Performance Comparison Study of Polymer, Ceramic and Glass Insulators under Nickel Industrial Pollution Exposure

PT. PLN (Persero), provides electricity services to various industries, including premium customers such as Bay Line Switching-Smelter. This research addresses the importance of proper insulator selection to maintain the reliability of the electrical transmission system, specifically for the Bay Line Switching-Smelter which operates at a load capacity of 198.66 Megawatts. This study investigates the performance of polymer, glass, and ceramic insulator under pollution and high humidity conditions common in the nickel industry. Experimental evaluations were conducted on the three types of insulators in clean and contaminated environments, focusing on insulation strength, surface hydrophobicity, flashover voltage (FOV), as well as an economic analysis to compare insulator procurement and maintenance costs. The results show that polymer insulators have superior performance compared to glass and ceramic insulators. The flashover voltage of the polymer insulator was recorded to be the highest, reaching 49.56 kV under salt fog conditions, which is 65% higher than that of ceramic (30.06 kV) and 70% higher than that of glass (29.12 kV) under the same conditions. Polymer insulators also maintain good insulation performance as well as high surface hydrophobicity, which helps reduce the risk of flashover. In addition, economic analysis results show that polymer insulators are more efficient in terms of maintenance and replacement costs than glass and ceramic insulator.