SF6 is being phased out of the electrical grid as it is a strong greenhouse gas. A 'green' alternative to SF6 is fluoronitrile (C4-FN). The dutch transmission system operator (TSO) TenneT wanted to investigate the electrical behavior of this 'green' alternative as a pilot-gas insulated line (GIL) filled with C4-FN/CO2 (5%/95%) experienced multiple electrical breakdowns during the site acceptance tests (SATs). TenneT hypothesized that the breakdown was caused by the effect of (too much) humidity in the gas. Therefore, the ac breakdown behavior of the gas mixture has been researched under different amounts of humidity and operating pressures. This article also makes a small introduction on how humidity affects partial discharge (PD) behavior of corona, which is often a breakdown indicator. The results of this research conclude that humidity affects the ac breakdown strength. An increase in humidity in the gas results in a decrease in the ac breakdown strength. Moreover, the field configuration determines the amplitude of the impact. The impact of humidity on the ac breakdown strength in a homogenous field is substantially more compared to an inhomogeneous field, where the impact can almost be ignored. Yet, the effect of humidity decreases as the operating pressure increases. The phase-resolved PD pattern and PD characteristics of corona in a C4-FN gas mixture also differ with humidity. On the other hand, the PD inception voltage did not change with the humidity content. As a result of the findings in this research, further research is proposed toward the affected breakdown mechanism and more various PD behavior.

One of the main difficulties in measuring partial discharges (PD) in gas-insulated substations (GIS) is the overlapping of pulses at the sensor's location, which distorts the pulse resolution and the charge estimation. This research presents a new method called “synergy,” which identifies and suppresses reflections using magnetic and electric antennas in the very-high frequency range. By scaling the antennas’ outputs and adding them, it is possible to segregate forward and backward pulses. Additionally, by multiplying the electric and magnetic signals, the power flow of the pulses is obtained, which identifies the propagation direction and the location of discontinuities in the transmission path. The synergy method is evaluated in three scenarios: a fully matched test bench using a calibrated pulse, a full-scale GIS using a calibrated pulse, and a full-scale GIS using a PD defect. The results showed that the pulse reflections can be eliminated from the incident pulse, improving the charge calculation when the pulses overlap. The output of this research represents an improvement for PD monitoring in GIS, exhibiting a tool for better defect localization, pulse wave shape construction, charge estimation, and possible interference rejection.