PFT Tech Leadership In Leak Dectection; Success Stories

Huge installed base of tagged cable fluid

• • >1,000,000 tagged liters in the UK & Ireland

  • >2,000,000 tagged gallons in the US

• Success rate of 99% in identifying transmission line leaks

  • Discovered more than 250 leaks over 10-year period in US, UK, & Ireland

  • Reduced cable fluid leakage for UK customer from 85,000 liters to less than

    2,000 liters (subject of Jicable 2011 technical paper)

  • Customers include over 15 separate utilities in three countries

• National Grid (UK) project success (2005 – present)

  • Initial program in 2005 was conducted on a 132kV cable with a history of leaks

    that was being decommissioned

  • Program continued with active 275kV cable more than 6 miles long with seven

    hydraulic sections under city streets & major roads

  • Next phase was to implement the PFTtech system on National Grid’s top 20

    cables with highest fluid leakage; then all major cables in the system over 3 years

  • Total fluid loss reduced by more than 50%

  • Outage time due to repairs reduced by more than two-thirds

  • Leak detection for pre-tagged cable is typically less than 24 hours; accurate to

    within a few feet; without taking the cable out of service

  • Leak detection for untagged cables is from 1 – 5 days

  • Currently no active leaks that have not been identified for repair

  • Latest phase is developing a tagging process that enables tracer to be added to

    cable dielectric fluid while the circuit is in service; due for completion this year