Brief Summary: This talk showed that very distinctive and unique features exist for the three different current type arcs.

IEEE PES Victorian Chapter, along with IEEE PES New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, and New Zealand North Chapters, organized an Online Distinguished Lecture (DL) on 27th August 2020. The speaker of the talk was Dr. David Peelo, who is a consultant and had been a switching specialist at BC Hydro for 28 years. The talk was on “Current Interruption in Atmospheric Air”, where Dr. David Peelo shared his valuable insights on switching in high-voltage networks. The event was broadcast online to all members in IEEE PES Australian Chapters, relevant industry professionals, academic staff, and many students in Electrical Engineering. There were more than 25 participants who joined the online DL and Q&A session.

Dr David Peelo started the talk with some discussions on the evolution of the disconnect switches originating back in the early 1900s. He discussed the key findings from a number of switching tests which demonstrated that the free-burning arcs in the air do not extinguish themselves when they reach a critical length as assumed previously. He emphasized that the arc current behaviour is different in different cases, as found in experiments at BC Hydro’s Powertech Labs, KEMA (Arnhem), and the Eindhoven University of Technology. In addition, he presented a number of engaging multi-media contents which illustrated how magnetizing, capacitive, and loop currents have distinct features. The field videos have been undertaken at BC Hydro, BPA, Puget Sound Energy, and Arizona Public Power for real switching events.


A Capacitive Current Interruption with 115 kV Switch at BPA

The feedback received from this online DL was very promising, given the fact that such events took place only in face-to-face mode previously. Many students found the talk very educational, which helped them to understand power system protection much more effectively. IEEE PES chapters in Australia and New Zealand will continue to collaborate further on organizing DL Talks and other seminars jointly, as well as engage more with industry professionals in the power and energy sector.

Dr. Shama Naz Islam
Chair, IEEE PES VIC Chapter