Design of HV transmission lines to combat insulator pollution problems in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia

In an attempt to understand the severity of prevailing pollution in eastern Saudi Arabia, two insulator research stations were erected. At these two stations, pollution buildup characteristics of different representative insulators were investigated and, depending on the length of pollution cycle, relevant design pollution levels were determined. These conditions were subsequently simulated in the high voltage laboratory at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals and the performance of representative insulator designs was evaluated. Based on these investigations, insulation design requirements for combating pollution flashover were identified