Investigation of Ferroresonance Causing Sustained High Voltage at A De-Energized 138 KV Bus: A Case Study

This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been
fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TIA.2019.2936185, IEEE
Transactions on Industry Applications
>Manuscript ID 2019-PSPC-0153 R2
Investigation of Ferroresonance Causing Sustained High Voltage at A De-energized

138 kV Bus: A Case Study
Yunfei Wang, Senior Member, IEEE, Xiaodong Liang, Senior Member, IEEE, Iraj Rahimi Pordanjani, Senior
Member, IEEE, Ryan Cui, Ali Jafari, and Colin Clark, Member, IEEE
Abstract – Ferroresonance causes overvoltage and excessive Ld Inductance of damping reactor.

current flow on potential transformers (PT), which can cause Rd Resistance of damping resistor.
substantial damage to PTs and interrupt power system normal RMS Root mean square.
operation. In this paper, a sustained overvoltage event on a de- A-G Phase A to ground fault.
energized 138 kV bus after circuit breakers were opened to clear PT Potential transformer.
a phase A to ground fault at a Canadian transmission utility
power grid is investigated. The PSCAD simulation model is
CT Current transformer.
created and validated using field measurement data. The PSCAD DDR Dynamic Disturbance Recorder.
simulation results indicate that the ferroresonance due to a limb- CCVT Coupling capacitor voltage transformer.
type open core magnetic PT interacting with grading capacitors VT Voltage transformer.
of circuit breakers is the root cause of the problem. Due to the CB Circuit breaker
linearized magnetizing characteristic, the limb-type open core PT
is generally believed to be immune from ferroresonance, II. INTRODUCTION
however, the event and simulation in this paper demonstrate that
the ferroresonance can still occur using this type of PT. The Ferroresonance phenomenon can occur in utility and
mitigation methods for the ferroresonance in this system are industrial power systems. However, as a common undesirable
proposed, case and sensitivity studies using these methods are power system phenomenon triggered by switching transients,
conducted to validate their effectiveness. In the paper, the the investigation on ferroresonance reported in the literature is
criterion on how to properly size a damping resistor or a damping very limited. Defined by IEEE Standard, ferroresonance is “a
reactor at the PT secondary is proposed, the performance
comparison using a damping resistor or a damping reactor for phenomenon usually characterized by overvoltages and very
this system is demonstrated through case and sensitivity studies. irregular wave shapes associated with the excitation of one or
more saturable inductors through capacitance in series with the
Index Terms—Circuit breakers, de-energized bus, inductor” [1][2]. Ferroresonance belongs to a series resonance
ferroresonance, grading capacitance, potential transformer.1 category. IEEE Std. 519-1992 [3] provides explanation of a
series resonance circuit: a series combination of capacitors and
I. NOMENCLATURE line or transformer inductances. A series resonance circuit
XC Capacitive reactance of the circuit. defined by IEEE Std. 519-1992 is shown in Fig. 1. Series
XL Inductive reactance of the circuit. resonance presents a low-impedance path to harmonic
i Primary current of the potential transformer (PT). currents, can result in high-voltage distortion levels between
λ Flux linkage of the PT. the inductor and the capacitor in the series circuit [3].
Vs Supply voltage. The most reported type of ferroresonace in the literature is
θ Phase angle of the supply voltage Vs. due to transient switching [1][2][4][5][6][10]. When a long
E RMS value of the supply voltage Vs. feeder is remotely switched open, a trapped charge is left on
V Voltage across the PT. the cable capacitance [2]. Under normal operation, the
Cb Grading capacitor of the circuit breaker. capacitive reactance XC is smaller than the inductive reactance
Cg The total busbar capacitance to the ground. XL of the circuit. During the switching transients, the voltage
L Nonlinear reactor. might increase, which causes the core of the potential
R Represents transformer core losses. transformer (PT) saturated, and further results in a lower XL. It
ω Supply angular frequency. can satisfy the condition, XL = XC, and form a series resonant
iS Supply current. circuit [4]. Ref. [1] provides a more detailed explanation about
ih Harmonic component of the current of the order h. this type of ferroresonance as shown in Fig. 2. The capacitance
Xt Transformer reactance. can be from cables/overhead lines, or stray capacitance of
X/R X/R ratio. transformer windings or bushings [1].
1
Y. Wang are R. Cui are with Power System Studies, Projects, AltaLink I. R. Pordanjani and A. Jafari are with System Operations, AltaLink
Management Company, Calgary, AB Canada, T2A 7W7 (E-mails: Management Company, Calgary, AB Canada, T2A 7W7 (emails:
CarlYunfei.Wang@AltaLink.ca, and ryan.cui@altalink.ca) Iraj.Rahimi@altalink.ca, ali.jafari@altalink.ca).
X. Liang is with Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, C. Clark is with Major Equipment, AltaLink Management Company,
University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK Canada, S7N 5A9 (email: Calgary, AB Canada, T2A 7W7 (email: colin.clark@altalink.ca).
xil659@mail.usask.ca).
0093-9994 (c) 2019 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TIA.2019.2936185, IEEE
resistor did not show significant effect for damping

ferroresonance, therefore, the damping reactor only is the
preferred solution in [14]. In Ref [18], a RLC filter is designed
to damp overvoltage caused by ferroresonance, the filter is
added on the transformer secondary in parallel to the load,
where it acts as an open circuit at the fundamental frequency
and as a short-circuit including losses at other frequencies.
Fig. 1. A series resonance circuit [3]. However, the RLC filter design is rather complicated
compared to a damping resistor or damping reactor solution.
Among mitigation solutions in the literature, using damping
resistors or damping reactors on the PT secondary appears to
be an effective solution for ferroresonance mitigation.
However, there are no clear guidelines or criteria on how to
choose the size of these damping resistors or damping reactors,
and no comparison on the performance of a damping resistor
solution and a damping reactor solution for a system reported
in the literature. To fill in this research gap, we will discuss
these critical aspects for using a damping resistor or damping
Fig. 2. A ferroresonance condition during transient switching [1]. reactor solution in this paper.
The ferroresonance caused by grading capacitors of circuit
Ferroresonance can occur in various modes or frequencies, breakers is less studied compared to that caused by transient
such as fundamental, subharmonic, quasiperiodic and chaotic switching, and thus, requires an in-depth investigation. In this
[2][5][14]. The ferroresonance at the subfrequency of 20 Hz is paper, a practical ferroresonance incident experienced by a
reported in [2], and 30 Hz is reported in [10]. The PT usually Canadian utility power grid at a de-energized 138 kV bus
has low core losses. Due to the low resistance in the circuit to causing extremely high voltage is investigated. The PSCAD
damp the oscillations, ferroresonance can continue for simulation model is created and validated using field
minutes, hours, or even days [4]. measurement data. It is confirmed by simulation results that
Another type of ferroresonance is caused by grading grading capacitors of circuit breakers in the system interacting
capacitors of circuit breakers [13][14][20]. For high voltage with the limb-type open core PT (which is generally believed
applications, grading capacitors are installed in parallel with to be immune from ferroresonance [21]) causes the
each interrupter/contact in a circuit breaker to obtain an equal ferroresonace and overvoltage issue.
voltage distribution across multiple breaker contacts in series The main contribution of this paper includes: 1)
in one pole. The typical grading capacitance is 800 to 1350 pF Demonstrate that ferroresonance can occur for limb-type open
for a minimum oil breaker, and 1500 to 1600 pF for an SF6 core PT; 2) Propose a criterion on how to properly size a
breaker [13]. The ferroresonance equivalent circuit involving damping resistor or damping reactor on the PT secondary to
grading capacitors is proposed in [14]. effectively mitigate ferrorresonance, and propose a generic
Mitigation solutions reported in the literature for two-step approach by implementing the criterion. The PSCAD
ferroresonance with the PT include: 1) a snubber to overcome simulation results are compared with field measurements, the
excessive switching transients [1][4]; 2) a damping resistor proposed approach is validated to be effective through several
[10]; 3) a damping reactor [1][14]; and 4) a RLC filter [18]. In case and sensitivity studies in this paper.
Ref [1], it is suggested to add one snubber on the line side of The paper is arranged as follows: in Section III, the
each PT to reduce the magnitude of the voltage transient and overvoltage incident on the 138 kV de-energized bus is
its dc offset. A snubber can be used in combination with described; in Section IV, the root cause analysis is conducted
existing surge capacitors to reduce transient as proposed in [4]. using PSCAD simulation and the simulation results are
In Ref [10], a damping resistor is proposed for an open-delta compared with field measurement data; the mitigation
PT on its secondary to mitigate ferroresonance, where a 3 Ω methods are proposed and demonstrated through several case
damping resistor is chosen [10]. Ref [1] proposes a saturable and sensitivity studies in Section V; and conclusions are drawn
reactor connected to the secondary of the PT to mitigate in Section VI.
ferroresonance, and a custom design of the saturation curve for
the damping reactor is required based on the PT saturation III. THE EVENT DESCRIPTION
curve. A damping reactor is proposed in [14] due to lower cost
A sustained high voltage incident occurred at a de-
and easier maintenance, where a damping reactor connected on
energized 138 kV bus in a Canadian utility grid. During the
the PT secondary without and with a large 265 Ω damping incident, the overvoltage observed at a 138 kV south bus lasted
resistor are compared, it is found that the 265 Ω damping for about 12 hours. Part of the electrical single line diagram of
the 138 kV system is shown in Fig. 3. To clearly describe this

incident due to the involvement of a series of switching
activities, the whole event from the beginning to the end is
broken down into a numbered list of six steps as follows:
Step 1: De-energize the 138 kV south bus by opening four
associated circuit breakers. The incident started on 2018/06/08
at 20:00:51. The 138 kV south bus at a substation was tripped
due to a bus-tie current transformer (CT) internal fault, a phase
A to ground (A-G) fault. Four circuit breakers (74s77,
74s23.80, 74s24.83, and 74s76) were opened to clear the fault.
The CT was found damaged and remained short-circuited in
Fig. 3. Part of the electrical single line diagram of the 138 kV system.
the system. At this point, the south bus was considered as de-
energized as it was isolated from any energized elements. All
circuit breakers remained open after Step 1.
Step 2: Isolate the south bus from the north bus by opening
two associated disconnected switches. On 2018/06/08 at
22:28, the operators opened the two bus-tie disconnect
switches (74s71 and 74s72) to isolate the 138 kV north and
south buses on site. Once the two switches were opened, a high
voltage of 276 kV was observed at the 138 kV south bus as
shown in Fig. 4.
(a)
Step 3: Open the disconnect switch 74s18. The disconnect
switch 74s18 for the 240/138 kV transformer T2 was opened
at 2018/06/09 10:11:30 AM.
switch 74s31 for the 138 kV line 23.80L was opened at
2018/06/09 10:17 AM.
switch 74s32 for the 138 kV line 24.83L was opened at
2018/06/09 10:18:29 AM.
switch 74s58 at the PT secondary was opened at 2018/06/09 (b)
10:25:00 AM. When this switch is open, the voltage meter Fig. 4. The recorded rms voltages in kV for the 138 kV south bus (“S” denotes
south bus, “N” denotes north bus): (a) during the whole incident (Steps 1-6);
cannot take measurements any more. The whole incident (b) zoomed view for the oval period in (a) (each circle in (b) represents a step
ended after this step. from Steps 3 to 6).
The field recording was conducted using a Dynamic
Disturbance Recorder (DDR). The field recorded rms voltage
of the 138 kV south bus during the whole incident for Steps 1-
6 is shown in Fig. 4(a). In Fig. 4(a), an oval marks several
critical switching (Steps 3-6), and Fig. 4(b) shows the zoomed
view for Steps 3-6 within the period of the oval in Fig. 4(a).
The format of the x-axis symbols in Fig. 4 is explained as
follows: the first number “06” denotes the month of June; the
number following “06”, either “08” or “09”, denotes the date;
the number following the date denotes the hour; and the Fig. 5. Thermal scan of the PTs at the south bus.
number following the hour denotes the minute. For example,
in Fig. 4(a), “06-08 16” means “June 8 at 16:00”; while in Fig. Typically, such sustained overvoltage would result in
4(b), “06-09 10:06” means “June 9 at 10:06”. It was suspected destruction of the equipment, but subsequent investigation of
that the switching of circuit breakers to remove the ground the PT found no change in insulation power factor or
fault created a transient condition leading to the initiation of generation of dissolved combustible gas in the insulating oil.
the ferroresonant at a bus PT once the south and north buses The field DDR recording of three-phase voltage waveforms of
were separated. One bus PT at the south bus was observed with the 138 kV north and south buses during the incident is shown
a high temperature via a thermal imagery as shown in Fig. 5. in Fig. 6.
(a)
(b)
Fig. 6 The DDR recorded three-phase voltage waveforms at 138 kV north bus (NB) and south bus (SB): (a) when the CT internal fault (phase A-G) was cleared
at 19:36:49 by opening all circuit breakers connecting to the south bus; (b) when the disconnect switches, 74s71 and 74s72, were opened at 22:08:15.
capacitors, each is connected in parallel to the

IV. ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS
interrupter/contact.
A. Field Recordings of the Event The DDR recording confirms that all circuit breakers were
open. Fig. 6 shows the three-phase voltage waveforms at the
The cause of overvoltage in power systems can be classified 138 kV north bus and south bus when the current transformer
into three categories: 1) Fast front transient overvoltage, phase A-G fault was cleared at 19:36:49 by opening all circuit
typically caused by lightning, which lasts less than 300 breakers connecting to the south bus (Fig. 6(a)) and when the
microseconds; 2) Slow front transient overvoltage, typically disconnect switches, 74s71 and 74s72, were opened at
caused by switching, which lasts about 20 milliseconds; and 3) 22:08:15 (Fig. 6(b)). The DDR recording in Fig. 6 indicates
Low frequency overvoltage, either temporary (last less than 1 that the voltage at the south bus was gradually built up after
hour) or continuous (typically last long than 1 hour). The circuit breakers were opened and the voltage jumped to steady-
phenomenon to be investigated in this paper is categorized as state overvoltage on all three phases when the disconnect
the low frequency continuous overvoltage. The overvoltage switches, 74s71 and 74s72, were opened.
lasted longer than 12 hours and would remain if no disconnect Based on field recorded information and previous research
switches were opened. The reason causing low frequency work, it was highly suspected that the ferroresonance was the
continuous overvoltage can be excessive reactive power, root cause of the overvoltage event that occurred on the 138
resonance, or ferroresonance. kV south bus.
The 138 kV south bus has been isolated from the energized
elements of the rest of the substation by opening the four B. Analytical Analysis of Ferroresonance
circuit breakers connected to this bus. The capacitor banks at The event in this paper can be represented by an equivalent
this location shown in Fig. 3 were connected to the north bus. circuit in Fig. 7 [14]. According to [20], the equivalent circuit
The 138 kV circuit breakers connected to the south bus were can be expressed by the following differential equations:
two-break minimum oil breakers with two 500 pF grading
+ + = √2 cos (1)
= (2)
= (3)
= (4)
where, is the primary current of the PT, is the flux
linkage of the PT, is the phase angle of the supply voltage
V s, is RMS value of the supply voltage, is the voltage
across the PT, Cb is the grading capacitor of the circuit breaker,
and Cg is the total busbar capacitance to the ground.
Fig. 8. The open-core PT’s magnetizing characteristic from the manufacturer.
C. Data Collection for PSCAD Simulation

To fully understand the phenomenon, a PSCAD simulation
is conducted. The stray and grading capacitances of the
equipment connected to the 138 kV buses are shown in Table
I. The open-core PT’s magnetizing characteristic is obtained
Fig. 7. Ferroresonance equivalent circuit with grading capacitors [14]. from the manufacturer as shown in Fig. 8. This specific PT is
an open core design with a linear magnetizing curve up to 1.7
As shown in Fig. 8, the magnetizing characteristic of the PT pu. It is believed that such open core PT design can be immune
is described as a function of the rated voltage vs. the from ferroresonance conditions with breaker capacitances up
magnetizing current. So Eq. (4) can be expressed by to 5nF, which is much higher than the grading capacitance of
= =
an open circuit breaker.
(5)
The tower configuration and conductor data of the
Furthermore, the magnetizing characteristic of the PT is a transmission lines, 23.80L and 24.83L (shown in Fig. 3), and
non-linear function in nature due to the saturation of the PT the data of the 240/138 kV transformer T2 (Fig. 3) was also
core [22], i.e., Eq. (5) can be rewritten using a nonlinear reactor collected. The rest of the system is modeled using a Thévenin
in (6), where L is a nonlinear reactor. equivalent circuit representing 2018 summer power system at
the studied substation.
= = (6)
TABLE I
STRAY AND GRADING CAPACITANCE OF THE EQUIPMENT CONNECTED TO 138
Substituting (6) into (1), the voltage across the PT can be KV BUSES
obtained as follows: Equipment Capacitance, pF Source
1 "# 1 " 1 South Bus PTs 1395.2 Test data
+ + =
"$ # % &' + &( "$ &' + &(
138kV breaker grading 2 x 500 in series Test data
capacitors +historical notes
138kV CTs associated with 1110.7/1095.8/ Test data
√2 cos
74s76 1112.5
(7) 74sT2 21542.1 Test data
Eq. (7) indicates that a resonance condition could occur if D. PSCAD Model and Simulation Results
the condition described by (8) is satisfied. The complete PSCAD simulation model for the system is
# shown in Fig. 9 (a). All transmission lines are modeled using
) * +4- - =0 (8) Bergeron model. The source is represented by a Thévenin
equivalent circuit. CTs are not modeled in the system. Stray
Due to the nonlinear characteristic of the PT core capacitance of all equipment is included in the model
(represented by (6)), it is possible to solve (8) to get an according to the data provided in Table I. The PT is modeled
inductance, which satisfies (8) at a given frequency. However, using three single-phase transformers with a saturation
an analytical solution of (7) cannot be easily obtained. Eq. (7) characteristic described by Fig. 8. The circuit breaker with
can be solved numerically using the method such as Runge- grading capacitance is modelled as shown in Fig. 9(b).
Kutta algorithm [23][24] or using time-domain simulation The event occurred between 2018-06-08 and 2018-06-09 on
software such as PSCAD or EMTP. the 138 kV south Bus as described in Section III. This event is
recreated and simulated using this PSCAD model. The
simulated voltage waveforms in kV at the south bus for the
event are shown in Fig. 10.
To save the simulation time and still reproduce the sequence opened.
of switching actions of the real-life event, this event is • Step 4: At 1.4s, line L23.80 switch, SW74s31, is opened.
simulated using PSCAD with the following six steps: • Step 5: At 1.7s, line L24.83 switch, SW74s32, is opened.
• Step 1: At 0.3s, a phase A to ground fault is applied at the • Step 6: The simulation stops at 2.0s.
node CT18. All circuit breakers (HPF 512 CB) are opened The simulated 138 kV south bus voltage is plotted against
to clear the fault. the field recording by aligning the sequence of switching of the
• Step 2: At 0.6s, bus tie switch, SW74s72, is opened. real-life event.
• Step 3: At 1.0s, the transformer T2 switch, SW74s18, is
-7.84
CB74s77 B2
Ph V 240.0
SB
NB IT2 H
HPF 512 CB
SW74s18
21.542e-3 [uF]
7.3107e-4 [uF]
-10.93
240.0 [kV], 60.0 [Hz]

Closed@t0 100.0 [MVA]
Logic
Breaker CB74s2483X Z1 = 5.872 [ohm] /_ 80.153 [deg]
CB74s76
138.0 V Ph Timed
CB74s2483X EX24
-11.49 Ph V 138.0
HPF 512 CB
CT18 I24x83
SW 74s71 SW 74s72 HPF 512 CB
138.0 [kV], 60.0 [Hz] SW 74s32 L24_83
1110.7e-6 [uF]
100.0 [MVA] Closed@t 0

Logic 138.0 [kV], 60.0 [Hz]
Z1 = 8.035 [ohm] /_ 75.241 [deg] Breaker SW 74s72 100.0 [MVA]
CB74s2380
Timed Z1 = 4.627 [ohm] /_ 77.687 [deg]
EX23
HPF 512 CB I23x80
0 -12.07 Ph V 138.0
SW 74s71 CT capacitance SW 74s31 L23_80
CT18 Closed@t0 Closed@t0

Logic CB74s2380 Logic Vex23 138.0 [kV], 60.0 [Hz]
Timed Breaker Breaker SW 74s31 100.0 [MVA]
Fault Timed Timed Z1 = 5.235 [ohm] /_ 78.124 [deg]
A->G Logic
VNB VPT
CT Phase A t o Ground Vex23 Vex23
vp PT_VPU vs
Fault VSBVSB
VNBVNB
3 Phase
RMS
VPTVPT
VSB
VPTrms
(a)
(b)
Fig. 9. PSCAD simulation model: (a) the complete system model; and (b) the two 500 µF braking capacitors connected in series for a circuit breaker.
Fig. 10. Simulated voltage waveforms at the south bus using PSCAD model.
The simulated and DDR recorded RMS voltages at the south in place of PT to avoid ferroresonance, however, it requires
bus are summarized in Table II and plotted in Fig. 11. The new hardware and is an expensive solution that was not chosen
simulation results match with field measurements well within in this paper. As discussed in Section IV, the same event
10% or less in 4 out of 5 results. The simulated RMS voltage described in Section III was simulated and the overvoltage
at the south bus without and with grading capacitors at the after opening the bus-tie switches (at 0.6 s) shall be mitigated.
circuit breakers are shown in Fig. 12. It is found that without
grading capacitors, the overvoltage issue will not occur. The A. Implement a Special Operation Procedure
simulation results confirm that the overvoltage on the 138 kV The purpose of the proposed procedure is to avoid operating
south bus is caused by ferroresonance between grading circuit breakers in open position but energized from one end
capacitances of the circuit breakers and the PT. for a long period of time. This is particularly a concern during
a bus outage, where multiple open circuit breakers equipped
TABLE II with grading capacitors are connected to a bus.
SIMULATED RMS VOLTAGE OF THE SOUTH BUS BY PSCAD VS DDR FIELD In this study, a special operation procedure is proposed as
RECORDING
follows: open the other end of the line/transformer to de-
Time Event RMS voltage at South Bus, kV
Simulated Recorded Error, % energize circuit breakers prior to open bus-tie switches. This
by PSCAD by DDR proposed procedure is applied in the PSCAD model of the
0.3 s All circuit breakers 75.34 74.72 0.83 system, it is found that the overvoltage can be reduced to below
connecting to 138 kV
south bus are open
100 kV by applying this special operation procedure (Fig. 13).
0.6 s Bus tie switch is open 253.50 275.55 ‒8.00 Without the proposed procedure, the overvoltage was recorded
1.0 s Transformer T2 248.92 275.44 ‒9.63 to be about 276 kV as shown in Fig. 14.
switch is open
Main : Graphs
1.4 s L23.80 switch is open 221.82 252.26 ‒12.07
VPT rms
1.7 s L24.83 switch is open 170.05 189.86 ‒10.43 350.00
300.00
250.00
Voltage (kV)
200.00
150.00
Voltage (kV)
100.00
50.00
0.00
sec 0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 1.25 1.50 1.75 2.00
Fig. 13 The simulated RMS voltage in kV at the south bus by PSCAD: de-
energized the lines/transformers prior to opening bus-tie switches.
Fig. 11 The simulated and DDR field recorded RMS voltages at the south bus.
Fig. 14 The simulated RMS voltage in kV at the south bus with the proposed
special operation procedure vs. DDR field recording without this procedure.
Fig. 12 The simulated RMS voltage in kV at the south bus by PSCAD: without
and with grading capacitors (GC). B. Implement a Damping Circuit on Secondary of the PT
Adding a damping circuit on the secondary side of the PT
V. MITIGATION METHODS in the form of a damping resistor or a damping reactor can
The effective mitigation methods for this ferrorresonance alleviate the overvoltage caused by ferroresonance [2]. The
event have been investigated to alleviate the overvoltage equivalent circuit with a damping resistor is shown in Fig. 15.
caused by ferroresonance. These methods include: 1) In this paper, a guideline/criterion is proposed to properly
implement a special operation procedure; 2) implement a size a damping resistor/reactor on the PT secondary for
damping circuit on the secondary of the PT; and 3) The effective ferroresonance mitigation. As explained in Fig. 1, a
coupling capacitor voltage transformers (CCVTs) can be used series resonance occurs when the inductive reactance is equal
to the capacitive reactance, XL = XC. The technical basis of the field recorded 276 kV overvoltage value as shown in Fig.
designing and sizing a damping circuit is to provide a lower 17.
impedance path on the secondary of the PT in parallel with the Similarly, to select a damping reactor in this system, the
saturated magnetizing branch of the PT during ferroresonace, critical inductance of the reactor is 15 mH on the PT
the lower impedance path offered by the damping circuit will secondary, which is equivalent to 2.77 MΩ on the PT primary.
ensure that XL = XC will never be satisfied, and thus, a A 0.5 mH damping reactor on the PT secondary (equivalent to
ferroresonance condition can be avoided. 92.4 kΩ on the PT primary) is chosen in this study, it is
Since the real-life ferroresonance event has occurred in this modeled with X/R=69.6, which is typical for an air core
system under study, it indicates that during ferroresonance, XL reactor. The results using a 0.5 mH damping reactor indicate
= XC is satisfied, i.e., the inductive reactance of the that the observed overvoltage can be reduced to around 7.5 kV
magnetizing branch of the PT is equal to the capacitive as shown in Fig. 18 (a). This is much less than the field
reactance of the grading/coupling capacitance in series with recorded 276 kV overvoltage value as shown in Fig. 19. For
the PT. To ensure that the damping circuit on the secondary of comparison, the simulation result using a 15 mH damping
the PT is indeed a lower impedance path compared to the reactor is shown in Fig. 18(b), it is found that both spike and
magnetizing branch of the PT, the impedance of the damping steady-state voltages are much higher in this case than using a
circuit must be less than the impedance of the magnetizing 0.5 mH damping reactor.
branch of the PT. Since the saturated impedance of the
magnetizing branch of the PT is not a fixed value and varies
significantly with the saturation level, we can use the
impedance of the grading/coupling capacitance in series with
the PT as the base line to determine the damping
resistance/reactance value. The objective is to ensure the
impedance of the damping circuit in the form of a resistance or
a reactance, / 012 3( , is smaller than the impedance of the
grading/coupling capacitance as shown in (9), where ω is the
angular speed at the fundamental frequency. Fig. 15. The equivalent circuit with a damping resistor Rd.
/ 012 3( 4 5 = (9)
6789: Main : Graphs
V PT rms
350.00
In this paper, a generic damping circuit sizing approach is 300.00
proposed with the following two-step procedure:
Voltage (kV)
250.00
1) For a given system, estimate the impedance of the 200.00
magnetizing branch of the PT using the capacitance in 150.00
series with the PT. 100.00
2) Determine the size of the impedance of the damping 50.00
circuit using Eq. (9) and the results obtained in Step 1). 0.00
Note: the proposed approach is generic and can be applied to sec 0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 1.25 1.50 1.75 2.00
any types of systems, however, the determined damping circuit

Fig. 16 The simulated RMS voltage in kV at the south bus by PSCAD: a 5
impedance values using the approach is completely system
ohm damping resistor on the PT secondary.
dependent.
In this paper, we consider two types of damping circuits: a
damping resistor and a damping reactor. Now we will
implement the proposed approach in sizing the damping
branch for this specific system. In the studied system, the
capacitance in series with the PT is around 731 pF (or 3.63
MΩ). The PT ratio is 700:1. For a damping resistor case, a 5
ohm resistor at the PT secondary side is equivalent to 2.45 MΩ
# ?@.B #
(= ; < > % = ; > - 5) on the PT primary, which is less
= @. B
than the impedance of the magnetizing branch of the PT (3.63
MΩ). Therefore, a 5 ohm damping resistor on the PT
secondary is added and simulated using PSCAD. The Fig. 17 The simulated RMS voltage in kV at the south bus with a 5 ohm
simulation results confirm that the observed overvoltage can damping resistor vs. DDR field recording without a damping circuit.
be reduced to around 135 kV as shown in Fig. 16, which is
within the PT’s normal operation range. This is much less than
1 mH damping reactor; another group has a 5 ohm damping

resistor in series with a 0.25 mH, 0.5 mH or 1 mH damping
reactor. It is found that damping resistors become quite
dominant in the voltage responses during switching. The large
voltage spikes appeared in the damping reactor only circuit
have disappeared with a combination of both damping resistor
and damping reactor. Different inductance values do not make
too much differences in the voltage response for a particular
resistance value.
Figs. 24 and 25 summarizes the relationship between the
Fig. 18 The simulated RMS voltage in kV at the south bus with a damping maximum RMS voltages vs. the damping resistor or reactor. It
reactor on the PT secondary. The damping reactor size: 0.5 mH and 15mH. is concluded that a linear relationship exists for the reactor
case, but the resistor case appears to be nonlinear.
By comparing the resistor only, reactor only, or the
combination of a resistor in series with a reactor for a damping
circuit design, it is found that a properly chosen resistor only
damping circuit shows the best performance. Therefore, it is
recommended that the damping resistor is used in such
damping circuit design.
Main : Graphs
VPT rms
180.00
160.00
140.00
Voltage (kV)
120.00
Fig. 19 The simulated RMS voltage in kV at the south bus with a 0.5 mH 100.00
80.00
damping reactor vs. DDR field recording without a damping circuit.
60.00
40.00
After the sizes of basic damping circuit elements are 20.00
chosen, a combination of a damping resistor in series with a 0.00
sec 0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 1.25 1.50 1.75 2.00
damping reactor is also tested as shown in Fig. 20. A 5 ohm
resistor in series with a 0.5 mH reactor are connected on the Fig. 20 The simulated RMS voltages in kV for a damping reactor Ld in series
PT secondary. The observed overvoltage can be reduced to with a damping resistor Rd (Ld=0.5 mH, Rd=5 ohm)
around 134.8 kV. This value is similar to the case with the 5
VPT rms
ohm damping resistor only. 300.00
0.25 ohm 2.5 ohm 5 ohm 10 ohm 15 ohm 20 ohm
As a sensitivity study, different damping resistor and

250.00
damping reactor values for the damping circuit are evaluated
200.00
(the resistor is in series with the reactor). The results are shown
Voltage (kV)
150.00
in Figs. 21-23.
100.00
In Fig. 21, six different damping resistors ranging from 0.25
50.00
ohm to 20 ohms are simulated. It is found that a smaller resistor
0.00
will lead to a lower voltage value. A resistor based damping sec 0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 1.25 1.50 1.75 2.00
circuit is very sensitive to the resistance value, which has to be
small enough to limit the voltage below 138 kV. In this Fig. 21 The simulated RMS voltages in kV with different damping resistor
particular case, the resistance should be less than 5.0 ohm. values (Rd=0.25 ohm, 2.5 ohm, 5 ohm, 10 ohm, 15 ohm, and 20 ohm).
In Fig. 22, five different damping reactors ranging from V PT rms
0.25 mH 0.5 mH 1.0 mH 2.0 mH 5.0 mH
0.25 mH to 5 mH are simulated. It is found that a reactor based 180.00
160.00
damping circuit is less sensitive to the inductance value. A 140.00
wide range of inductance values can be chosen to limit the 120.00

Voltage (kV)
100.00
voltage cross the PT terminal. In this particular case, the 80.00
inductance should be less than 15 mH. However, a damping 60.00

40.00
reactor may cause a high transient overvoltage at the PT 20.00
terminal during the switching of circuit breakers/switches, 0.00

sec 0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 1.25 1.50 1.75 2.00
which is undesirable for power system operation.
In Fig. 23, two groups of combination of damping resistor Fig. 22 The simulated RMS voltages in kV for different damping reactor
and damping reactor in series are evaluated. One group has a values (Ld=0.25 mH, 0.5 mH, 1.0 mH, 2.0 mH, and 5.0 mH).
2.5 ohm damping resistor in series with a 0.25 mH, 0.5 mH or
when the 138 kV south bus was de-energized by opening four

circuit breakers due to a bus-tie CT’s internal ground fault. It
was suspected that the switching of circuit breakers created a
transient condition and initiated ferroresonant between grading
capacitors of the circuit breakers and a bus PT. In order to
validate it, a PSCAD model is created to simulate various steps
during this event. Based on PSCAD simulation results and
field records, it is concluded that the root cause of the
overvoltage is the ferroresonance between grading capacitors
of circuit breakers and the limb-type open core PT. This event
reveals that a ferroresoance could occur with the limb-type
Fig. 23 The simulated RMS voltages in kV for different combinations of a open core PT although it has been claimed by the manufacturer
damping reactor in series with a damping resistor (Ld+Rd combinations: 0.25
that it is a ferroresonance-immune PT, and the overvoltage
mH+2.5 ohm, 0.5 mH+2.5 ohm, 1.0 mH+2.5 ohm; 0.25 mH+5 ohm, 0.5
mH+5.0 ohm, and 1.0 mH+5 ohm). may become worse than the closed core PT if a ferroresoance
does occur.
To prevent a similar or could-be-worse situation in the
future, two types of mitigation methods are evaluated in the
paper: 1) implement a special operation procedure; and 2)
implement a damping circuit on the secondary of the PT. The
criterion on how to properly size a damping resistor or a
damping reactor on the PT secondary is proposed, a generic
two-step approach using the proposed criterion is further
recommended and implemented in this system under study.
For the damping circuit design, three scenarios (a resistor only,
Rd (ohm) a reactor only, or the combination of a resistor in series with a
Fig. 24 The maximum RMS voltages vs different damping resistor Rd values reactor) are compared. It is found that implementing a resistor
only damping circuit has the promising potential to effectively
mitigate ferroresonance.
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operation, only be switched in when a ferroresonance occurs. Phase Distribution Transformer Banks,” IEEE Transactions on Power
A proper sensing and control circuit can be designed to realize Apparatus and Systems, vol. 84, no. 4, pp. 289 – 293, April 1965.
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[8] S. Prusty, and M. Panda, “Predetermination of lateral length to prevent
In this paper, a sustained overvoltage event lasted for about overvoltage problems due to open conductors in three-phase systems,”
12 hours was observed on a 138 kV south bus in a substation IEE Proceedings C - Generation, Transmission and Distribution, vol.
132, no. 1, pp. 49 – 55, January 1985.
of a Canadian transmission system. The whole incident started
[9] D. M. Scoggin, and J. E. Hall, “Ferroresonance,” IBM Journal of January 2013, he joined AltaLink in Calgary, Canada, where he is currently a
Research and Development, vol. 31, no. 6, pp. 665 – 678, November senior power system study engineer.
1987. Dr. Wang is a registered professional engineer in the province of Alberta,
[10] D.R. Crane, and G.W. Walsh, “Large mill power outages caused by Canada.
potential transformer ferroresonance,” IEEE Transactions on Industry
Applications, vol. 24. No. 4, pp. 635 – 640, July/August 1988.
[11] D.L. Stuehm, B.A. Mork, and D.D. Mairs, “Five-legged core transformer Xiaodong Liang (M’06–SM’09) was born in
equivalent circuit,” IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, vol. 4, no. 3, Lingyuan, China. She received the B.Eng. and
pp. 1786 – 1793, July 1989. M.Eng. degrees from Shenyang Polytechnic
[12] D. A. N. Jacobson, “Field Testing, Modelling and Analysis of University, Shenyang, China in 1992 and 1995,
Ferroresonance in a High Voltage Power System,” PhD thesis, The respectively, the M.Sc. degree from the University of
University of Manitoba, August 2000. Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada in 2004, and the
[13] D.A.N. Jacobson, “Examples of ferroresonance in a high voltage power Ph.D. degree from the University of Alberta,
system,” 2003 IEEE Power Engineering Society General Meeting, vol. Edmonton, Canada in 2013, all in Electrical
2, pp. 1206 – 1212, 2003. Engineering. Her research interests include power
[14] K.-h. Tseng, and P.-y. Cheng, “Mitigating 161 kV electromagnetic systems, renewable energy, and electric machines.
potential transformers' ferroresonance with damping reactors in a gas- From 1995 to 1999, she served as a lecturer at Northeastern University,
insulated switchgear,” IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution, Shenyang, China. In October 2001, she joined Schlumberger in Edmonton,
vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 479 – 488, 2011. Canada, and in 2009 was promoted to be a Principal Power Systems Engineer
[15] C.A. Charalambous, Z.D. Wang, P. Jarman, and J.P. Sturgess, with this world leading oil field service company. After serving Schlumberger
“Frequency domain analysis of a power transformer experiencing for almost 12 years, she joined Washington State University in Vancouver,
sustained ferroresonance,” IET Generation, Transmission & Washington, United States in August 2013. From August 2013 to May 2015,
Distribution, vol. 5, no. 6, pp. 640 – 649, 2011. she was an Assistant Professor at Washington State University. In July 2015,
[16] M. Davarpanah, M. Sanaye-Pasand, and F. B. Ajaei, “CCVT Failure due she joined Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s, Canada, and
to Improper Design of Auxiliary Voltage Transformers,” IEEE was promoted to an Associate Professor in Sept. 2018. In July 2019, she joined
Transactions on Power Delivery, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 391 – 400, January the University of Saskatchewan, where she is currently an Associate Professor.
2012. Dr. Liang is a registered professional engineer in the province of
[17] TechTopics No. 75, “Ferroresonance in ungrounded systems with Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
voltage transformers connected line-to-ground,” Siemens Industry Inc.,
Wendell, NC, 2012.
[18] R. Aghazadeh, and M. Sanaye-Pasand, “Damping of capacitive voltage Iraj Rahimi Pordanjani (M’08–SM’17) received his
substations ferroresonance using a suitable RLC filter,” IEE Proc.- B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering from
Gener. Transm. Distrib., vol. 151, no. 6, pp. 721-727, November 2004. Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran in
[19] G. Engdahl, “Ferroresonance in Power Systems - Literature study,” 2005 and 2008, respectively. He received his Ph.D.
Energiforsk November 2017. degree in Power Engineering and Power Electronics
[20] Z. Emin, B.A.T.Al Zahawi, D.W.Auckland, and Y. K. Tong, from the University of Alberta, Canada in 2013. He
“Ferroresonance in electromagnetic voltage transformers: A study based worked as an electrical engineer for Tabesh Tablou Co.
on nonlinear dynamics”, IEE Proceedings - Generation, Transmission from 2007 to 2008. From 2008 to 2012, he worked as
and Distribution, vol. 144, no. 4, pp. 383 – 387, July 1997. a research assistant/consulting engineer compliting
[21] Končar Instrument Transformers Inc, “VPU Inductive Power several research projects for utilities in North America.
Transformer 72.5 to 550 kV” Brochure, http://www.koncar- In May 2012, he joinged ATCO Electric as a power system engineer and in
mjt.hr/en/products/HV_Oil_Instrument_transformers/Voltage_transfor March 2015, he joined Altalink where he is a sentior enegineer – Technical
mers, visited on June 8, 2019 at 7:34 am. Lead with the System Operations team.
[22] IEEE Standard Requirements for Instrument Transformers, IEEE Std. Dr. Rahimi is a registered professional engineer in the province of
C57.13-2016, 2016. Alberta, Canada. He is a member of multiple CIGRE working groups. His
[23] Uri M. Ascher and Linda R. Petzold, Computer Methods for Ordinary research interests are power systems stability and dynamics, power system
Differential Equations and Differential-Algebraic Equations, Society for transients and power quality.
Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Philadelphia, 1998.
[24] Y. Wang, X. Liang, I. R. Pordanjani, R. Cui, A. Jafari, and C. Clark,
"Ferroresonance Causing Sustained High Voltage at A De-energized 138 Ryan Cui received the B. Eng. degree from
kV Bus: A Case Study," Proceedings of 55th IEEE Industrial & Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 1995 and the
Commercial Power Systems (I&CPS) Technical Conference, Calgary, M. Sc. degree from the University of Saskatchewan,
AB, Canada, May 6–9, 2019. Saskatoon, SK, Canada, in 2003. Mr. Cui has various
work and research experience in the utilities and
organizations of China and Canada. Currently, he is
Yunfei Wang (M’11–SM’18) was born in Baoding, the manager of the Power System Studies team of
China. He received the B.Eng. degree from Harbin AltaLink, AB, Canada. Mr. Cui is a registered
Institute of Technology, Harbin, China in 2003 and professional engineer in the province of Alberta,
the M.Sc. degree from Tsinghua University, Canada. His research interests are power systems
Beijing, China in 2006 in Control Science and stability and dynamics, power system transients and power quality.
Technology. He received the Ph.D. degree from the
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada in 2011 in
Electrical Engineering. His research interests Ali Jafari was born in Tehran, Iran. He received the
include power system dynamics, power quality, B.Sc. degree from Khajeh Nasir University of
renewable energy, and energy storage. Technology, Tehran, Iran in 1997, the M.Sc. degree
After graduating from the University of Alberta, he joined Powertech from the Amirkabir University of Technology,
Labs Inc. in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in September 2010. From Tehran, Iran in 2000, and the Ph.D. degree from
Septmeber 2010 to January 2013, he was a senior power system software Khajeh Nasir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
development engineer at Powertech Labs Inc. with responsibility of in 2009, all in Electrical Engineering. Ali completed
developing and maintaining the power system study software DSATools. In one year of Post-doc fellowship at the University of
Calgary, Canada in 2012. His research interest
include power systems operatins, control and planning, dynamic and transient
analysis, disturbance analysis in power systems, and power generation.
From 1998 to 2012, Ali worked for Iran Grid Management Company as a
Senior Power System Engineer. After one year of research work at the
University of Calgary, in March 2013, he joined AltaLink, a power
transmission company in Alberta, Canada, as a Senior System Operations
Engineer. Ali is currently responsible for disturbance analysis team in
AltaLink.
Dr. Jafari is a registered professional engineer in the province of Alberta,
Canada.
Colin Clark (S’99-M’00) is a graduate of Electrical

Engineering from the University of Victoria. He
started with BC Hydro in 2000 before moving to
AltaLink in 2006. His career has focused on
equipment in substations, FACTS and HVDC. He
is currently Principal Engineer of Substation Major
Equipment and HVDC at AltaLink. Colin is a
registered Professional Engineer in the province of
Alberta, Canada and past chair of the CEATI
Substation Equipment Asset Management working
group.

Investigation of Ferroresonance Causing Sustained High Voltage at A De-Energized 138 KV Bus: A Case Study

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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been

Investigation of Ferroresonance Causing Sustained High Voltage at A De-energized

Abstract – Ferroresonance causes overvoltage and excessive Ld Inductance of damping reactor.

resistor did not show significant effect for damping

the 138 kV system is shown in Fig. 3. To clearly describe this

capacitors, each is connected in parallel to the

Fig. 8. The open-core PT’s magnetizing characteristic from the manufacturer.

C. Data Collection for PSCAD Simulation

240.0 [kV], 60.0 [Hz]

100.0 [MVA] Closed@t 0

CT18 Closed@t0 Closed@t0

any types of systems, however, the determined damping circuit

1 mH damping reactor; another group has a 5 ohm damping

As a sensitivity study, different damping resistor and

wide range of inductance values can be chosen to limit the 120.00

inductance should be less than 15 mH. However, a damping 60.00

terminal during the switching of circuit breakers/switches, 0.00

when the 138 kV south bus was de-energized by opening four

Colin Clark (S’99-M’00) is a graduate of Electrical

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