Polymer concrete: A viable low-cost material for innovative power systems

This paper deals with polymer concrete high voltage insulation, a relatively new family of highly-filled, low-cost, energy-efficient materials which are amenable to precise tailoring for a wide variety of power system applications. First developed in the USA, following pioneering work at Westinghouse, and on Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, California (EPRI) projects, the appeal of polymer concrete has gone global. There are now several countries, besides the USA, which are actively using and developing polymer concrete insulation systems. The outdoor field experience with polymer concrete has been very good to excellent in a wide variety of environments. Hybrid systems, involving polymer concrete and other well-proven insulating materials with good weathering characteristics, appear very likely to broad-base the use of polymer concrete, with significant technical and speed-of-production advantages over any other material system. While polymer concrete can quite easily be designed to replicate standard porcelain, epoxy and other designs, the elegance of the material lies in its versatility and its amenability to innovation in power systems, while at the same time, offering attractive economic features. Overall, polymer concrete has already shown considerable promise to be a major player in the fast-growing electric power development plans for Asia, even as it steadily expands its involvement in the Americas and Europe