VLF Testing Wind Farms

[windywendy]

Hello,

I'm currently learning about Wind Farm cabling techniques and I was hoping I might be able to get some advice from some more experienced members. The area I've been looking at recently is in very low frequency testing, and especially how it can relate to wind farms, however I'm struggling to find any information on how VLF testing is particularly suited to wind farm cabling over say DC tests - other than it is less destructive to the cabling. Are there other advantages to the test process? Does anyone have any particular experience with any VLF test sets they could recommend?

 

[rcwilson]

There is a lot more to cable testing than just buying a test set. It takes some training and experience to safely and correctly conduct the tests to get usable results. Check into a reputable electrical testing company that has experience in doing VLF testing in the project area to do the testing. Or go to a few classes, learn the safe procedures and learn how to interpret results.

Wind farm cable is not something to go cheap on the design or application. There is one wind farm owner that is bankrupt because his contractor selected the wrong 35kV cable for the soil type. Cable failures reduced the output by taking multiple units out of service and increased the maintenance costs to the point of bankruptcy.