The Invisible Threat: Detecting High-Voltage Corona Discharge

Every utility faces a major hidden danger that leads to outages, equipment failure, and even wildfires: corona partial discharge, the invisible electrical glow that slowly destroys high-voltage components. In this episode, we welcome Michael Kelly and Dale Morrison from OFIL Systems, the global leader in UV-based corona detection, to break down this silent threat.Learn what corona is—an electrical leak caused when the electric field ionizes the air—and why it’s the "check engine light" for the entire grid.

We dive into the groundbreaking technology that makes the invisible visible: OFIL’s cameras use a patented solar-blind filter to capture the corona's specific UVc light signature, allowing utilities to pinpoint discharges hundreds of feet away, even in bright daylight.

Discover why proactive inspection is now essential, driven by aging infrastructure, rising wildfire risk, and the demands of regulators and insurers. Find out how combining UV detection with thermal imaging and ultrasound creates the "Tri-fecta" of predictive maintenance, helping utilities build safer, more resilient systems.

If you can SEE it, you can FIX it before it fails.