Live maintenance in high voltage substations: Malaysia´s experience

In every aspect of human life, electricity plays an important role. It has transformed the world in many ways since the day it was discovered. Today, we are depended heavily on electricity to run our daily activities. To meet customers´ demand, utilities built extensive networks of transmission and distribution grids with efforts to ensure reliable power supply. A part from that, with global concern over changes in business models and entities, power utility companies are faced with tremendous pressure to sustain their businesses operation. New engineering solutions are sought after to ensure continuous availability of power supply while reducing operating costs. One of such engineering solution practiced in Malaysia is maintenance and refurbishment of electrical apparatus in high voltage 132kV and 275kV substations using ´live´ method. This paper highlights Malaysia´s four years achievements and experience in successful implementation of live maintenance technology.