IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 24, No.

6; December 2017 3539

An Advanced Technique for Outdoor Insulation Pollution

Mapping in the Israel Electric Company Power Grid
Evgeni Volpov
Israel Electric Corporation Ltd.
Planning, Development and Technology Division
POB 10, Haifa, 3100001, Israel

and Pavel Kishcha

Tel-Aviv University
School of Geosciences
POB 39040, Tel-Aviv 6997801, Israel

ABSTRACT
The paper presents the IECo (Israel Electric Co) long-term environmental study aimed
at development of Digital Dust Sedimentation Model which provides an Outdoor
Insulation Pollution Mapping for Local Grid. The Concept of the study is based on the
Authors’ idea on strong correlation between IEC 60721 Dust Sedimentation Index vs.
IEC TC 60815 Site Pollution Severity Indices within considered geographic domain. The
developed Pollution Maps have been validated vs. long-term ESDD-NSDD field-
measurements and continuous monitoring of PM10 fraction with correlation factors
r=0.830 and r=0.697 respectively. To prove the model reliability the calibration was done
for different geographic locations in different time intervals. The first-time developed
innovative technology is expected to provide cost benefits with respect to dimensioning
and maintenance of outdoor insulators, PV-Plants, and other pollution-sensitive local
installations.
Index Terms — Pollution flashover, Saharan dry dust transport, dust sedimentation
rate (DSR), particular matter PM10, equivalent salt deposit density (ESDD), non-soluble
Deposit density (NSDD), dust regional atmospheric model (DREAM).

1 INTRODUCTION Mediterranean - the Region that is frequently affected by

Saharan dust intrusions (dust storms, blowing dust) [4-7]. Being
DESPITE an advance, gained in last decades with pollution driven through the long overseas distances, the Saharan-
performance assessment for outdoor insulation [1-2], present originated dust brings large amounts of dissolved sea-salts and
statistical data, reported worldwide, shows that pollution bulky non-soluble content including iron. Prevailing ‘from-
flashovers remain one of the dominant factors controlling coast’-winds carry a mixture of sea-salts absorbed by dust
reliability of Transmission Networks. particles quite far inland [5, 10]. The high humidity and/or
For years, a similar trend has been observed in Israel Electric morning-dew conditions, in combination with strong winds
Company (IECo) Power Grid 170-420-kV. In particular, annual from the sea, create ideal scenario for a quick build-up of
contribution of the pollution-related outages reaches on average pollution on the insulators and increase in flashover risk.
18-20% of the total line outages (Figure 1). Furthermore, large
numbers of the unresolved events, as per Figure 1, will actually
increase the above percentage. The estimates derived from
pollution flashover records for years 2000-2013 indicate that
the actual failure rate for noticeable part of local lines does
considerably exceeds the commonly recommended values [1-
3].
The IECo Transmission Grid operates in harsh pollution
environment which is typical for coastal areas in the Eastern

Figure 1. Long-term distribution of environmentally-induced line outages in

Manuscript received on 18 July 2017, in final form 31 August 2017, the IECo Grid, reported by the TSO. The numbers on the yellow bars mean
accepted 1 September 2017. Corresponding author: E. Volpov. absolute quantities of the pollution related trip-outs.

DOI: 10.1109/TDEI.2017.006917
3540 E. Volpov et al.: An Advanced Technique for Outdoor Insulation Pollution Mapping in the Israel Electric Company Power Grid
As is proven by operation experience from the neighbouring
countries [8, 9], as well as by our monitoring practice, the local
Site Pollution Severity (SPS) cannot be sufficiently
characterized by current International Standards [1-3]. Thus,
outdoor insulation dimensioning for IECo Grid requires
detailed statistical studies including refined mapping and
spatio-temporal analysis of the dust deposit distribution through
the local geographic domain [3, 10-12].
The goal of the paper is to introduce the joint IECo - TAU
(Tel-Aviv University) R&D Project and present main results of
the long-term environmental study aimed at development of
Digital Dust Sedimentation Model and corresponding
Insulation Pollution Maps for IECo Grid. The main part of the
Project has been completed in period of 2008-2014. It has also
involved two IECo long-term studies dedicated to PM10 -
monitoring in years 2000-2014, and some early ESDD-
measurements conducted in 1984-1994.
2 THE PROJECT SCOPE AND
PREREQUISITE STUDIES
2.1 THE CONCEPT
The key Concept is based on the Authors’ idea on strong
correlation between the IEC 60721 Dust Sedimentation Rate
(DSR)-index [13] vs. IEC TC 60815 SPS Indices [3] within
considered geographic domain. The concept implies validity of
the relation (1) to be verified in the Project.
‫ܴܵܦ‬ሺ‫ݔ‬ǡ ‫ݕ‬ǡ ‫ݐ‬ሻ ൌ ܰܵ‫ܦܦ‬ሺ‫ݔ‬ǡ ‫ݕ‬ǡ ‫ݐ‬ሻ ൅ ߙ ή ‫ܦܦܵܧ‬ሺ‫ݔ‬ǡ ‫ݕ‬ǡ ‫ݐ‬ሻ(1)
ܰܵ‫ܦܦ‬ሺ‫ݔ‬ǡ ‫ݕ‬ǡ ‫ݐ‬ሻ  ൌEή ‫ܦܦܵܧ‬ሺ‫ݔ‬ǡ ‫ݕ‬ǡ ‫ݐ‬ሻ(2)
where, x, y, t are geographic coordinates and time. Relation (2) presents stable
Boundary Condition characterizing regional pollution deposit. D, E are
chemical constants [1, 3, 9-12].
Figure 2. The Project scope and prerequisite studies.
As is agreed between IECo and TAU, verification of concept
(1) and creation of the regional pollution maps require
conducting of several prerequisite studies which provide
necessary calibration and boundary conditions to the pollution
model to be developed. These studies were focused on: (1)
chemical and dimensional analysis of the dust-deposit; (2) long-
term monitoring of the PM10 fraction; and (3) analysis of an
impact of the local pollution sources vs. effect of Saharan dust-
transport (Section 2.5).
The scope of the Project considering that prerequisite works
is presented in Figure 2. The Project has been dedicated to the
creation of detailed spatial distributions (Maps) of nine-year
mean of monthly-accumulated and annually-accumulated
Saharan dust deposition over Israel and surrounding areas.
Below we will briefly characterize the prerequisite studies and
their key-findings which bring evidence on that the Saharan dry
dust deposition presents a dominant contribution to the
insulators pollution accumulation in the IECo Grid.
2.2 PM10 DATA MONITORING AND ANALYSIS
In period of 2000-2014, IECo has built a dust activity
database which contains ground-level PM10 measurements
acquired from 14 monitoring stations through the IECo
Network. The gathered data have served for pollution maps
calibration, for dust-event frequency of occurrence assessment
and its synchronization vs. TAU prediction system [18], and vs.
NASA satellite-based data [19].
Figure 3. Representative dust activity patterns in central-southern regions for
years 2000-2013. (a) Cumulative Frequency; (b) Dust Events Cumulative
Index (for PM10 >100-Pg/m3 – dust event optical threshold [4, 24]).
Figure 3 depicts typical dust-activity patterns obtained for central
region while they are quite representative for the rest of the IECo
Grid. The observed patterns and their statistical parameters
demonstrate high long-term stability (Figures 3-4). They are
characterized by two distinguished periods of Saharan dust activity
in Feb-May and Oct-Dec throughout the year (Figure 3). The annual
frequency of occurrence of the dust events varies quite
insignificantly between 5-12%. This is in good agreement with some
early regional studies conducted with rough observation techniques
[4].
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 24, No. 6; December 2017 3541

were taken from different insulators operating in different

geographic locations of the IECo Network. Descriptive
statistics obtained for the above samples are shown in Table 1
and Figure 2.

Table 1. Dust particle size descriptive statistics (4-samples 4 x 2268).

Group No I II III IV Total

Min, μm 1.50 1.53 1.53 1.50 1.53

Max, μm 70.81 50.49 43.30 53.04 70.81

AM, μm 9.36 11.12 8.96 10.27 9.93

SD, μm 9.79 8.29 7.38 7.84 8.41

COV, p.u. 0.847 0.762 0.824 0.746 1.045

2%, μm 39.9 30.3 29.7 30.0 32.1

10%, μm 21.9 22.5 18.8 21.0 21.0

50%, μm 5.56 10.23 7.16 9.11 7.78

90%, μm 1.89 1.74 1.53 1.90 1.89

95%, μm 1.53 1.53 1.53 1.53 1.53

The Table 1 and Figure 2 do clearly indicate on very

consistent patterns for all 4-groups and a total sample. There are
very stable medians ranged between 5.5 to 10 μm and the 2%
Figure 4. Statistical characteristics of the dust patterns obtained through the particle-sizes which are about 30-μm.
IECo Grid. (a) Typical Monthly variation through the year. (b) Long-term
annual variation for years 2000-2014. (c) Lognormal-Fits to the annual dust- It has also been found that statistical distribution of the dust
patterns obtained from selected monitoring stations (shown in brackets).
particle-size in the tested samples (Table 1) can be well-fitted
Figure 4 presents typical statistical parameters estimated from by the lognormal model with a median value of 6.77 μm and a
the PM10 database for a whole monitoring period. The monthly- standard deviation of 0.92.
related indices (Figure 4a) exhibit a noticeable variation during
the both dust-activity periods. At the same time, the annually-
related indices demonstrate low or temperate fluctuation
through the monitoring period (Figure 4b). The data-trends
illustrated on Figures 3-4 do prove the Authors’ concept
(Section 2.1) on that the Saharan dust transport presents the
dominant pollution source in the Israel.
It was found that annual and monthly statistical distributions
of the PM10 fraction can be well-fitted with lognormal model
(Figure 4c). The obtained fitting-data (seeP, V indices in the
legend of Figure 4c) allow one to easily calculate the dust-event
risk for any specified geographic location in the Grid.

2.3 DUST PARTICLES DIMENSIONAL ANALYSYS

The goal of that study was to verify whether factual
dimensions of the pollution deposit particles, accumulated on
local outdoor insulation, are consistent with typical dimensions
of the Saharan dust [5]. For this purpose, four pollution samples Figure 5. Particle size distribution Histograms for tested dust samples.
3542 E. Volpov et al.: An Advanced Technique for Outdoor Insulation Pollution Mapping in the Israel Electric Company Power Grid
As is known from literature [5, 6, 24], a ‘short-distance’ dust
transport from the Eastern Sahara, through Egypt, into Israel
brings both coarse and fine fractions. While, a long-distance
dust transport from the Western Sahara, through Southern
Europe, into the Eastern Mediterranean brings mainly fine
fraction with size about 2-3 μm [5, 6]. For days, when the
Saharan dust is transported over Israel, the dust aerosols
dominate ground-based measurements of PM10 concentrations.
It was found that the PM10 concentrations higher than the 100
μg/m3 for the most part relate to dust events [24].
In view of the above, it can be concluded that the sampled
dust dimensions are very typical to the ‘short-distance’ dust
transported from the Eastern Sahara. Consequently, these
findings prove a representativeness of the ground-based PM10
measurements involved in this study (see Section 2.1).
2.4 CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF THE DUST DEPOSIT
The IECo local ESDD-NSDD database was gathered mostly
for ceramic insulators within two monitoring periods. First,
1984-1994, ESDD measurements collected from 48 test
stations being evenly scattered through the Network; Second,
2008-2014, ESDD-NSDD measurements acquired from 7 sites
being located in south-central-and-northern areas respectively.
Statistical processing of the overall field-data has shown that
such SPS-indices as: ESDD=0.45-mg/cm2 and NSDD=2.0-
mg/cm2 should be considered as representative stress to be
specified for local Outdoor Insulation design.
The chemical components of the sampled dust deposit are
very similar to those repeatedly reported for adjacent
geographic domains [8-9, 14-17]. The non-soluble fraction is
characterized by a dominance of SiO2, Fe2O3, Al2O3, CaO,
MgO, while soluble ingredients are mainly presented by salts
of K+, Na+, Mg+2, Ca+2, and SO4-2, NO3-, Cl-. The content of
soluble salts in the contamination layer is about 15-18%. It has
low variation between the sampled sites. The ratio between the
equivalent NaCl content to the mass of the real salts is very
stable and approaches 50% (see factor D in relation (1)).
It has also been found that the NSDD/ESDD ratio is quite
insensitive to the geographic location, while it typically lies in
very limited range of 6-10 (see factor E in relation (2)).
2.5 AN IMPACT OF LOCAL POLLUTION SOURCES
An impact of the local pollution sources was studied by
synchronization analysis of the regional dust events occurred
throughout the year. The timing of the pollution events recorded
by IECo monitoring stations (Section 2.2) has been correlated
vs. TAU regional-forecast system [18] and vs. NASA satellite-
aided reports [19]. This allows separation between periods of
high/moderate Saharan dust activity (Feb-May, and Oct-Dec)
and periods of negligible Saharan dust activity (end-May-to-
end-Sep, see Figure 3). Comparison of pollution monitoring
data obtained for these periods through the Grid has clearly
showed that the local pollution sources (industrial, urban,
agricultural, local dust in Negev) present minor or negligible
contribution vs. Saharan dust source.
The only remarkable pollution source, whose effect found to
be commensurate with Saharan dust deposition, was a big
cement-quarry located in the south region. Figure 6 compares
between monthly PM10 data recorded by two adjacent-to-quarry
monitoring stations. As is seen from Fig. 6-a-c, at GEZR-
station, being in a 300-m-vicinity to the quarry, the dust activity
pattern is superposed with a constant adjunct of about 50% to
the max PM10 index during the year. While at CRYS-station
that is 7-km-distant from the quarry (Fig. 6-b-c), the dust
activity pattern becomes a typical shape meaning no effect of
the quarry during the year (Figures 6b and 3). The effect of the
‘constant dust adjunct’ produced by this source is clearly
expressed by statistical dust-patterns compared in Figure 4c. It
is seen that the GEZR-station has 1.5-2.0 times larger median
than the medians observed at the neighboring stations.
Figure 6. An impact of the cement quarry on the local pollution patterns gained
from adjacent monitoring stations. (a) GEZR-station 0.3-km from quarry; (b)
CRYS-station 7-km from quarry. (c) Geographic location map.
Another notable source of chemical-pollutants was mapped
near the Dead Sea industrial zone, although the latter location
seems irrelevant to the insulator pollution flashover. This is
because the Dead Sea is characterized as one of the world driest
regions with RH max < 50%, which makes pollution flashover
events unlikely.
It is should be noted that the proposed mapping technique
allows us to account for an effect of local pollution sources into
the GIS-based pollution maps.
3 MAPPING SAHARAN DUST DEPOSITION
3.1 DUST SEDIMENTATION MODEL
The present study of spatial distribution of Saharan dust
deposition over Israel was carried out using 9-year (2006 –
2014) daily numerical predictions of Saharan dust transport
over the Eastern Mediterranean.
To study dust deposition, Tel-Aviv University (TAU) used
the Dust Regional Atmospheric Model (DREAM) [27].
DREAM includes all major processes which dust particles
are involved in, such as, dust production from sources,
vertical turbulent transport and vertical advection, horizontal
transport and wet and dry deposition.
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 24, No. 6; December 2017 3543

DREAM is driven by the NCEP/Eta (National Center of deposition. SOURCE is meaning dust emissions. Eight size
Environmental Prediction) regional meteorological model bins covering the particle effective sizes from 0.1 μm to 7μm
coupled with the module describing the dust cycle [27]. The are used in the model.
Eta model solves the following system of equations based on
the hydrostatic approximation [29]. DREAM is initialized with the NCEP analysis and the lateral
boundary data are updated every 6 hours by the NCEP GFS
ௗ௩ ோή் (Global Forecast System) model [24]. With respect to dust,
൅ ݂ ή ࢑ ൈ ࢜ ൅ સȰ ൅  ή સ‫ ݌‬ൌ Ͳ (3)
ௗ௧ ௣ DREAM is initialized with 3-D dust distributions from previous
days. The run starts at 12:00 UTC and dust predictions were
ௗ் ௞ή்ήఠ
െ ൌ Ͳ (4) performed for 6-hour periods up to 72 hours ahead.
ௗ௧ ௣
During the model running, calculations of the surface dust
డ డ௣ డ௣ డ డ௣ injection fluxes are made over territories declared as dust
ቀ ቁ ൅ સ ή ቀ࢜ ή ቁ ൅ ቀߟ ή ቁൌͲ (5) sources. Properties of soil (soil texture), types of vegetation
డఎ డ௧ డఎ డఎ డఎ
cover and environmental conditions (friction velocity, soil
డ஍ ோή் ப௣ moisture) define the dust productive areas [27]. DREAM
ൌ െ ή (6)
డఎ ௣ பఎ includes dust sources located in the Western, Central, and
Eastern Sahara, as well as in the Arabian Peninsula. DREAM
ௗ௣ ఎ డ௣
߱ ‫ ؠ‬ ൌ  െ ‫׬‬଴ ‫ ׏‬ή ቀ࢜ ή ቁ ή ݀ߟ ൅ ࢜ ή સ‫݌‬ (7) describes 3-D distribution of dust aerosol particles over the
ௗ௧ డఎ
model domain (20W - 45E, 15N - 50N) with 0.3° horizontal
ௗ௣ೄ ఎ డ௣ grid spacing and 24 vertical layers up to 15 km height. This
ൌ  െ ‫׬‬଴ ೄ સ ή ቀ࢜ ή ቁ ή ݀ߟ (8) horizontal grid spacing is sufficient for estimating monthly and
ௗ௧ డఎ
yearly mean distribution of Saharan dust deposition over
ௗ௣ ௗ௣ ఎ డ௣ different regions in Israel.
ߟή ൌ  െ  െ ‫׬‬଴ સ ή ቀ࢜ ή ቁ ή ݀ߟ (9)
ௗఎ ௗ௧ డఎ
The dry dust deposition scheme for DREAM is described in
[27-28]. The scheme includes processes of deposition by
Here v is the horizontal velocity vector, f is the Coriolis
turbulent transport through the boundary layer, gravitational
parameter, k is the vertical unit vector, ) is geopotential, R is
settling, and deposition by Brownian diffusion, interception and
the gas constant, and k is R/CP, where CP is the specific heat at
impaction on the surface roughness elements. The scheme
constant pressure. Eta uses the K-vertical coordinate written as produces particle deposition velocities relative to the bottom
[29-30]: transport model level expressed in terms of wind speed,
temperature, and air density at the bottom model level; surface-
௣ି௣೅ ௣ೝ೑ ሺ௓ೄ ሻି௣೅ momentum-drag coefficient; particle size and density;
K ൌ  ௣ ή (10)
ೄ ି௣೅ ௣ೝ೑ ሺ଴ሻି௣೅ characteristics of the surface roughness elements; and several
parameters derived for different surface types [28]. The dry dust
deposition velocity is given by
where p is pressure; the subscripts T and S stand for the top and
the ground surface values of the model atmosphere,
respectively; Z is geometric height, and prf (Z) is a reference
pressure as a function of Z. The K-coordinate improves the ߥௗ௘௣ ൌ  ሾߥௌ௅ ିଵ  ൅  ሺ݂஻ை ή ߥூ௅ ሻିଵ ሿିଵ (12)
calculation of horizontal derivatives near steep topographic
areas. where νSL is the turbulent deposition velocity in the layer
The dust module in DREAM solves the Euler-type partial between the top of the viscous sub-layer ZS and 10 m; νIL is the
differential nonlinear equations for dust mass continuity. The turbulent deposition velocity at the top of the viscous sub-layer,
Eulerian concentration equation is given by the following and fB0 is the empirical constant.
expression: Detailed description and analysis of the components of the
equation (12), including effects of the particles size and density,
߲‫ܥ‬௞ ߲‫ܥ‬௞ ߲‫ܥ‬௞ ߲‫ܥ‬௞ kind of the deposition surface, and various turbulent regimes,
 ൌ െ‫ ݑ‬ή െߥή െ ൫‫ ݓ‬െ ߥ௚௞ ൯ ή െ can be found in [28].
߲‫ݐ‬ ߲‫ݔ‬ ߲‫ݕ‬ ߲‫ݖ‬
డ డ஼ೖ డ஼ೖ డ஼ೖ
െ‫׏‬ሺ‫ܭ‬ு ή ‫ܥ׏‬௞ ሻ െ 
డ௭
ቀ‫ܭ‬௓ ή
డ௭
ቁ൅ቀ
డ௧
ቁ െቀ
డ௧
ቁ  3.2 MAPPING MONTHLY-ACCUMULATED DUST
ௌை௎ோ஼ா ௌூே௄
DRY DEPOSITION OVER THE EASTERN
(11) MEDITERRANEAN
where k indicates the number of particle size classes; Ck is the The Grid Analysis and Display System (GrADS) software is
dust concentration of a k-th particle size class; u and Q are used for creating DREAM output files [22]. The DREAM
components of horizontal wind velocity; w is the vertical output files in the GrADS format contain space-time
velocity; KH is the lateral diffusion coefficient, KZ is the distribution of the meteorological parameters and dust
turbulent exchange coefficient. Qgk is the gravitational settling concentration/ deposition over the model domain for every six
velocity, SINK is the sink term which includes both wet and dry hours, starting from 12:00 UTC and up to 72 hours ahead.
3544 E. Volpov et al.: An Advanced Technique for Outdoor Insulation Pollution Mapping in the Israel Electric Company Power Grid
Figure 7. Maps of monthly-accumulated dry deposition of Saharan dust over
the Eastern Mediterranean for April – May 2012, based on DREAM modeled
data.
In order to create a monthly distribution of dust dry deposition over
Israel for a selected month, a script has been developed on the basis
of the GrADS software. This script deals with the following
operations (a) uncompressing archived DREAM output files for
each day of the specified month; (b) obtaining modeled daily dust
dry deposition; (c) creating a monthly distribution of dust dry
deposition over the region (29N – 37N; 28E – 40E) in the Eastern
Mediterranean, including Israel and surrounding areas.
The model shows that there are strong seasonal variations of dust
deposition over the Eastern Mediterranean with maximum dust
deposition in February–March. As an example, Figure 7 represents
maps of monthly-accumulated dust dry deposition over the Eastern
Mediterranean for April – May 2012.
3.3 COMPARISON BETWEEN DREAM AND GEOS-5
MODELED DATA
We compared monthly dust deposition over Israel (29.5N – 33.0N;
34.5E – 35.5E) based on DREAM modeled data for the year 2012
with NASA GEOS-5 modeled data [26, 31]. This comparison
showed (Figure 8) that: (a) the GEOS-5 monthly-accumulated dust
deposition is systematically lower (by a factor of ten) than the
DREAM dust deposition. (b) In spite of the aforementioned
systematic difference, in the year 2012, both models show similar
seasonal variations of Saharan dust deposition over Israel with
maximum in February – March.
Figure 8. Seasonal variations of monthly-accumulated dry dust deposition
over Israel based on DREAM and GEOS-5 data in 2012. For comparison
purposes, all GEOS-5 data were multiplied by 10.
The obtained consistency between the two independent
models (Figure 8) suggests that the DREAM dust
deposition database shows reasonable annual variations
and, consequently, it can be used for dry dust deposition
estimates over Israel.
3.3 MODEL VERIFICATION VS. GROUND-BASED
MEASUREMENTS
The developed Pollution Model has been validated
against long-term ESDD-NSDD field-measurements. For
comparison purposes, the latter have been converted into
the total pollution deposit according to the relation s (1)-
(2).
Figure 9. Correlation between insulator total pollution deposit vs. Dust
Sedimentation Map for different geographic locations, various accumulation
periods, and different insulator materials.
There is a good consistence, with correlation factor
r=0.830, was found between the predicted dust deposition
rates (DSR) and the converted ESDD-NSDD indices
(Figure 9). To prove the model reliability the calibration
was done for different geographic locations and for
different pollution accumulation periods and insulator
materials (Figure 9). Some discrepancy observed for
particular cases is caused by various factors such as local
dust, local rain, the difference in the insulator material and
design, field measurement conditions, etc.
The created Pollution Maps have also been verified
against long-term monitored PM 10 fraction (Section 2.2).
We have studied relationship between the dust-density
index (PM 10 ), measured at ground-level through the IECo
Grid, and the dust-sedimentation index (DSR) predicted by
the developed model. In period of 2006-2013, markedly
high correlation factors were observed for both monthly-
and-annually averaged values (Figure 10). As to the annual
correlation factors, they lies between 0.595-0.819 for the
above period, resulting in total averaged value of r=0.697
(Figure 10).
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 24, No. 6; December 2017
Figure 10. Correlation between monthly-averaged PM10 data-vs.-total dust
deposit (DSR) predicted for years 2006-2013. In the legend brackets, there
are annual correlation indices for each year separately.
The trends depicted in Figures 9-10 bring clear evidence on
that the proposed mapping technique has sufficient
meaningfulness to be applied to the engineering tasks of
geographic pollution mapping and outdoor insulation
coordination.
4 CASE STUDIES
4.1 APPLICATION RULES
Below we will demonstrate application of the developed
technique to the insulators dimensioning and maintenance with
respect to polluted conditions. The application concept can be
best illustrated by the Flow-Chart depicted in Figure 11. The
essence of the application technique can be described with the
following ‘stepping-n-sampling’ procedure:
(1) A time-dependent dust deposit accumulation (DSR) has
been rendered for a specified geographic location (line,
substation, etc.).
(2) The local SPS [3] is estimated by conversion of the total
pollution deposit (DSR) into the corresponding ESDD-
NSDD indices as per relations (1)-(2).
(3) These indices are sequentially compared vs. ‘critical-n-
alarm’ levels of the ESDD-NSDD stress which were pre-
calculated for specified insulator type using conventional
flashover models [1, 10, and 21].
(4) The latter (ESDD-NSDD) ‘critical-n-alarm’ stresses are
reversely converted into the ‘critical-n-alarm’ densities
of the total pollution deposit as per relations (1)-(2).
(5) Finally, the ‘critical-n-alarm’ level densities of the total
pollution deposit (DSR) are involved into the
optimization of line- or substation-washing schedule with
respect to the meteorological conditions and power-
supply availability requirements through the year.
3545
Figure 11. The pollution maps application concept in IECo grid.
The above procedure can be easily adapted to a maintenance
optimization of the PV-plants. This is by replacing of the
insulator flashover criteria by permissible PV-panel pollution
level [mg/cm2] obtained from existing practice.
4.2 POLLUTION BUILDUP ALONG 400-kV-LINE
Below we will demonstrate the case-study aimed at washing-
schedule optimization for typical double-circuit line 400-kV,
105-km-length, operating in heavily polluted southern region.
Figure 12 illustrates the monthly incremental pollution
deposit (i.e. starting from zero-initial conditions, Figure 12a)
being mapped along the line with a sampling-step 10-km
(Figure 12b). The modeled curves demonstrate very high
pollution accumulation rate, so, during the first six months, the
critical pollution stress would be exceeded in the almost half-
line length (Figure 12a). While the maximum density of the
totally-accumulated dust deposit approaches very high values
close to the 2.0 mg/cm2 towards the year-end (Figure 12b).
It was found that in order to assure the line operation
reliability, the ‘once-per-year’ washing-plan (as is accepted in
IECo) is insufficient. Thus, by utilizing the dust-accumulation
data as per Figure 12, the optimized ‘twice-per-year’ washing-
plan has been proposed for considered line (see Figure 13). For
simplification, the curves modeled, in Figure 13, present only
three locations including midline and the end-stations. The
actual rendering accounts for the non-zero boundary conditions
at the year start-end which are determined by the last washing-
date in the previous year.
3546 E. Volpov et al.: An Advanced Technique for Outdoor Insulation Pollution Mapping in the Israel Electric Company Power Grid
Figure 12. Spatio-Temporal characteristics of pollution deposit accumulation
along GNSR-RMHO-line-400-kV. (a) Lengthwise profile. (b) Monthly
accumulation profile. Line-route sampling step 5-km.
Figure 13. Insulators pollution deposit accumulation affected by the optimized
‘twice-per-year’ washing-schedule for the tested line.
The modeled pollution deposit and its accumulation rates (Figures
12-13) are in excellent agreement with the long-term field
experience gained with Egyptian Transmission Lines 500-kV [9, 16]
being located not far from the considered IECo line. It is also
important that similarly to the developed washing-plan (Figure 13),
the long-term service-experience acquired from the adjacent
geographic domain [9] has clearly suggests a ‘twice-per-year’
washing plan when the dust accumulation rate attains ~1.0 mg/cm2
per 6-months (Figure 12).
5 FUTURE WORK
In the next works, the developed model (Section 3) will be
supplemented by two digital geographic layers (GIS-maps)
representing spatio-temporal distributions of (1) sea-salt
deposit [mg/cm2], and (2) maximal relative humidity (RH %)
through the IECo Network. Note, the first layer represents
that part of the sea-salts which remain unabsorbed by
Saharan dust [10] (Section 2.1). These sea-salt-aerosols have
quite limited inland penetration, normally, into the coastal
areas.
In practice, realization of the planned task allows us to
refine the Pollution Flashover Failure Rate (PFFR)
definition for insulators installed at any geographic location
in the Grid.
்ଶ ஶ ஶ
ܲ‫ ܴܨܨ‬ൌ න [ሺ‫ݐ‬ሻ න න ݂ሺߛǡ Kሻ ή ܲ௠ ሺߛǡ Kǡ ߪሻ ή ݀K ή ݀ߛ ή ݀‫ݐ‬
்ଵ ఊሺKሻ K೚
(13)
where, K and J represent NSDD and ESDD indices respectively. f(K, J) is
their joint probability density. Ko = 0.1 mg/cm2 [1]. P m is pollution
flashover probability for m-parallel insulators installed in specified
geographic location [1, 10, 21]. V is a standard deviation of flashover
voltage. T1 and T2 determine the pollution accumulation time-interval
(normally one-year). [(t) is a probability density of dangerous wetting
events distributed through the time-interval T1-T2.
The joint-analysis of the acquired (dust-sea-salt-RH)
spatial-distributions would provide essential inputs for
equation (13) which, in one-turn, becomes the insulation-
level geographic map highly-demanded by engineers. Hence
the upgrade is expected to enhance resolution of local SPS-
modeling, and thus, to improve prediction reliability and risk
assessment accuracy for pollution flashover events.
6 CONCLUSIONS
The IECo in collaboration with TAU have developed an
advanced mapping technique that is intended for outdoor
insulation dimensioning and maintenance with respect to the
regional pollution conditions.
The study was focused on the following tasks: (1)
Chemical and Dimensional analysis of the dust deposit
removed from insulators; (2) Ground-based monitoring and
statistical analysis of PM 10 data; (3) Mapping of monthly-
accumulated Saharan dust dry deposition over the Eastern
Mediterranean.
By accomplishment of these tasks it was proven that the
Saharan dust transport plays a major contributor role to the
insulators’ pollution accumulation in the IECo Grid.
The following key-outputs present a principal practical
value of the Project.
ƒ Regional PM 10 database gathered by IECo for period 2000-2014.
ƒ Database of Saharan dust deposition over Israel developed by TAU.
ƒ GIS-based Pollution Mapping Tool developed by IECo.
The proposed mapping technology has been repeatedly
verified against PM10 and ESDD-NSDD field measurements.
The detailed spatial distributions of monthly-accumulated
Saharan dust deposit (obtained for 9-year-period 2006–
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 24, No. 6; December 2017
2014) were compared against ESDD-NSDD data gathered
from the line- and substation-insulators through the Grid.
[9]
Fairly good agreement between the model-prediction and
ground-based measurements was observed for different
geographic locations and for different exposure periods. This [10]
indicates that the dust transport from Sahara presents a
principal insulation pollution source in the IECo Network. [11]
The advanced mapping technique presents a reliable
alternative to periodical ESDD-NSDD measurements [12]
recommended by the International Standards. It is expected
to significantly improve the insulators dimensioning and [13]
maintenance in the IECo Grid. Currently, the study-findings
have been integrated into the IECo Specifications, in
[14]
particular, in their Chapters determining the insulator
Pollution Tests and local Environmental Conditions.
The proposed mapping technique also involves an [15]
auxiliary Cumulative-Incremental Maps being created by
IECo. They enable in-depth statistical analysis for various
pollution scenarios and flashover risk assessment. The maps [16]
allow creation a smart-washing-schedule for outdoor
insulators and PV-plants which is optimized as per ranked
polluted areas, non-zero initial conditions on pollution [17]
deposit, and power supply availability requirements.
The developed maps bring unique knowledge that has not [18]
been available in Israel so far. Comparison of the Dust [19]
Sedimentation Maps developed in the Project vs. NASA [20]
satellite-based maps shows good consistency. To our
knowledge, there is no other available database of spatial [21]
distribution of multi-year mean of Saharan dust dry
[22]
deposition over Israel for all months of the year. In this
respect, the present study has scientific innovation. [23]
7 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors gratefully acknowledge the contribution of their [24]
colleagues Dr. R. Linder, Eng. H. Ovadia and Eng. D. Drimler
(IECo) for their valuable work on GIS application, PM10 remote
monitoring and data acquisition. [25]
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3548 E. Volpov et al.: An Advanced Technique for Outdoor Insulation Pollution Mapping in the Israel Electric Company Power Grid
Evgeni Volpov (M’07-SM’12) graduated from St
Petersburg Technical University in 1982 with M.Sc.
degree in electrical networks and systems He
received a Ph.D. in high voltage technology and
physics from the Electrotechnical Institute of Russia
(VEI), Moscow, in 1990. Since 1986 to 1994, he has
been involved in VEI R&D Projects on insulation
design and diagnostic testing of HVAC and HVDC
SF6 GIS. Currently, he is Insulation Design Expert
in the Planning Development and Technology
Division of the Israel Electric Corporation Ltd. His research interests include
E-Field Modeling, Insulation Coordination, Statistical Dimensioning,
Outdoor Insulators and Bushings, Lightning and Pollution Performance of
Transmission Lines, PD Diagnostics, Failure Analysis, and Asset
Management. Dr. Volpov is a regular member of CIGRE SC C4, and WG
C4.39, as well as, a member of IEEE PES SPDC, and IEEE DEIS. He has
authored more than 30 scientific publications and holds one patent.
Pavel Kishcha graduated from Lomonosov
Moscow State University in 1979 with M. Sc. in
physics, and received the Ph.D. degree in
geophysics from the Institute of Terrestrial
Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave
Propagation (IZMIRAN), Russian Academy of
Sciences, Moscow, in 1985. Currently, he is Senior
Research Scientist at the School of Geosciences of
Tel-Aviv University (TAU). His research interests
include aerosol physics and aerosol numerical
modeling in the atmosphere, aerosol spatial distributions and trends based on
satellite and ground-based aerosol measurements. He has been producing
daily operational numerical predictions of desert dust storms over the Sahara
desert and adjacent regions since 2006. Dr. Kishcha is the author of over 50
peer-reviewed publications.