Experience with UG cable failures and pro-active replacement programs

Summary form only given. Underground cable form a vast unknown asset base that behaves similar to other assets that can be more easily inspected and maintained. Different from other equipment categories, underground cables can not easily be inspected, may have unknown traces, type, make and models and have a certain length. This makes statistical analysis and practical measures on cable condition and failures slightly different. A cable may experience multiple failures along the length of the cable. Many utilities maintain a certain number per section to replace that section. In order to predict both manpower and materials, it is useful to predict these cable failures and proactively manage the cable inventory. This panel deals with BCHydro´s URD cable strategy and how we link this to a 10 year plan, based on cable condition and risk profiling. Practices and preliminary results was presented and discussed