IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 20, NO.

2, APRIL 2005 757

Control of Shunt Reactor Inrush Currents in the

Hellenic-Interconnected Power System
Constantinos D. Tsirekis, Nikos D. Hatziargyriou, Senior Member, IEEE, and Basil C. Papadias

Abstract—Transients caused by shunt reactor switching have

been an important parameter in the design of the relevant
equipment (reactor, circuit breaker, insulation) of the Hellenic-In-
terconnected Power System. Next to the well-known damaging
overvoltages produced by shunt reactor de-energization, high
dc components of inrush currents with low damping factor have
been observed during energization, resulting in excessive elec-
tromagnetic stresses to the windings and undesired activation of
zero-sequence current relays. In the present study, inrush currents
Fig. 1. Single-phase equivalent system network for shunt reactor energization
produced by shunt reactor energization are analyzed and the per- studies.
formance of the techniques used for their limitation is investigated.
Index Terms—ATP-EMTP simulation, energization transients,
shunt reactor, switching transients. In this paper, an overview of the phenomena caused by shunt
reactor energization is presented and the effectiveness of syn-
chronized switching for the limitation of the associated stresses
I. INTRODUCTION in the Hellenic-Interconnected Power System is investigated.

S EVERAL Greek islands are fed by the interconnected,

mainland power system through relatively long high-
voltage (HV) submarine cables. During the low demand pe-
riods (nights or weekends), excessive reactive power produced
by the capacitance of these cables causes a voltage increase
over 1.1 p.u. at the high-voltage/medium-voltage (HV/MV)
substations of those islands. For the absorption of the surplus
reactive power, HV shunt reactors are connected to the is-
land-side end of the cables. Switching of those shunt reactors
occurs on a daily basis, producing transients that need to be
carefully studied and, if required, limited.
Next to the traditional countermeasures (preinsertion resistors
or inductors, fixed inductors, surge arresters) used for the limita-
tion of transients caused by the energization of capacitor banks,
transformers, and transmission lines, point-on-wave-controlled
(or synchronized) switching has been proposed as a reliable
method to reduce switching stresses [1]–[13], [16], [17]. This
technique is based on the automatic adjustment of the circuit
breaker (CB) operating signal by an auxiliary device (“con-
troller”) in such a way that switching operation takes place
at a point on wave that can theoretically eliminate switching
transients completely. However, various statistical deviations in
the characteristics of the controller and the CB itself may affect
the success of this method [3]–[5], [7], [14], [16], [17].
Manuscript received March 21, 2003; revised January 9, 2004. Paper no.
TPWRD-00125-2003.
C. D. Tsirekis is with the Hellenic Transmission System Operator, Athens
17122, Greece (e-mail: tsirekis@central.ntua.gr).
N. D. Hatziargyriou is with the Department of Electrical and Computer En-
gineering, National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Athens 15773,
Greece (e-mail: nh@mail.ntua.gr).
B. C. Papadias, deceased, was with the National Technical University of
Athens (NTUA), Athens 15773, Greece.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPWRD.2004.839180
II. ENERGIZATION STRESSES
The usefulness of controlled switching can be shown by
means of the analytical calculation of the transients caused by
the energization of single-phase reactors. These results can be
also used for the projection of the problem in the three phases.
A. Single-Phase Reactor
The transients produced by shunt reactor energization can be
understood by means of the equivalent system network shown
in Fig. 1 [15], [18].
The following notations are used:
reactor’s inductance, considering constant flux;
stray inductance of the bus and the various cable con-
nections between the bus, the CB, and the reactor;
shunt capacitance of the reactor and the above cable
connections;
equivalent inductance of the upstream network;
equivalent capacitance of the upstream network.
We consider that before the closing instant , the per-
unit voltage between the open breaker poles is (1 p.u.
corresponds to the peak steady-state value). The following per-
unit expressions for the voltage of the reactor and the inrush
current flowing through the CB are derived, neglecting
and all resistances of the circuit and assuming that
(1)
(2)
where
(3)

0885-8977/$20.00 © 2005 IEEE

758
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
It can be easily observed, that the voltage expression (1) con-
sists of two component groups, one with power frequency and
one with natural frequency . Similarly, the current expres-
sion (2) consists of three component groups, one with power
frequency , one with natural frequency , and one dc com-
ponent. Therefore, the most adverse peak values of the current
and voltage expressions equal to the sum of the peak values of
each respective component group are
(9)
(10)
The maximum peak values for the transient overvoltage are
obtained for (k is any integer) (i.e., for closing
at peak voltage between breaker poles). On the contrary, the
maximum peak values for the inrush current are obtained for
(k is any integer) (i.e., for closing at zero voltage
between breaker poles). The results are reversed for the respec-
tive minimum peak values. Thus, at a first glance, the optimum
closing instant for the application of controlled switching is not
obvious as the minimization of transient overvoltage requires
the maximization of inrush current and vice-versa.
The maximum transient overvoltage is derived from (9) for
(11)
Defining as VR the proportional voltage rise before the
reactor connection and as VD the proportional voltage drop
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 20, NO. 2, APRIL 2005
Fig. 2. Maximum peak values of a reactor’s transient overvoltage in relation
to VD for various values of VR.
caused by the reactor connection, the following expressions
can be derived:
(12)
(13)
From (11)–(13), the following expression is obtained:
(14)
In most cases, shunt reactors are connected when the voltage
rise tends to exceed 10% and the voltage compensation achieved
reaches even 100%. Therefore, for the range of values between
10% to 30% for VR and 0 to 100% for VD, respectively, the
maximum peak value of the transient overvoltage varies ac-
cording to Fig. 2.
As can be easily seen in Fig. 2, even in cases the reactor
is intended to compensate voltage drops in the order of 30%,
the maximum transient overvoltage of the reactor is less than
1.3 p.u. Therefore, the minimization of the maximum transient
overvoltage may not be worth the application of controlled
switching.
The maximum and minimum peak inrush current is derived
from (10) for and , respectively
(15)
(16)
Substitution of (12), (13) to (15) and (16) yields
(17)
See (18), shown below.
(18)
TSIREKIS et al.: CONTROL OF SHUNT REACTOR INRUSH CURRENTS
Fig. 3. Maximum peak values of reactor’s inrush current in relation to VD for
various values of VR.
Fig. 4. Minimum peak values of reactor’s inrush current in relation to VD for
various values of VR.
The variation of the maximum and minimum value of inrush
current for the same ranges of VD and VR are illustrated in
Fig. 3 and 4, respectively.
As it can be easily seen from the previous figures, the max-
imum inrush currents are higher than 2 p.u. Due to the low re-
sistance/reactance ratio of the power reactor, these currents may
maintain relatively high values for several cycles, thus becoming
harmful. On the other hand, closing at peak voltage leads to in-
rush currents almost equal to the steady-state ones. Therefore,
the limitation of inrush currents forms the key objective for con-
trolled switching during shunt reactor energization.
B. Three-Phase Reactor
The contribution of the natural frequency component to the
total maximum value of inrush current can be found from the
following equation:
for (19)
Using (6), (7), (12), (13), and (16), (19) becomes
(20)
As shown in Fig. 5, this contribution is lower than 3% of the
total maximum value of inrush current. Therefore, all shunt ca-
pacitances and series reactances (except, of course, that of the
759
Fig. 5. Contribution of natural frequency component to the total maximum
value of the reactor’s inrush current in relation to VD for various values of VR.
reactor itself), which cause the appearance of the natural fre-
quency component, can be neglected without significant error.
The same applies to the inductive interphase coupling, as all
of the installed shunt reactor arrangements in the Hellenic HV
system consist of three single-phase reactor banks, but it is not
strictly valid for the capacitive coupling. However, due to the
short cable connections between the reactor banks and the HV
bus, the effect of the capacitive interphase coupling may also
be considered negligible. This leads to a simplified equivalent
network, comprising only the impedances of the reactor phases
and neutral.
Assuming that and are the
per-unit source voltage of the three phases, it can be derived that
after closing the three phases, the per-unit inrush currents of the
phases and the neutral are given by the following equations:
(21)
(22)
(23)
(24)
where
(25)
where ,, and are the closing instants of the three phases,
the voltage across the breaker pole of the second
phase-to-close after the closing of the first phase, and and
760
Fig. 6. Maximum peak values of the reactor’s inrush currents in relation to the
ratio Z =Z .
are the impedances of the reactor and the neutral grounding
branch, respectively.
The voltage across each breaker pole prior to its closing is
(26)
(27)
(28)
for the first, second, and third phase to close, respectively. From
the previous equations, it is easily derived that the dc current
components are maximized for closing instants corresponding
to zero voltage across all breaker poles. Fig. 6 shows the vari-
ation of the maximum inrush currents as a function of the ratio
. device (for opening cases).
It can be easily seen that the maximum phase currents are
2 p.u. (in all phases) for a directly grounded neutral and almost
2.4 p.u. (for the first two phases-to-close) for isolated neutral.
Each of these inrush currents contains a slowly damped dc com-
ponent with a magnitude of almost 1 and 1.4 p.u., respectively.
The long duration of these high dc current components may lead
to temporary overloading of reactor windings and unintentional
activation of phase protective relays.
Similarly, the maximum neutral inrush current is 3 p.u. and
appears for a directly grounded neutral (for isolated neutral, it is,
of course, zero). It is an exclusive dc current with a low damping
rate and, for this reason, it may be kept in such high values
for several cycles, possibly leading to undesired activation of
zero-sequence protective relays.
On the other hand, closing at peak voltage between breaker
poles leads to the total elimination of the dc neutral current and
of the dc components of inrush currents. Therefore, closing in-
stants corresponding to peak voltage across breaker poles are
desired.
It should be noted that total elimination of the above dc cur-
rent components can be also achieved by simultaneous closing
of the three poles. However, this is a purely theoretical solution,
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 20, NO. 2, APRIL 2005
Fig. 7. Main parts of a typical controlled switching arrangement.
since even if it could be assumed that the mechanical closing
of the three poles is simultaneous, current would start to flow at
different instants as described in the following paragraph.
III. CONTROLLED SWITCHING
The most effective method for the limitation of the switching
transients is controlled (synchronized) switching. Application
of synchronized switching during energization of shunt reac-
tors and capacitor banks can be effective since the magnitudes
of the produced transients are strongly dependent on the closing
instants of the three poles of the switch, as described in the pre-
vious paragraphs.
The main parts of a typical controlled switching arrangement
are shown in Fig. 7. These are:
1) The switching device (CB or load break switch) with the
capability of independent operation of each pole.
2) A number of devices measuring instant values of voltages
at both sides of the switching device (for closing cases)
or of voltages and currents at one side of the switching
3) A controller, which is the “brain” of the system. It
receives the signals from the measuring devices, deter-
mines the appropriate reference phase angles and sends
the switching commands to each pole of the switching
device so that closing or opening operation occurs at the
optimum instant.
The fundamental requirement for all controlled switching ap-
plications is the precise definition of the optimum switching in-
stants. This is not trivial, since the switching instant leading to
the minimization of voltage or current somewhere in the net-
work, may be more or less different from the switching instant
leading to the minimization of voltages and/or currents at the
same or other network locations of interest. Taking shunt re-
actor switching as a typical example, it is seen that closing in-
stants resulting in current minimization offer the most adverse
conditions for overvoltages as already discussed in Section II.
Nevertheless, as the maximum magnitude of these overvoltages
is not significant, the optimum switching instants are chosen so
as to minimize the dc components of neutral and phase currents
for any neutral grounding condition.
Another important point that should be investigated is the sta-
tistical distribution of controlled circuit-breaker characteristics,
TSIREKIS et al.: CONTROL OF SHUNT REACTOR INRUSH CURRENTS
Fig. 8. Diagram illustrating the making instant window for a case when the
most favorable target instant corresponds to zero voltage across the breaker pole.
Fig. 9. Diagram illustrating the making instant window for a case when the
most favorable target instant corresponds to the peak voltage across the breaker
pole.
which complicates the study of synchronized switching [1]–[5],
[14], [16], [17]. In fact, in almost all cases, the instant of elec-
trical closing (making instant) does not coincide with the in-
stant of mechanical closing of the CB contacts (target instant).
Making instant is determined by the intersection of the voltage
waveform between the CB contacts and the dielectric strength
characteristic of the contact gap. Statistical deviations in the
breaker operating time (the time interval between the signal and
the initiation of contact movement), the contact velocity, and the
dielectric strength of the contact gap affect the target instant and
slope. These deviations result in random, parallel shifts to both
sides of the voltage withstand characteristic and deviations of its
slope. Thus, instead of a simple making instant and the respec-
tive target instant, it is more realistic to consider a “window” of
possible making instants and the respective target instants, as il-
lustrated in Figs. 8 and 9 [3], [16].
As shown in Section II, elimination of the dc components of
the inrush currents is achieved by closing at peak voltage across
breaker poles or for simultaneous closing of all three phases.
From the previous figures, it becomes obvious that the latter case
is practically impossible due to
• statistical variation of the slope of dielectric strength char-
acteristic;
761
• statistical variation of the velocity of breaker contacts;
• lack of correspondence between the point on waves at
which electrical closing of the three phases occurs.
For these reasons, the only practical objective of controlled
switching for shunt reactor energization is closing at peak
voltage between breaker contacts. However, even in this case,
it is still uncertain whether controlled switching can lead to a
sufficient reduction of dc current components.
In the following, the effect of the making instant deviations
on the reduction of energization transients during reactor
switching is investigated. Actual network configurations of
the Hellenic Power System, modeled in detail, and various
controlled switching uncertainties are taken into account.
IV. CASE STUDIES
A. Shunt Reactors in the Hellenic Power System
HV shunt reactors are installed in six different locations in the
Hellenic-Interconnected Power System. Due to various reasons
related to the protection scheme used in the local substations,
CBs with independent pole operation are used in all cases. This
has led in some cases to phase and neutral overcurrents causing
unintentional tripping of phase and zero-sequence protection re-
lays. The application of controlled switching has been proposed
for the elimination of the high dc current components and an
investigation of its performance has been carried out for several
cases. One of these cases is presented in detail and the results of
all of the cases examined are summarized next in order to derive
general conclusions.
Although neutral is grounded in the actual reactor banks in-
stalled in the Hellenic-Interconnected System, for comparison
purposes, investigation is carried out for both grounded and iso-
lated neutral cases. The latter offer the most adverse conditions,
as shown in Section II.
Another important characteristic of the shunt reactors exam-
ined is that their actual capacity is almost five times greater
than the conventional nominal capacity. This is due to several
changes in the HV system design during commissioning of the
reactors. The practical consequence is that saturation does not
occur during the operation of the reactors, even in the transient
period. Therefore, operation of the reactors at constant flux, as
assumed in Section II, is perfectly valid.
B. Simulation Tools
The most adverse transients appearing during the uncon-
trolled closing operation of the switching device are calculated
using the widely known ATP/EMTP computer program. The
optimum switching instants are calculated by the controlled
switching calculation program (CSCP) developed at NTUA
[14]. Interaction of the three phases and the various statistical
deviations of CB characteristics are considered in this program.
C. Typical System Configuration
Shunt reactor energization in the power system of the Greek
island Cephalonia is used as a representative implementation of
the problem. This small power subsystem is fed by the intercon-
nected power system of Greece through two lengthy HV subma-
rine cables. For the absorption of the excessive reactive power,
762 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 20, NO. 2, APRIL 2005

Fig. 10. Network considered for shunt reactor energization. Black, empty,
and hatched boxes designate HV bus sections, feeders, and submarine cables,
respectively.

HV shunt reactors of 22.5 MVar are connected to the island-side

end of the cables. The simplified diagram illustrating the exam-
ined system is shown in Fig. 10.
1) Calculation of Highest Inrush Currents: The maximum Fig. 11. Effect of RDDS and 1T to the maximum phase inrush current upon
peak values of the transients produced by the energization of controlled energization of reactor with grounded neutral.
the shunt reactor and the back-to-back energization of the two
capacitor banks in the examined location are calculated using
the “systematic switch” feature of ATP/EMTP. The results show
the following.
• For the energization of the reactor with grounded neu-
tral, the maximum possible phase currents are higher than
2 p.u., while the maximum neutral current is equal to 3 p.u.
• In the isolated neutral case, the maximum inrush currents
of the two first phases-to-close exceed the value of 2.3 p.u.
and the maximum inrush current of the third phase-to-
close is slightly higher than 2 p.u.
2) Controlled Energization: As mentioned previously, the
optimum closing instant for each phase corresponds to the peak
voltage between the breaker contacts in the respective phase.
Closing at these instants totally eliminates the neutral current
and the dc components of phase currents. However, the rate-of-
decay of dielectric strength (RDDS) and the deviation of the
starting instant of contacts movement have an unfavor- Fig. 12. Effect of RDDS and 1T to the maximum neutral inrush current upon
able effect on the final results, as clearly seen in Figs. 11–14. controlled energization of the reactor with grounded neutral.
In particular, as seen in Figs. 11 and 12, the requirements
which must be fulfilled by the controlled switching arrangement is acceptable, the required characteristics are a maximum de-
for the limitation of the maximum inrush currents below 1.5 p.u. viation of the starting instant of contacts movement of
in the grounded neutral reactor case are the following: approximately 0.6 ms in conjunction with a relatively “fast”
• maximum deviation of the starting instant of contacts switching device with an RDDS of greater than 1.0 p.u.
movement 1 ms in conjunction with a relatively
“fast” switching device with a rate-of-decay of dielectric D. Summary of Results
strength (RDDS) greater than 1.0 p.u. ( p.u. , The results for the uncontrolled as well as for the controlled
where V is the amplitude of the sinusoidal source-side switching energization for each shunt reactor installation in the
phase-to-ground voltage and is the angular power Hellenic Power System are summarized in Tables I and II for
frequency) or reactors with grounded and isolated neutral, respectively. In all
• maximum deviation of the starting instant of contacts cases, the variation of RDDS is 20% and the variation of the
movement 0.7 ms with a switching device of a contacts speed is 5%.
contact speed not significantly high. For the controlled cases in Table I, two pairs of controlled
On the contrary to the grounded neutral case and according switching parameters ( and RDDS) are considered. Each
to Figs. 13 and 14, it seems that the limitation of the inrush cur- pair ( ms, p.u. and ms,
rent below 1.5 p.u. is not practically possible for the two first p.u.) corresponds to one of requirements men-
phases-to-close, at least by means of the best known technolog- tioned in the previous paragraph for “successful” controlled
ical performance of today’s and of the near future-controlled switching application to the energization of reactors with
switching arrangements. Alternatively, if the limit of 1.7 p.u. grounded neutral. It is obvious that controlled switching
TSIREKIS et al.: CONTROL OF SHUNT REACTOR INRUSH CURRENTS
Fig. 13. Effect of RDDS and 1T to the maximum inrush current of the first
two phases-to-close upon controlled energization of the reactor with isolated
neutral.
Fig. 14. Effect of RDDS and 1T to the maximum inrush current of the third
phase-to-close upon controlled energization of the reactor with isolated neutral.
TABLE I
MAXIMUM p.u. PHASE AND NEUTRAL INRUSH CURRENTS AFTER
ENERGIZATION OF SHUNT REACTORS WITH GROUNDED NEUTRAL
achieves a reduction of inrush currents below 1.5 p.u., thus
avoiding undesired tripping of phase- and zero-sequence pro-
tection relays.
Similarly, for reactors with isolated neutral (Table II), the
values 0.5 ms and 1.1 p.u. are considered for and
763
TABLE II
MAXIMUM p.u. INRUSH CURRENTS AFTER ENERGIZATION OF SHUNT
REACTORS WITH ISOLATED NEUTRAL ( 1T = 60 5
: ms, RDDS = 1 1 p.u.)
:
RDDS, respectively. These values fulfill the requirement for
the achievement of inrush currents below 1.7 p.u., which is the
best possible result in the case of neutral grounding condition.
As seen, maximum inrush currents between 1.6 and 1.7 p.u.
are achieved in all cases. However, this reduction is not consid-
ered satisfactory to suggest controlled switching as an effective
means.
V. CONCLUSION
An implementation of synchronized switching to the ener-
gization of HV shunt reactors in the Hellenic-Interconnected
Power System has been presented. The most adverse conditions
for the generation of high energization stresses have been de-
scribed and the possible benefits obtained by means of syn-
chronized switching have been investigated. Various parame-
ters, such as neutral grounding condition, dielectric characteris-
tics, and statistical variations of the switching device, affecting
the effectiveness of this modern technique, have been taken into
account. It can be summarized that the main requirement for ef-
fective application of synchronized switching is the use of con-
trolled switching arrangements with quite a small deviation of
starting instant of contacts movement and high contact speed.
With this requirement fulfilled, a very sufficient reduction of
the dc current components appearing after the energizations of
shunt reactors is achieved, but only for grounded neutral cases.
For isolated neutral cases, the requirements are quite stringent,
making practically controlled switching applications nonbene-
ficial.
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 20, NO. 2, APRIL 2005
Constantinos D. Tsirekis was born in Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1969. He re-
ceived the Diploma in electrical engineering from the National Technical Uni-
versity of Athens (NTUA), Athens, Greece, in 1994.
Currently, he is with the Implementation Planning Department of the Hellenic
Transmission System Operator. He is also a Postgraduate Student at NTUA. His
research interests include switching transients analysis and control.
Nikos D. Hatziargyriou (SM’90) was born in Athens, Greece, in 1954. He re-
ceived the Diploma in electrical and mechanical engineering from the National
Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Athens, Greece, in 1976, and the M.Sc.
and Ph.D. degrees from University of Manchester Institute of Science and Tech-
nology (UMIST), Manchester, U.K., in 1979 and 1982, respectively.
Currently, he is Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Depart-
ment of NTUA. His research interests include modeling and digital techniques
for power system analysis and control.
Dr. Hatziargyriou is currently Chairman of the Greek Power Chapter of the
IEEE, and member of CIGRE SC38 and of the Technical Chamber of Greece.
Basil C. Papadias was born in Greece in 1932. He received the Electrical Engi-
neering and Doctor of Engineering degrees from the National Technical Univer-
sity of Athens (NTUA), Greece, in 1956 and 1969, respectively, and the Masters
and Doctor of Engineering degrees from Ransselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy,
NY, in 1972 and 1975, respectively.
From 1958 to 1975, he was with Public Power Corporation, Athens, Greece.
Since 1975, he had been Professor and Director of the Electrical Energy Systems
Lab of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of NTUA. Prof.
Papadias passed away on April 4, 2002.