Why Insulators have become Integral to Transmission and Distribution

Janifha Evangeline

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Expansion of transmission and distribution infrastructure is creating a new ecosystem of products that contribute in their own way to achieve the objective of making electricity accessible to remote areas. One component in particular that has become integral to T&D infrastructure development is insulator. The electric insulator market is anticipated to reach USD 13.3 billion by 2023, according to the MarketsandMarkets Research report.

The segment that is anticipated to grow faster over the period includes the composite segment. While composite insulators comprise silicone rubber housing & sheds, fiberglass core rod, and metal end fittings, they have advantages such as lightweight, improved transmission line aesthetics, less gunshot damage, high shock resistance and ease of installation and these have made composite insulators more suitable over conventional porcelain insulators.

Rising Opportunities from Smart Grids
In the global market, growing investments in smart grid technologies and smart cities in countries such as Japan, South Korea, and Australia for the distribution grid automation, power quality equipment, and demand response systems are anticipated to create growth opportunities for the electric insulators. Furthermore, the government policies to create numerous smart cities are also expected to bolster the electric insulator market.

While a smart grid is an advanced technology that comprises smart devices in the circuits, enabling remote monitoring of the normal operation, the devices in the grid have two-way communication technologies, which allow the utility to interact with every device and control their working to detect and eliminate faults.

Smart cities are anticipated to depend more on smart grids in order to offer robust energy to conduct the key activities and functions. The important services in smart cities include utility, safety, transportation, and health and these are managed more efficiently and intelligently using technology and proper utilization of resources. Furthermore, the rise in the number of smart city projects around the world offers a huge opportunity for technology companies, service providers, utility providers, and consulting companies.

Specifically in the developed countries that are entering the new era of power supply and load management Investments in smart grid technologies are increasing largely and this is because smart and high-performance insulating materials would not only add to the reliability of smart grids but also reduce costs and power systems that involve the transportation of billions of GW of power over thousands of kilometers, have accentuated the requirement for smart equipment for proper monitoring and timely fault correction.

When we look at the India smart grid network market, it is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 3 per cent by 2025.

Challenges in Manufacturing
The raw materials used in the manufacturing of insulators include steel and silicon rubber. Since the prices of these materials are highly volatile and fluctuate frequently, the rapid changes in the prices of these materials would have a huge impact on the production of electric insulators, hence, variation in the prices can be attributed to the fact that China being one of the largest steel producers has been facing slow economic growth since the last 3 years.

Also, the manufacturing industry in the country is expected to decline further in the future, and this would lead to further fluctuations in prices, therefore, volatility in the prices of raw materials would pose a major challenge for the electric insulator market.

Growth Restraints
While the electric insulator market is a combination of the organized as well as the unorganized sectors and players, the organized sector’s targets are the industrial buyers and this sector maintains high product quality, whereas, players in the unorganized sector offer cheaper alternatives to increase their market presence and penetrate domestic markets.
The market players from the unorganized sector supplying cheap and low-quality products overpower the big players. They overpower them in terms of price competitiveness and the local supply networks maintained by them, which are difficult for global players to achieve, therefore, the leading market players are facing tough competition from unorganized market players.

Technological Breakthrough for Insulators
Since an essential part of high voltage electric power transmission systems is the High voltage insulators, any failure in the performance of high voltage insulators will lead to huge loss of capital since numerous industries are dependent on the availability of an uninterrupted power supply and most of the electric power transmission and distribution is conducted through the overhead lines with insulators rendering mechanical support and electrical protection.

While the size and specific design of high voltage insulators will vary according to the line voltage, environmental conditions, material of construction and manufacturer, the insulator service life can be affected by electrical, mechanical, and environmental factors and the principle dielectrics used for outdoor insulators are ceramics and polymers.

Composite insulators have become more suitable over conventional porcelain insulators

Janifha Evangeline

Advent of Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology describes “creation, analysis, and application of structure, molecular materials, inner interfaces and surfaces with at least one critical dimension or with manufacturing tolerances below 100 nanometers.” The decisive factors include new functionalities and properties leading from the nano scalability of system components which are used for the improvement of existing products or the development of new products and application options.

While nanotechnology is rapidly growing as a new technology alternative to creating advanced materials with unique characteristics and performance for different applications in several industrial sectors, in recent years, various nanotechnology-based products have been invented in our day-to-day life. However, on the other hand, industries have also considered nano-concepts to manufacture high-added-value products with superior capacity, reliability, and efficiency.

Specialized coating that switches from an insulator to a conductor
With the proliferation of new gadgets, and the surge in demand for ever-powerful batteries to power them, the power of accidental ingestion is growing rapidly, scientists stated.

“Ingested disc batteries require emergent removal from the esophagus,” said co-first study author Giovanni Traverso, a gastroenterologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and a researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

“The swallowing of these batteries is a gastrointestinal emergency given that tissue damage starts as soon as the battery is in contact with the tissue, generating an electric current and leading to a chemical burn,” said Traverso.

“We set out to create a specialized coating that could switch from an insulator to a conductor when subjected to pressure,” said co-author Robert Langer, Institute Professor from Harvard MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Future of Insulator market
The region that is anticipated to be the fastest-growing is Asia-Pacific and this is owing to factors such as rapid population growth, rapid urbanization, and the surge in demand for power from industrial sectors in developing economies such as China and India. Since the governments of countries in the Asia Pacific region is in the plans of developing more and more electrical grid and power generation capacity, this is further anticipated to boost the demand for insulator in this particular region.