Paper accepted for presentation at 2003 IEEE Bologna Power Tech Conference, June 23th-26th, Bologna, Italy

Reliability and Economic Analysis of

Different Power Station Layouts
D. Braun (M)1, F. Granata1, M. Delfanti (M)2, M. Palazzo2, M. Caletti2
1
ABB Switzerland Ltd. , Zurich, Switzerland, 2Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy

Abstract-- The liberalization of electric power systems puts a I. INTRODUCTION

strong pressure on the issues concerned with the reliability of
power stations.
In the vertically integrated system there was no explicit
penalization in case of unexpected outages of generators. In a
market scenario, where power stations are held by different
generating companies, outages are more critical and may have
significant economic consequences.
Moreover, long unavailability periods (as in the case of severe
failures of the main transformer) may affect the rate of return of
investments related with power stations.
This work is based on a simulation of the behaviour of two
Italian power stations carried out with the help of the Monte
Carlo method. The analysis provides important insights in the
optimization of power station layouts, evaluating the possible
introduction of generator circuit-breakers in existing schemes, as
well as the possibility of applying different power station
topologies.
An economic evaluation of the different power station layouts
is also provided, taking into account different scenarios in terms
of energy selling price.
Index Terms-- Reliability, Availability, Power Station Layout,
Generator Circuit-Breaker.
T HE question of operating power stations with the highest
possible availability has become more and more important
in recent years; the layout of a power station obviously has a
decisive influence in this respect. Furthermore the
liberalization of the electric power systems (a process begun in
Italy with the Decreto Bersani in 1999, and still in progress
nowadays) pushes the operators of power stations in the
direction of achieving the highest availability at the lowest
costs.
This paper is specifically concerned with the reliability and
security assessment of thermal power stations (a typical layout
is shown in Figure 1). Failure and repair data obtained from
the operating history of two Italian power stations have been
used for the investigation.
The availability of the power stations has been assessed by
means of Monte Carlo simulation. The simulations take into
account the following options: different extra high-voltage
substation schemes, air and gas insulation, the presence of a
generator circuit-breaker and the number of station
transformers.

380 kV

132 kV

MT MT
370 MVA 370 MVA

UT 3~ UT UT 3~ UT
16 MVA 16 MVA 16 MVA 16 MVA
ST
GEN GEN
20 MVA
20 kV 20 kV
370 MVA 370 MVA

6 kV 6 kV 6 kV 6 kV 6 kV 6 kV

Fig. 1. Layout of a 4 x 320 MW thermal power station (2 units out of 4 are shown)

0-7803-7967-5/03/$17.00 ©2003 IEEE

 For the economic analysis, on one side the power delivered power station has three station transformers: the first two units
to the grid was taken into account, while, on the other side, the share the same station transformer and the other two units
acquisition costs, the civil works costs, the maintenance costs have one station transformer each. The reserve net (132 kV) is
and the costs of power losses of each layout of the power the backup source for the station auxiliaries; i. e. whenever a
station have been considered. The optimal solutions, unit is shutdown, the reserve net supplies power to the
depending on the service time, the load profile and the energy auxiliary busbars through the station transformer. The layout
selling price have been evaluated. of the high-voltage substation (rated voltage 132 kV) is again
an air insulated double busbar with single circuit-breaker
II. THE ITALIAN ELECTRICITY MARKET arrangement.
Since 1999 the Italian electricity system has been
B. Data Collection
experiencing a restructuring process in accordance with the
general principles established in the EU Directive 96/92/EC. For each component of the power station the following
Up to 1999, the Italian electric sector was almost completely data has been collected:
managed by ENEL (Ente Nazionale per l’Energia Elettrica), • number of failures;
the state-owned vertically integrated utility, founded in 1962. • downtime;
In fact, ENEL had the control of about 75% of the generation • undelivered power;
(56 GW of installed power in 1999), and together with some • maintenance frequency;
municipal utilities had an actual monopoly in transmission and • maintenance duration;
distribution. The other 25% of production was in the hands of • energy production;
industrial auto-producers, municipal and private utilities. After • operating hours per year.
the approval of the decree No. 79/1999 (“Transposition of the
Directive 96/92/EC concerning common rules of the internal Furthermore, an estimate of the number of close and open
electricity market”), the electricity sector has been commands for the circuit-breakers has been made taking into
restructured. Generation, import and export of electric energy account the layout and the operation of the plant. Data was
are liberalized; by January 2003, no company is allowed to available from the ten years period between 1991 and 2000.
produce or to import more than 50% of the electric energy.
The generation sector in Italy is expected to be radically IV. DATA ANALYSIS
transformed within a few years; this is also due to the From the data collected the reliability parameters to be
increasing demand of electric energy. Transmission and used for the availability calculations have been evaluated. For
dispatch functions are managed by an independent network each component the Mean Time To Failure (MTTF) and the
operator (GRTN: Gestore della Rete di Trasmissione Mean Time To Repair (MTTR) have been computed.
Nazionale). The Power Exchange (GME: Gestore del Mercato Assuming that the data is exponentially distributed, the MTTF
Elettrico) carries out an economic merit order dispatch based is given by
on producers’ bids to determine, hour-by-hour, the energy OT
MTTF = (1)
price for the transactions. The rules issued by the GME for the F
electric energy market lead all generating companies to the where:
objective of achieving the highest possible plant availability at • OT is the total Operating Time of the component;
the lowest possible cost. • F is the number of Failures that have occurred.
III. DATA ACQUISITION The MTTR has been calculated from
The realization of the connection of a generator to the extra DT
MTTR = (2)
high-voltage grid and the way to supply power to the F
auxiliaries has a decisive impact on the availability of a power where DT is the total Downtime after failure of the
station. In order to assess the availability of power stations, component. The results obtained are summarized in Table I.
reliability data has been collected from two Italian thermal
power stations. TABLE I
RELIABILITY PARAMETERS COLLECTED FROM TWO ITALIAN
A. Layouts of the Power Stations THERMAL POWER STATIONS
The layout of one of the power stations from which the Component MTTF [h] MTTR [h]
data has been collected is shown in Figure 1. Both power Unit 5859 69.75
stations consist of four 320 MW steam turbines. There are two Main transformer (MT) *) *)
unit transformers (UT) for each unit. The generator is directly Unit transformer (UT) 265613 435.53
Station transformer (ST) 192720 39.3
connected to the main transformer (MT). The extra high-
Main net (380 kV) 58400 1.3
voltage substation (rated voltage 380 kV) consists of an air Reserve net (132 kV) 58400 1.3
insulated double busbar with single circuit-breaker 380 kV busbar 350400 36.5
arrangement. The number of outgoing lines is different for the 380 kV circuit-breaker *) *)
two power stations: one plant has two outgoing lines and the 132 kV busbar *) *)
other one three. Moreover, one power station has two station 132 kV circuit-breaker *) *)
MV busbar *) *)
transformers (ST), i.e. one per two units. This is the typical MV circuit-breaker 730000 73.72
scheme used in Italy for thermal power stations. The other *) no failures were observed
 In order to prove the assumption that the data is 1
exponentially distributed, a more thorough approach has been 0,9
0,8
used. In case of equipment failures the data is a sequence of 0,7
times to failure. The first step to analyze the data was to 0,6

R(t)
compute a piecewise-continuous failure density function. A 0,5
0,4
study of this function is then followed by the choice of a
0,3
continuous model which fits the data satisfactorily. 0,2
The hazard rate z(t) is defined as the ratio of the number of 0,1
0
failures occurring in the time interval to the population at the
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000
beginning of the time interval, divided by the length of the Time [h]
time interval [1]:
Fig. 3. Reliability function of the unit

z (t ) =
[n(ti ) − n(ti + dti )]/ n(ti ) (3) A constant hazard rate implies an exponential density
dti function and, as shown in Figure 3, an exponential reliability
where: function. Similar results were also obtained for the other
• n(ti) – n(ti + dti) is the number of failures occurring in the components.
time interval;
V. POWER STATION LAYOUTS
• n(ti) is the size of the population at the beginning of the
time interval; The following power station layouts have been considered
• dti is the length of the time interval. for the investigations.
A. Layout of Extra High-Voltage Substation
The hazard rate is a measure of the instantaneous speed of
failure. Figure 2 shows the hazard rate of the unit (turbine and The secure operation of extra high-voltage substations is
generator). greatly influenced by their layout. In order to assure the
continuity of the supply, the links between incoming and
0,0005
outgoing feeders of a substation have to remain intact, even in
spite of a number of connecting elements not being available.
Obviously every effort is made to attain this goal with a
Trend line
0,0004 minimum capital outlay.
The following substation schemes have been investigated:
• single-busbar (Figure 4a);
Hazard rate [1/h]

0,0003
• double busbar with single circuit-breaker (Figure 4b);
• one and half circuit-breaker (Figure 4c);
0,0002
• double busbar with double circuit-breaker (Figure 4d);
• ring (Figure 4e);
0,0001 • crossed-ring (Figure 4f).
The single busbar arrangement (Figure 4a) is suitable for
0 smaller installations. Its costs are low but maintenance is
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 difficult to carry out and the availability is lower than that of
Time intervals most other schemes. A circuit-breaker failure leads to the loss
Fig. 2. Hazard rate of the unit
of all feeders connected to the busbar and the busbar
protection may cause the loss of the whole substation.
The reliability of a piece of equipment is the probability For larger installations the double busbar with single
that the item will perform a specified function under specified circuit-breaker arrangement (Figure 4b) is preferred. The
operational and environmental conditions, at and throughout a presence of two busbars makes maintenance possible without
specified time. The reliability function R(t) is given by the interrupting the supply. On the other hand a circuit-breaker
equation [1], [2]: failure again leads to the loss of all feeders connected to that
n(t ) busbar and the busbar protection may cause the loss of the
R (t ) = (4)
substation if all feeders are connected to the same busbar.
N
where:
• n(t) is the size of the population at the time t;
• N is the size of the original population.

The reliability function of the unit (turbine and generator)

is depicted in Figure 3.
The hazard function z(t) graphed in Figure 2 fluctuates
somewhat, but the overall trend seems to be constant,
a) b)
increasing with a small slope. Fig. 4. Schemes of extra high-voltage substations
 A scheme representing a mixture of equipment and
structural redundancy is the “one and half” circuit-breaker
arrangement (Figure 4c). It is often used for very important
substations because of its high availability and good
operational flexibility. In this case three circuit-breakers are
employed for two outgoing feeders. All circuit-breakers are
normally closed. Uninterrupted supply is thus maintained even
if one busbar fails.
A feature of the double busbar with double circuit-breaker
arrangement (Figure 4d) is that each outgoing feeder is
connected to the rest of the installation by two parallel circuit-
breakers, i.e. this scheme uses circuit-breaker redundancy to
secure operation under disturbed conditions. Pure equipment
redundancy is employed, resulting in high costs. Since each
line has two circuit-breakers, one circuit-breaker can be taken
out of service at any time without interrupting the operation.
c) d)
Fig. 4. Schemes of extra high-voltage substations
A more economic kind of redundancy is achieved with the
ring arrangement (Figure 4e) which is considered as an
appropriate solution for substations with only a few feeders.
Each feeder requires only one circuit-breaker and each circuit-
breaker can be isolated without interrupting the supply.
e)
Fig. 4. Schemes of extra high-voltage substations
Starting from this scheme, new concepts were developed to
increase structural redundancy. Among these schemes, the
crossed-ring substation arrangement (Figure 4f) is the easiest
to put into practice [3]. In the normal state of such an
arrangement the circuit-breakers of the basic ring (BR) are
closed while those of the cross-links (CL) are open. If one
circuit-breaker in the basic ring fails, another ring can be
formed so that the original availability is maintained. It can be
seen that even in the case of non-availability of two adjacent
circuit-breakers, the respective node can be fed via the
remaining circuit-breaker. With any of the other topologies
introduced above, this situation would automatically lead to
the loss of the node.
BR BR BR CL
BR CL CL BR
BR BR BR CL
f)
Fig. 4. Schemes of extra high-voltage substations
The extra high-voltage substations from which the data has
been collected are of air insulated design. The impact of the
use of Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS) instead of Air Insulated
Switchgear (AIS) has also been investigated. The GIS solution
leads to a lower failure rate and to a higher MTTR and, even
though it is more expensive, it is to be preferred when
problems of space or pollution are present.
B. Layout of High-Voltage Substation
The layout of the high-voltage substation used for the
investigation is a double busbar with single circuit-breaker
arrangement (Figure 4b) and uses air insulated switchgear.
C. Generator Circuit-Breaker
For each layout the possible use of a generator circuit-
breaker has been investigated. The presence of a generator
circuit-breaker located between the generator and the main
transformer improves the availability of the power station [4].
Firstly it allows the plant auxiliaries to be fed directly from the
extra high-voltage transmission system (main net). Supply
from this source is considered more reliable than the
connection to a local sub-transmission system (reserve net)
and results in an improved plant auxiliary equipment
availability. Secondly, the rapid interruption of generator-fed
short-circuit currents reduces the extent of fault damage and
the related downtime, contributing to an increased power
station availability. Specifically, investigations have shown
that a generator circuit-breaker can prevent transformer tank
rupture in about 80% of all cases [5]. According to experience
available in Italy, the time to repair of a main transformer is
about one month when the failure does not result in explosion
and about one year when the transformer tank bursts. The
presence of a generator circuit-breaker can thus lead to a
reduction of the MTTR of the transformer.
D. Station Transformer
The power station layout used for the investigation has two
station transformers, i.e. one per two units. In the cases with a
generator circuit-breaker, only one station transformer (one
station transformer per four units) rated as an emergency shut-
down transformer has been considered. The influence of using
two station transformers or no station transformer has also
been investigated for the cases with a generator circuit-breaker
installed. When no station transformer is available, the backup
source for the auxiliaries are the auxiliary busbars of another
unit.
 VI. SIMULATIONS and fail-to-open probabilities have also been taken into
The simulations have been carried out with the help of a account [9].
computer program based on the Monte Carlo method [6], [7]. The reliability data for gas insulated substations (GIS) has
This is a very powerful technique to quantitatively estimate the been collected from literature as well [12]. Moreover,
reliability of complex systems like power stations; furthermore information about switching times, maintenance frequency and
it allows to quantify the impact of the connection scheme of a maintenance duration was obtained from the power stations
generator to the extra high-voltage network on the availability (see Table II).
of the plant. VII. RESULTS
Monte Carlo methods estimate the reliability of a system The simulations have been carried out assuming that the
by simulating the process and its random behaviour. The power station supplies base load. The availability of the unit
simulation consists in a repeated process of generating (turbine and generator) has been set to 86.67%. This value
deterministic solutions to a given problem with each solution takes into account forced and scheduled outages of the unit.
corresponding to a set of deterministic values of the The results of the simulations are summarized in Table III and
underlying random variables. The main element of Monte Table IV.
Carlo simulation is therefore the generation of random TABLE III
numbers from probability distributions describing the random RESULTS OF SIMULATIONS: INFLUENCE OF THE PRESENCE OF
variables of interest, e. g. the failure and repair rates of A GENERATOR CIRCUIT-BREAKER
different items of power station equipment.
Gen
During a simulation run, when a failure occurs it is treated EHV substation HV substation
circuit-
Station Throughput
by tripping the circuit-breakers forming the protection group (refer to Figure 4) (refer to Figure 4) transformer power
breaker
of the failed component immediately after the occurrence of SCHEME AIS GIS SCHEME AIS GIS YES/NO No. MW
the failure. After the time necessary to isolate the failed a) x b) x no 2 1098.8
component (i. e. the switching time) the circuit-breakers are b) x b) x no 2 1098.9
closed again. When the repair of the component is completed c) x b) x no 2 1099.1
(or a spare part has become available), the above procedure is d) x b) x no 2 1099.3
repeated. Also the transfer of the auxiliaries between different e) x b) x no 2 1087.9
sources during the starting-up and the shutting-down of the f) x b) x no 2 1099.2
unit (or when a failure occurs) is modelled. The operational a) x b) x no 2 1099.0
state of a unit further depends on the state of its auxiliaries, as b) x b) x no 2 1099.0
the number of auxiliaries available influences the level of c) x b) x no 2 1099.2
possible power production. d) x b) x no 2 1099.4
One of the results obtained from the simulations is the e) x b) x no 2 1088.2
throughput power of the power station, i. e. the power f) x b) x no 2 1099.2
delivered to the grid. a) x b) x yes 1 1104.6
Reliability parameters evaluated from the data collected b) x b) x yes 1 1104.8
have been used for the simulations (see Tables I and II). c) x b) x yes 1 1105.1
d) x b) x yes 1 1105.1
TABLE II e) x b) x yes 1 1105.1
SWITCHING TIMES, MAINTENANCE FREQUENCY AND DURATION
f) x b) x yes 1 1105.1
COLLECTED FROM TWO ITALIAN THERMAL POWER STATIONS
a) x b) x yes 1 1104.8
Switching Maintenance Maintenance b) x b) x yes 1 1104.9
Component
time [h] frequency [h] duration [h] c) x b) x yes 1 1105.2
Unit N/A 15768 1939.5 d) x b) x yes 1 1105.2
Main transformer (MT) 16 8760 *)
e) x b) x yes 1 1105.1
Unit transformer (UT) 16 8760 *)
f) x b) x yes 1 1105.2
Station transformer (ST) 16 8760 *)
Main net (380 kV) N/A N/A N/A
Reserve net (132 kV) N/A N/A N/A The difference in the throughput power directly reflects the
380 kV busbar 2 *) *) contribution of the different schemes used to connect the
380 kV circuit-breaker 8 87600 *)
generators to the extra high-voltage transmission network on
132 kV busbar 2 *) *)
132 kV circuit-breaker 8 87600 *) the availability of the power station. The results show that the
MV busbar 2 *) *) use of a layout with a generator circuit-breaker positively
MV circuit-breaker 0.5 *) *) affects the availability. Figure 5 depicts the possible
*) no data available N/A data not applicable availability improvements when a layout with a generator
circuit-breaker is used. This improvement is in the order of
For the main transformer, the 380 kV circuit-breaker, the 0.5%. The ring scheme seems to be very interesting: in this
132 kV busbar, the 132 kV circuit-breaker and the medium case the availability improvement is in the order of 1.6%. The
voltage busbar where no failures have been observed, results clearly indicate that, from a point of view of power
reliability parameters have been taken from published station availability, a layout with a generator circuit-breaker
literature [8], [9], [10], [11]. The circuit-breaker fail-to-close offers a distinct advantage over the unit connection.
 1,80% acquisition, civil work and installation costs of the selectable
equipment for different layouts.
1,60%

1,40% 120%
AIS
1,20% GIS 1
100%
2
1,00% 80% 3
4
0,80%
60%

0,60%
40%

0,40%
20%
0,20%
0%
0,00%
a) b) c) d) e) f) -20%
Layout of EHV substations (refer to Figure 4)
-40%
Fig. 5. Relative availability improvement for a layout with generator circuit- a) b) c) d) e) f)
breaker (compared to the same layout without generator circuit-breaker) Layout of EHV substations (refer to Figure 4)

With respect to the design of the extra high-voltage Fig. 6. Difference in acquisition, civil work and installation costs of selectable
substation, it can be seen that the difference in the throughput equipment (referred to layout of Figure 1)
power between a gas insulated substation and an air insulated # EHV substation Generator circuit-breaker
No. of station
substation is generally very small. transformers
1 AIS no 2
On the other side, in case of a layout with generator circuit- 2 GIS no 2
breaker, the number of station transformers has a negligible 3 AIS yes 1
influence on the power station availability (see Table IV). 4 GIS yes 1

TABLE IV B. Costs of Load and No-Load Losses

RESULTS OF SIMULATIONS: INFLUENCE OF THE NUMBER An important aspect in this conjunction is given by the
OF STATION TRANSFORMERS
load and no-load losses occurring while a unit is shut down.
Gen The costs of these losses have been computed for three
EHV substation HV substation Station Throughput
(refer to Figure 4) (refer to Figure 4)
circuit-
transformer power different cases, namely:
breaker • L1: layout without generator circuit-breaker and with
SCHEME AIS GIS SCHEME AIS GIS YES/NO No. MW station transformer (auxiliaries are supplied by station
b) x b) x yes 2 1104.8 transformer);
b) x b) x yes 1 1104.8 • L2: layout with generator circuit-breaker and with station
b) x - - - yes 0 1104.8 transformer (depending on downtime, auxiliaries are
supplied either by main and unit transformers or by
VIII. ECONOMIC EVALUATION station transformer);
In order to make a more thorough comparison between the • L3: layout with generator circuit-breaker and without
different options, an economic analysis has also been carried station transformer (auxiliaries are supplied by main and
out. For the economic evaluation the following issues have unit transformers).
been considered: In the first case (L1) the auxiliaries are supplied by the
• life cycle costs for selectable equipment (extra high- reserve net via the station transformer and hence losses occur
voltage and high-voltage switchgear, station transformers, in the station transformer. As the extra high-voltage circuit-
generator circuit-breakers, medium voltage switchgear); breaker is open there are no losses in the main and unit
• costs of load and no-load power losses when a unit is shut transformers.
down; In the last case (L3) the auxiliaries are supplied by the
• power delivered to the grid; main net via the main and the unit transformers and losses
• energy selling price. occur both in the main and in the unit transformer.
In a layout with generator circuit-breaker and station
A. Life Cycle Costs
transformer (L2) it is convenient to open the extra high-
The life cycle costs consist of the following components: voltage circuit-breaker if the downtime of the unit is longer
• acquisition costs; than two days, i. e. the auxiliaries are then supplied by the
• civil work costs; reserve net via the station transformer. If the downtime is
• installation costs; shorter than two days only the generator circuit-breaker is
• maintenance costs. opened and the auxiliaries remain supplied by the main net via
the main and the unit transformers. This corresponds to the
The corresponding data was obtained from Italian power practice in Italian power stations.
station operators. Figure 6 shows the difference in the
 Taking into account the technical data of the transformers D. Economic Analysis
as well as the number and duration of scheduled and forced A figure of merit has been calculated for each layout
outages in the power station considered, costs of losses as according to the following formula:
shown in Figure 7 were determined. The results are referred to
the case L1. PV _ MF = (I − MC − LC ) ⋅ PW − AC − CWC − IC (5)

where:
• PV_MF is the Present Value of the Merit Figure of the
800%

700% layout;
600% • I is the Income per year;
ST MT UT • MC are the Maintenance Costs of selectable equipment
Costs of losses

500%
per year;
• LC are the Losses Costs when the unit is shut down per
400%

300% year;
200% • AC are the Acquisition Costs of selectable equipment;
100%
• CWC are the Civil Work Costs of selectable equipment;
• IC are the Installation Costs of selectable equipment;
• PW is the Present Worth factor (based on a discount rate
0%
1168 h
Downtime of 5%).
a) Case L1
The differences in the figure of merit of different power
800%
station layouts are depicted in Figure 8. It can be noticed that
layouts with a generator circuit-breaker generally have a
700%
higher figure of merit than layouts without a generator circuit-
600% breaker.
Additional calculations have shown that layouts with a
Costs of losses

500%
generator circuit-breaker and without a station transformer
400%
may even have somewhat higher figures of merit, especially in
300% cases with low downtimes (e. g. power stations which supply
200%
base load) where the losses during the time when the unit is
shut down do not matter very much.
100%

0% 0,80%
200 h 968 h
0,60%
Downtime
0,40%
b) Case L2
0,20%

0,00%
800%
-0,20%
1
700%
-0,40% 2
600% -0,60% 3
-0,80% 4
Costs of losses

500%
-1,00%
400%
-1,20%
300% a) b) c) d) e) f)
Layout of EHV substations (refer to Figure 4)
200%
Fig. 8. Differences in figure of merit of different power station layouts
100%
(referred to layout of Figure 1)
0% No. of station
# EHV substation Generator circuit-breaker
1168 h transformers
Downtime 1 AIS no 2
c) Case L3 2 GIS no 2
3 AIS yes 1
Fig. 7. Costs of load and no-load losses when the unit is shut down 4 GIS yes 1
(referred to layout of Figure 1)
Moreover, the use of a generator circuit-breaker makes the
These costs have been included in the economic ring scheme (Figure 4e) without station transformer one of the
assessment of the layout. best options; such a conclusion is due to the fact that this
C. Power Delivered to the Grid scheme is very cheap (low number of components) and shows
a similar reliability as the other schemes with a generator
The power delivered to the grid is given by the throughput circuit-breaker. Figure 9 shows the single line diagram of a
power minus the power consumed by the auxiliaries. recent pumped storage power station project where exactly
this scheme will be applied.
 IX. CONCLUSIONS
An analysis of different power station layouts from the
point of view of reliability and economy has been carried out.
Failure and repair rates collected from two Italian thermal
power stations have been used for this purpose. The
investigations show that the use of generator circuit-breakers
results in a higher power station availability for every kind of
extra high-voltage substation scheme, but especially in cases
not commonly considered till today. For example the ring
scheme shows the highest availability improvement when a
Fig. 9. Single line diagram of a pumped storage power station
XI. REFERENCES
[1] M. L. SHOOMAN, “Probabilistic Reliability: an Engineering
Approach”, Krieger, 1990.
[2] P. D. T. O’CONNOR, “Practical Reliability Engineering”, John Wiley
& Sons Ltd, 1991.
[3] BBC Brown, Boveri & Company, Ltd., “New Concepts for High-
Voltage Switchyards”, Publication No. CH-A 035780E, Baden,
Switzerland, 1985.
[4] D. BRAUN, L. WIDENHORN AND J. ISCHI, “Impact of the Electrical
Layout on the Availability of a Power Plant”, Conference
Proceedings of 11th CEPSI, Kuala Lumpur, 1996.
[5] B. CULVER, K. FROELICH AND L. WIDENHORN, “Prevention of Tank
Rupture of Faulted Power Transformers by Generator Circuit
Breakers”, ETEP, Vol 6, pp 39-45, January/February 1996.
[6] DUBI, “Monte Carlo Applications in Systems Engineering”, John
Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2000.
generator circuit-breaker is installed. The use of a generator
circuit-breaker thus frees the choice of the scheme for the
extra high-voltage and high-voltage substations, leading to a
higher number of options for power station layouts.
X. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are extremely thankful to prof. Andrea
Silvestri, who tutored the thesis on which the paper is based
and promoted the cooperation between ABB Zurich and
Politecnico di Milano researchers.
[7] CLOCKWORK GROUP, “A User’s Guide to Thermal Power Plant
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