us an email with your comments on this episode.

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About the Author

Amy Fischbach | Amy Fischbach, EUO Contributing Editor

Amy Fischbach is the Field Editor for T&D World magazine and manages the Electric Utility Operations section. She is the host of the Line Life Podcast, which celebrates the grit, courage and inspirational teamwork of the line trade. She also works on the annual Lineworker Supplement and the Vegetation Management Supplement as well as the Lineman Life and Lineman's Rodeo News enewsletters. Amy also covers events such as the Trees & Utilities conference and the International Lineman's Rodeo. She is the past president of the ASBPE Educational Foundation and ASBPE and earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from Kansas State University. She can be reached at [email protected].