Progress in resolving flashovers of FRP hot sticks during EHV live line work

In 1997 a FRP hot stick flashed over during live line work at 550 kV AC. In spite of improvements in the maintenance and testing of the hot sticks, a second flashover occurred during similar work in 2002. A low level of surface pollution is believed to have been the cause of the more recent flashover. Laboratory tests have shown that the leakage distance of the FRP hot stick needs to be substantially greater than the minimum air gap approach distance.