With the continuous growth of non-linear power electronic components and the increasing penetration of the distributed generation (DG), the potential for degradation in the power quality of the existing grid exists. There are concerns that the total harmonic distortion (THD) could reach unacceptable levels of 5% or higher. Moreover, there is additional potential of the presence of amplified harmonic components in the power network grid when the harmonic frequencies align with the resonant frequencies that are being injected by power electronic components of the DG. The above conditions could increase the electrical stresses on the insulation system of the power system components, and in particular, cable terminations are a concern. Standard cable terminations are designed to operate under power frequency in the power system network and their service life is considered accordingly. The research work aims to provide an understanding of the performance of the stress grading (SG) system of a commercial cable termination when the voltage waveform is distorted due to the presence of harmonics and when the high frequency and high dV/dt voltage waveforms are present from a typical power electronic drive. An aging experiment was performed for over a 600 hour time period using the pulse width modulated (PWM) high-voltage generator to quantify the impact of high frequency stress on SG system of cable termination. Furthermore, the cable termination was tested under power frequency, distorted voltage waveforms composed of fundamental and low order harmonics using an experiment setup that generate distorted voltage waveforms. Diagnostic techniques such as surface potential distribution measurements and surface temperature monitoring are used to analyze the termination performance. The surface tangential field is calculated based on the gradient of the termination surface potential as measured with an electrostatic voltmeter. The study shows that distorted voltage waveforms with high frequency and high dV/dt components, increase the electric field, resistive heating, and surface temperature rise in the terminations that use the field-dependent SG materials. The rise of electric field by as high as 27.1% and surface temperature rise of as high as 17C demonstrates the severity on the cable terminations. Such electric field enhancements for a period of time have a potential to initiate partial discharge that could lead to degradation of the termination. Moreover, surface temperature rise of 17 deg C could reduce the allowable ampacity of the cable conductor, reduce the short circuit levels, and reduce the feeder loading limits. The field-dependent electrical conductivity (σ(E,T)), permittivity (ε), and the temperature dependencies of (σ(E,T) and ε) have strong impact to degrade the electrical and thermal properties of the termination due to stress from the non-sinusoidal distorted voltage waveform. In order to minimize the surface temperature rise from the hotspot and electrical stress enhancement that eventually lead to insulation degradation and failure, the following recommendations are made for a suitable SG design for a termination to handle the severe voltage stress: Apply the capacitively graded termination in the grid where the distortion levels are low. Under the increased total harmonic distortion levels and HF components, resistively grading with higher degree of nonlinearity (achieved through the use of ZnO filler) is beneficial. The utilities could take preventive maintenance on medium voltage power cable accessories to prevent the termination failure before it actually occurs. Researchers could focus to resolve and minimize the rising power quality issues when the distribution generations are operated, improve the power electronic converters, and provide cost-effective harmonic filter solutions for harmonic mitigation.

With the continuous growth of non-linear power electronic components and the increasing penetration of the distributed generation (DG), the potential for degradation in the power quality of the existing grid exists. There are concerns that the total harmonic distortion (THD) could reach unacceptable levels of 5% or higher. Moreover, there is additional potential of the presence of amplified harmonic components in the power network grid when the harmonic frequencies align with the resonant frequencies that are being injected by power electronic components of the DG. The above conditions could increase the electrical stresses on the insulation system of the power system components, and in particular, cable terminations are a concern. Standard cable terminations are designed to operate under power frequency in the power system network and their service life is considered accordingly. The research work aims to provide an understanding of the performance of the stress grading (SG) system of a commercial cable termination when the voltage waveform is distorted due to the presence of harmonics and when the high frequency and high dV/dt voltage waveforms are present from a typical power electronic drive. An aging experiment was performed for over a 600 hour time period using the pulse width modulated (PWM) high-voltage generator to quantify the impact of high frequency stress on SG system of cable termination. Furthermore, the cable termination was tested under power frequency, distorted voltage waveforms composed of fundamental and low order harmonics using an experiment setup that generate distorted voltage waveforms. Diagnostic techniques such as surface potential distribution measurements and surface temperature monitoring are used to analyze the termination performance. The surface tangential field is calculated based on the gradient of the termination surface potential as measured with an electrostatic voltmeter. The study shows that distorted voltage waveforms with high frequency and high dV/dt components, increase the electric field, resistive heating, and surface temperature rise in the terminations that use the field-dependent SG materials. The rise of electric field by as high as 27.1% and surface temperature rise of as high as 17C demonstrates the severity on the cable terminations. Such electric field enhancements for a period of time have a potential to initiate partial discharge that could lead to degradation of the termination. Moreover, surface temperature rise of 17 deg C could reduce the allowable ampacity of the cable conductor, reduce the short circuit levels, and reduce the feeder loading limits. The field-dependent electrical conductivity (σ(E,T)), permittivity (ε), and the temperature dependencies of (σ(E,T) and ε) have strong impact to degrade the electrical and thermal properties of the termination due to stress from the non-sinusoidal distorted voltage waveform. In order to minimize the surface temperature rise from the hotspot and electrical stress enhancement that eventually lead to insulation degradation and failure, the following recommendations are made for a suitable SG design for a termination to handle the severe voltage stress: Apply the capacitively graded termination in the grid where the distortion levels are low. Under the increased total harmonic distortion levels and HF components, resistively grading with higher degree of nonlinearity (achieved through the use of ZnO filler) is beneficial. The utilities could take preventive maintenance on medium voltage power cable accessories to prevent the termination failure before it actually occurs. Researchers could focus to resolve and minimize the rising power quality issues when the distribution generations are operated, improve the power electronic converters, and provide cost-effective harmonic filter solutions for harmonic mitigation.