Service experience with PE and XLPE insulated power cables

It is extremely hard to assess the working quality of cables with extruded insulation and to compare this with the traditional insulation of medium and high voltage cables. The reason is that the experiments concerning the PE and XLPE insulated cables began far later than the research related to paper insulated cables. However, from the perspective of 30 years experience with PE cables for 60 kV and 20 years with 225 kV cables, it is possible to speak well for their working parameters. Based on Swedish and Dutch research it is possible to state that the electric cables with crosslinked polyethylene insulation show high reliability. In Poland, PE insulated cables were produced for medium voltage in 1972, whereas medium and high voltage cables insulated with crosslinked polyethylene (XLPE), have been manufactured since 1988. The date presented concerns mainly PE insulated cables