News from the Tony Davies High Voltage Laboratory

Our on-going programme to enhance facilities in the Tony Davies High Voltage Laboratory has recently led to the commissioning of a new climate controlled facility to join our Salt-Fog chamber and Faraday Cage.

The data acquisition phase of a project to field test a cable location system on a 275 kV cable circuit has been undertaken.

Professor Steve Swingler, a member of academic staff at the Tony Davies High Voltage Laboratory, has received an award from National Grid in recognition of his work on the Western HVDC Link.

Centrica Plc. invited the Tony Davies High Voltage Laboratory (TDHVL) to tender for a series of tests on a 27m section of 132kV offshore wind farm export cable and subsequently awarded the laboratory with its largest ever contract for commercial testing. Work has commenced on the three month long test programme and on the 7th December the supplied cable section was energized with a 1000 Amps per phase for the first time.

Professor Paul Lewin of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) at the University of Southampton has been honoured for his contributions to high voltage cable engineering by been named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE).

The Tony Davies High Voltage Laboratory and the National Oceanography Centre Southampton are further developing their links to tackle a number of interdisciplinary issues in the area of subsea power transmission.

The Tony Davies High Voltage Laboratory (TDHVL) has been growing consistently throughout the past decade. Currently there are 19 staff members and 27PhD students. The quality of work and expertise within the TDHVL means that TDHVL has gained prestige amongst the international research community, which led the TDHVL to be present at the heart of many decision and policy making groups in the area of High Voltage engineering.

A new High Voltage (HV) Laboratory situated in Zepler Building was officially opened in July.