Proactive Diagnostics Are the Key to Keeping the Lights On | Diego Robalino Vanegas, Megger

Most transformer failures can be prevented. A $5 million transformer lost to a bushing failure is often something that could have been caught with a simple oil sample and the right data. At CIGRE 2026 in Paris, Dr. Diego Robalino of Megger joins APC Media to explain how liquid insulation diagnostics and fleet health management help utilities move from reacting to failures to diagnosing problems ahead of time. Diego has spent 16 years in technical roles at Megger, which has been in electrical testing for over 130 years. With a lot of the grid now 20 to 30 years old and loading demands going up, asset managers need to see inside their transformers without shutting them down. They also need to make sense of the flood of test data sitting in PDFs and spreadsheets. Key topics covered:

• Liquid insulation does three jobs: it insulates, it cools the windings, and it carries information about the transformer’s condition
• DGA is energy based: thermal faults, arcing, and partial discharge each produce their own gas signatures, and CO and CO2 come from the oil as well as the paper
• Criticality is not the same as risk: a small transformer feeding a hospital or fire department may need attention first
• An onsite oil sample roadmap (dielectric breakdown, dissipation factor at 25° and 90°, Karl Fischer moisture) supports a same-day energization decision
• A green, yellow, red traffic light approach only works when operators feed it reliable, high-accuracy data

In this video:

Dr. Diego Robalino, Megger