Improvement in the 500 kV substations using barehand methods without outage of power flow in Brazil´s north-south interconnection

After the construction of the substations of Miracema, Colinas and Imperatriz in 1998, several windstorms damaged some equipment. This paper shows the work developed to modify the main bus bar, in live line, using the barehand method, without outage of the power flow. The work developed consisted in changing of the 6 inches bus bar to a four conductor 954 MCM bundle, replacing the rigid connectors for expansion connectors, changing aerial jumpers and finally replacing 35 bus support polymeric insulators by porcelain insulators. We show, the sequence of activities developed along the service and photos of the service that resulted in the successful improvement of the substations.