SAd35z wins China

The first SAd35zs were installed in April 2017 in the Anhui province. At that period, technicians mounted 115 LLPDs in the 24km line. Despite that 39 out of 96 poles were equipped with devices, the experimental-industrial operation has already demonstrated positive results. The thunderstorms season of 2017 registered no lightning outage in the protected run in this transmission line, whereas in 2016, there were seven interruptions in this line, meaning the target of four outages a year had been exceeded almost twice.

"LLPDs were installed on the tops of hills and in high ground resistance areas.We drew on the experience of local power engineers and tried to mount the SAd35zs in locations which showed multiple lightning-induced outages ", Mikhail Zhitenev, Streamer expert on lightning protection equipment installation, said.

As for spring 2018, 160 more SAd35zs are planned to be installed in Zhejiang city of Anhui province. In addition, two potential projects are being developed for this area. The region provides tremendous prospects for Streamer since the total length of the 35 kV transmission line in the province is almost 25,000 km with 250 m average spacing between poles.

Streamer is about to implement projects in four provinces in 2018, although less than a year has passed since SAd35z experimental-industrial operation started in China. Two areas have already launched the multi-chamber LLPDs installation in lines.

In particular, in Fujian province, 45 devices were installed on January 4 to a line located in a mountainous area near the sea. In the middle of March, LLPDs were installed in the Jiangxi province. The local energy industry is in desperate need for the efficient lightning protection system of transmission line. The provincial territory is mountainous and features high soil resistivity and high lightning density. "The area experiences quite serious problems with line outages due to lightning surges. In total, the Jiangxi province has 17,000 km of 35kV power lines," Mikhail Zhitenev said.

Therefore, Streamer plans to install 48 more SAd35zs in a partially equipped line, and is also ready to participate in the project on equipping the line subject to planned reconstruction with 300 LLPDs, in the summer of 2018.

The Company is planning to supply SAd35zs to the Yunnan province featuring mountainous terrain and high lightning density. The region has a 30,000 km 35 kV power line.

"We met the local energy experts at the EP Shanghai, and they were very interested in our innovations. The major part of the power line in this province has a limited road access. That's why people have to carry all the equipment on themselves. The conventional lightning protection devices weigh quite a lot, and the worker may carry only one item at a time, with the standard local mounting team comprising only two people. This is why the installation process is time-consuming. Our LLPDs are almost 4 times lighter as compared to conventional solutions. This means that the SAd35z installation will take much less time, and staff won't be physically overstrained," Mikhail said.

Finally, Streamer is to join the implementation of two potential projects in the Guangdong province. One of them involves the supply of 150 LLPDs for the power line in Qingyuan city. Despite, there will be centralized bidding for the installation of 3000 devices in August. In total, the province network comprises more than 30,000 km of 35 kV power line.