Electra 313 PDF

ELECTRA N°313
December 2020
©2020 - CIGRE ELECTRA N°313 December 2020 1

Table of Contents
Editorial
Editorial
Centennial Celebration
A short History of Study Committees
Technology E2E
Requirements and capabilities of power electronic interfaced devices for enhancing
system operation
Power quality trends in the transition to carbon-free electrical energy systems
New technologies, materials and approaches for overhead lines
The development of a remote temperature logging system for pole mounted

distribution transformers
Global Connections
Impact of Covid-19 to System Operators and Electrical Equipment Manufacturers
The Application of Blockchain Technology in Power Systems
Life of Association
The adventures of the 2020 e-session
CIGRE Romania - Regional South-East European Conference (RSEEC 2020) - 5th

edition
Membership renewal for 2021 - Renouvellement d'adhésion pour 2021
Journey of a CIGRE Green Book: "Flexible AC Transmission Systems"
In Memoriam - Dale Douglass
New West Africa National Committee

Annual Reports
SC D1 > Materials and emerging test techniques
SC D2 > Information systems and telecommunication
Technical Brochures
TB 816 WG A3.30 Substation equipment overstress management
TB 817 WG A3.38 Shunt capacitor switching in distribution and transmission systems
TB 818 WG B2.61 Transmission lines with Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites
TB 819 WG B5.50 IEC 61850 - Based substation automation systems – Users
expectations and stakeholders interaction
TB 820 WG C1.39 Optimal power system planning under growing uncertainty
TB 821 JWG C2/B4.38 Capabilities and requirements de nition for power electronics
based technology for secure and ef cient system operation and control

EDITO
Editorial
by Michel Augonnet
President of CIGRE
Today, depending on where we live, we do not know if the pandemic is behind us, in
front of us, or simply all over us. In all cases, it is changing the way we live and work.
In the midst of this critical situation, our industry has been able to perform its role to
outstanding levels and contribute to the reliable delivery of energy.
The widespread digitalization of our industry will be an even more enhanced enabler,
diminishing some need for human intervention and reducing travel time to sites,
factories, and of ces. Predictive maintenance and remote operations will continue to
grow, and all TSOs and DSOs will be able to more ef ciently anticipate and avoid
outages. Even product and equipment witnessed qualifying testing and inspections
have been able to go ‘virtual’ using digital meeting technical solutions.
Worldwide, one consequence has been – due to a pandemic reduction in energy

consumption of between 10-30% - the reduced strain on older equipment, allowing
for a slowdown in planned equipment updates. Companies have been able to put
their employees’ safety rst and foremost, and clearly focus on the critical
renovations.
For CIGRE, it also means preparing for an unknown 2021 and the need to organize
and properly formulate a hybrid Centennial Session. We hope to welcome many to
Paris but we must also anticipate live (and lively) participation for those who are
unable to travel.
After this long period of separation, where physical meetings were replaced by e-
sessions (such as has been the case for the AORC Technical Meeting in Japan, the
South-East Europe Regional Convention (RSEEC 2020); and now the Greek National
Committees Conference will be rejuvenating to meet again) and the very impressive
GCC Power 2020 virtual conference and exhibition, we are all looking forward to
being able to exchange ideas freely in a creative environment and to also celebrate
the 100th anniversary of our glorious association which took its roots 200 years ago
in 1820 when André-Marie Ampère presented his hypothesis on electric currents
and their interactions, providing an explanation for the experiments done earlier
that year by Hans Christian Oersted. This discovery linking fundamental and applied
research laid the foundations of electrodynamics.
Ampère's work not only revolutionized physics, it paved the way for the electric
motor, the second industrial revolution, and beyond, modern comfort and future
innovations in production, storage and distribution of energy and for... CIGRE.

CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
A short History of Study Committees

From the beginning of CIGRE and the biennial sessions, speci c
topics have been at the center of study and discussion. During the
rst conference in 1921, these topics and discussions were divided
into sections, and within sections they were divided into a number
“Groups”. This became the earliest form of open Study Committees
that still exist today, one century later…
The creation and expansion of Study

Committees: an international network of
CIGRE technical experts
T he rapid organization and growth of CIGRE’s Study Committees contrasted with
the relatively slow formation of the institutional network of National Committees.
By 1925, CIGRE was taking shape and it needed technical continuity from one
Session to the next. This was the initial purpose of the Study Committees, whose role
quickly increased in importance, simultaneously with the process of international
recognition consequent to the rise of expertise in these Committees.
Three Committees were introduced in 1927 for Oils, Cables, and Switchgear. In 1929,
the Insulators Committee and the Over-voltages Committee were created. In 1931,
the Overhead Lines and the Telephone Interference Committees were created, and in
1935 the Towers and Foundations Committee we set. Later, a Committee was created
for Reactive and Distorting Phenomena, and the Sub-Committee on Filler Materials
for cable boxes.
At the time of creation of the Study Committees, CIGRE’s Administrative Council only
gave them very simple rules and regulations that were summarized in six articles.
All power was given to the Study Committee Chair, who was free to direct the work as
they saw t, to convene them when they considered it useful, and to apply any
particular working method.
The importance and value of a Committee’s work depended on the competence and
the goodwill of its Chairperson. The Chair generally showed great dedication in
conducting their work, and ensuring the collective usefulness of their Committee for
the entire CIGRE community. As each Chair generally held an important technical
position in their respective country, experience rapidly showed that a Study
Committee had to have not only a good Chair, but also a good Secretary who, together,
formed a close-knit team and who were often from the same country.
For the inter-war period, study topics can be summarized as follows:
Parallel operation of power plants and oscillation between machines;

Problems in construction of large generators and transformers;

Laws and electrical calculation of energy transmission, voltage adjustment and
reactive power;
Reliability of cables for high voltage;
Insulation of lines, the nature and properties of insulators, and dielectric strength
of insulation
Earth connection of the neutral and extinction coils, and interference caused in
telecommunication circuits.
Thus, in the inter-war period, particularly through the growing and multifaceted
work of its Study Committees and the related impact of its Sessions, CIGRE largely
contributed to the recognition of the strategic character of the industry of electricity
transmission and interconnection. This was con rmed by the study of the rst
Preferential Subjects. It demonstrated the speci c nature, within the electricity
system and industry, of this technological and industrial sector, working particularly
in-depth on the principles of interconnection.
As shown by the orientation of CIGRE studies at the end of the 1930s and the
industrial concerns and aims of its members on the eve of the Second World War, the
construction of power systems was an effective factor of regional modernization. At
the same time urban electri cation had largely progressed both in emerging
countries and in the colonial world.
However, in a determinedly positive approach, the new dynamics of CIGRE were

driven by the creation of new Study Committees, which increased the technical – and
perforce industrial and economic – spectrum of the international Organization’s
action. In the period after the World War II, in order to better adapt to the
development of technical systems and to the requests and demands of the CIGRE
community, the following Committees were created:
Protection and Relays,

Energy Transmission by Very High Voltage Alternating Current,
Transmission by Direct Current,
Long-Distance Transmission,
Transformers,
Stability, and
Coordination of Insulation and Generators.
All in all, by 1950 there were 17 Study Committees.
Study Committee membership

Initially, all CIGRE members could join a Study Committee. However, CIGRE’s
Administrative Council decided in May 1947 that the number of members on a
Committee was limited in principle to 12. In June 1951, this number was increased
to 16.
Despite this increase, the Study Committee Chairs still criticized this restriction, so
to meet their request, two measures were taken by the CIGRE Administrative
Council:
First, each Study Committee member was invited to form a Sub-Committee in his
own country, chaired by himself, to which he would convene local peers he would
select for their expertise. The members of these Sub-Committees, commonly
known as advisors, continually improved the ef ciency of the Study Committees.

In 1950, again for the purposes of widening the eld of action of Study Committee
Chairs, the Administrative Council allowed each of them to invite a number of
engineers, chosen for their expertise, to its Committee meetings, at the same time
as its Of cial Members. The discussions could thus be widened and nurtured by
new contributions.
Study Committee Chairs were thus given due recognition for

their essential role within CIGRE’s organization. The Study
Committee with a Chair, a Secretary, often an appointed
interpreter, and 16 Permanent Members, together with experts,
advisors, a special reporter, and its Study Group, now clearly
was one of the fundamental units, if not the fundamental unit, on
which CIGRE was de nitively founded.
100 years of knowledge sharing

To view how the Study Committees have
evolved, grown, and developed is to look
at the titles and their longevity; the
changes in their organization, their
orientations and their contents.
Appendix 1 shows the Study
Committees (and their evolution) from
1927 to 2002.
In September 2000, the Administrative

Council asked the Technical Committee
Chair to propose a new organisation of
CIGRE’s technical activities to re ect a
new vision and ambition for CIGRE. It
was felt that by revising the SC scopes,
creating new SCs, and by
disbanding/merging some of the
existing SCs, CIGRE would better
address the needs of all target groups
within the changing operating
environment.
As so, in 2002 adaptation to the new

Electric Power Industry (EPI)
environment (re-regulation, electricity
markets, environmental concerns) was
accomplished. Four ‘domains’ were
established and working bodies within
these domains.
Equipment domain (A)

Sub-system domain (B)
System and electricity market
domain (C)
Supporting technologies domain (D)
Appendix 2 shows the existing 16 Study

Groups that have brought CIGRE to its
100 year celebration.
APPENDIX 2 - the present CIGRE Study Committees are as follows:
A1
Rotating electrical machines
A2
Power transformers and reactors

A3
Transmission and distribution equipment
B1
Insulated cables
B2
Overhead lines
B3
Substations and electrical installations
B4
DC systems and power electronics
B5
Protection and automation
C1
Power system development and economics
C2
Power system operation and control
C3
Power system environmental performance
C4
Power system technical performance
C5
Electricity markets and regulation
C6
Active distribution systems and distributed energy resources

D1
Materials and emerging test techniques
D2
Information systems and telecommunication
Next edition: The growth of the National Committees…

TECHNOLOGY 2E2
Requirements and capabilities of power

electronic interfaced devices for enhancing
system operation
The worldwide energy landscape is undergoing a transition, the pace
of which varies in different parts of the world. From system operation
perspective, the main factors identi ed contributing to this ongoing
energy transition are threefold. Firstly, the transmission system
connected conventional synchronous generator is rapidly being
replaced by transmission system and distribution system connected
variable renewable energy sources (RES) such as wind and solar
generation, which are usually connected through power electronics
converters. Secondly, the design, planning, and operation of the
power system is largely influenced by different regulatory regimes.
Thirdly, it is increasingly dif cult to construct new transmission
facilities, on the one hand due to increasing public opposition against
new overhead lines and on the other hand due to technical challenges
associated with long AC underground cables. Taking these
observations into account, the transition of the energy landscape
poses important operational challenges for System Operators: how
should the future power electronis-dominated power system be
operated at an affordable cost, while guaranteeing at least the same
level of operational reliability as today?
by Jan VAN PUTTEN, JWG C2/B4.38

Convenor,
Vinay SEWDIEN, SC C2 Secretary,
& Susana ALMEIDA DE GRAAFF, SC
C2 Chair
One of the fundamental issues that need to be addressed is gaining insights in the
operational challenges associated with the future power system. Once these are
known, the next step would be to identify how today’s power electronics technology
can already adequately support in mitigating some of these challenges. The CIGRE
JWG C2/B4.38, established in April 2017, aims at addressing both issues and works
in two streams. The outcomes of the JWG are expected to help both power electronics
and system operation experts to better understand each other's reality, thus

facilitating the implementation of power electronics in the system operations and
control. Based on extensive literature review and an accompanying survey, 33
unique operational challenges were identi ed. In parallel, the JWG described the
capabilities of a large set of power electronics-interfaced devices such as different
high voltage direct current technologies, different types of power electronics-
interfaced generation (PEIG), and storage. Furthermore, the JWG aims at describing
the requirements for integration of power electronic based technologies in the power
system with the focus on its capabilities and usage for system operation and control.
For this, the vendors involved in the work play a key role in bridging the gap between
the vendors and the system operators.
System operational challenges

The 33 unique operational challenges are grouped into three main categories. The
rst category is named New Behaviour of the Power System. With increasing
penetration of power electronics-interfaced devices (PEID), the power system
behaviour and response are changing. This category of identi ed issues focuses on
observing new behaviours in the power system. Examples of such new behaviours
relate to increased resonances (e.g. resonance instability and resonances due to
cables and power electronics), modi ed oscillations (e.g. controller interactions,
decreased damping, or introduction of new low frequency oscillations) and reduced
grid strength (i.e. short circuit capacity). A reduction in grid strength can impact the
power system in multiple ways, such as incorrect operation of certain protection
systems, instability of phase-locked loop controllers, commutation failure of line
commutated HVDC converters and larger voltage dips, and propagation of low
voltages during disturbances.

The second category, called New Operation of the Power System, identi es those
areas where we need to change the way we operate the power system. This includes
the people, processes, and tools in system operation that observe the bulk power
system and take necessary actions to maintain operational reliability. Examples
include new skills required for operators, power system restoration following a
blackout in systems with high penetration of PEIG, increased coordination between
transmission system operator (TSO) and distribution system operator (DSO), and
among TSOs. A necessary requirement for secure system operation is ensuring an
adequate level of RES observability and controllability in the system. As an example,
the TSO in Spain has an observability of 100% of wind and 84% of photo-voltaic (PV)
generation. Furthermore, 99% of wind and 47% of PV generation are directly
controllable by the TSO.
The third category, Lack of Voltage and Frequency Support, groups those technical
issues (e.g. transient and steady state instability) that would occur as a result of lack
of voltage and frequency support. It mainly relates to maintaining frequency and
voltage stability. From frequency stability perspective, the main issues are
increasing rates of change of frequency (RoCoF) and decreasing frequency nadirs.
The increasing penetration of PEIG, replacing the conventional synchronous
generators, translates in decreasing system inertia, which in turn leads to increasing
RoCoF. High RoCoF will:
activate anti-islanding protection for high RoCoF events; and

increase wear and tear and failure of conventional generators due to pole slips. To
minimise the possibility of damage, generators may trip almost without time
delay.
When such events occur, cascading events could follow and lead to a blackout.
The frequency nadir measures the minimum post contingency frequency and is the
result of the combined effect of system inertia and governor response. With reduced
inertia and unchanged governor response, the nadir will be lower and consequently
result in faster and more frequent activation of under-frequency load-shedding
schemes.
From a voltage stability perspective, the challenges include suf cient fault current
contribution (during disturbances) and the ability of the system to deliver and
withdraw reactive power to maintain acceptable voltage levels in steady state
operation.
The Working Group’s current activities involve identifying which capabilities of

today’s power electronics- interfaced devices can help in mitigating the identi ed
challenges. The results will be summarized in a mapping table. Finally, real-life
examples of how such capabilities have mitigated some of the challenges will be
provided.
More information
The JWG recently published the journal paper “System Operational Challenges from
the Energy Transition” in the February 2020 edition of the CIGRE Science &
Engineering Journal  (volume 17). This paper describes the unique challenges
introduced above in more detail.

The mapping of the power electronics interfaced devices’ capabilities in mitigating
some of the identi ed operational challenges, together with some practical
examples, will be published in a future edition of the CIGRE Science & Engineering
Journal.
The JWG is concluding its activities in Q3-2020. It is foreseen that the Technical
Brochure will also be available during this time. Furthermore, the JWG members
have delivered a tutorial during the 2020 CIGRE Session.

TECHNOLOGY 2E2
Power quality trends in the transition to

carbon-free electrical energy systems
Due to the accelerated shift towards a carbon-free electrical energy
system, the power system is changing in terms of both planning and
operation with an increasing integration of converter-interfaced
renewable generation at all voltage levels. Power quality is one of the
main areas greatly affected by these changes and provides a eld
where equipment misoperation, accelerated aging, plant tripping,
and loss of production process can take place if it is not managed
properly. It is generally accepted that power quality is primarily
driven by customer requirements, however, failure to provide a supply
within prescribed performance re-quirements can also have a
negative impact on system operators, including customer complaints,
reputa-tional damage, and nancial liability.
By Christian FLYTKJAER & Zia EMIN,

SC C4 Chair
The rapid move in transitioning towards electricity production decarbonisation

through large-scale deployment of central and distributed renewable energy sources
(RES) not only replaces the conventional thermal plants but also introduces an
increased number of Power Electronic (PE) converters into the power system. From a
power quality perspective, the latter can have both a positive and negative effect
depending on the type of disturbance evaluated and also the applied control strategy
of the PE-converter.
Although at individual equipment level a great deal of knowledge exists, the

understanding of the impact of PE-converters in a combined way and some related
phenomena onto the system or within a system is not yet fully developed. However,
it is generally accepted that the consequences of poor power quality can have severe
nancial implications and most studies in the US and Europe indicate a high level of
cost if serious problems arise.
Harmonics, which usually is the most pronounced category of power quality, can be
present in voltage and current waveforms and harmonic distortion is predominantly
caused by non-linear devices connected to the power system. Contrary to linear

devices, a non-linear device draws a distorted current even when a perfect
sinusoidal voltage waveform is applied to it. As the number of converter-interfaced
equipment being connected to power systems increases as the green transition
progresses, electric systems around the world will experience an increase in
harmonic distortion. An additional impact on this increase will come from the
modi cation of existing distortion levels. The modi cation is mainly due to the
shifting of the resonance point in the system with increased use of capacitive
elements (i.e., cables) as well as the reduced system strength.
Having said this, it is also equally important to emphasise that there is an elevated
level of interest on the limitation of harmonic emissions. This is driving a trend in the
opposite direction to the extent that the harmonic emissions of new plants are
reduced at equipment level due to more advanced switching and control
technologies being implemented and the stricter enforcement of grid code
requirements. It is accepted though, that this cannot be generalized mainly because
of the local resonance introduced (or existing ones being shifted) by the use of
cables. A trend towards a more profound focus to undertake detailed analysis at the
planning stages, to ensure adherence to statutory limits and hence secure power
system operation, is however manifesting.
Another equally important power quality area is the so-called voltage variations
which refer to the changes of the voltage waveform. Voltage variation could be of a
slow nature, varying throughout the day slowly driven by the gradual customer load
variation for example, and/or variable RES output. Equally, the variation could be in
the form of rapid voltage changes and dips caused by various switching operations.
Wind and solar generation can result in larger and more frequent voltage variations
due to their intermittency. Such voltage variations can lead to both under voltage
and over voltage where both situations can have an impact on network operation and
on customer equipment. Generally, the effect will be strongest in power system areas
with low system strength.
In distribution networks, overvoltage can lead to excess energy consumption,

transformer core saturation and the introduction of increased insulation stresses
leading to their premature failure. Under voltage on the other hand can lead to
reduced energy consumption, malfunctioning of high-intensity discharge lamps and
reduction of torque developed by mains-connected motors. Reduced system
strength at transmission levels means that voltage dips, typically caused by system
faults, transformer energization, or large motor starting, can become more frequent
and severe and will also propagate to downstream distribution networks.
Intermittent power output combined with a reduction in system strength will result
in a higher volatility in the system voltage at transmission level making fast voltage
variations a possible issue at high voltage levels.
Voltage unbalance, simply de ned as unequal magnitudes of the phase voltages

and/or the phase angles in a multi-phase system, is also coming to the forefront of
power quality discussions. At distribution level this is partly due to the proliferation
of photovoltaic systems at the low voltage level as single-phase connections. Single-
phase PV connections can be altered between the phases but in places where only
single-phase laterals are available, all connections end up on the same phase which
can lead to signi cant voltage unbalance levels on three-phase low voltage systems.
Other technologies that are expected to have an impact include electric vehicle
charging points and heat pumps at the low voltage level. These will have an
increased level power capacity and are likely to introduce more voltage unbalance
and their capacities may be limited depending on the fault level at the point of

connection. Large scale wind and solar farms are often connected at remote locations
supplied by relatively long un-transposed lines, and voltage unbalance can arise due
to the lines, although the wind or the solar farms do inject balanced currents.
Power quality will continue to be an evolving topic in future power systems as it is

expected to be signi cantly affected by the shift towards a carbon-free electrical
energy system. Limited existing experience points to degraded power quality indices
of future power systems due to the integration of many power electronics devices,
use of power cables at all voltage levels, increasing amount of uctuating production,
and generally reduced system strength. However, the ability to control power
electronics is opening the road to the emergence of new possibilities and - if used in
a proper manner - many of the challenges introduced can be mitigated by the same
components that create them. Doing so successfully requires a high focus on power
quality studies both at individual connection and system wide level, focus on grid
code requirements and their implementation, and robust system monitoring with a
strategic approach.
A Reference Paper entitled “Power Quality Trends in the Transition to Carbon-Free

Electrical Energy Systems’’ was published in the agship CIGRE Science &
Engineering Journal’s Volume No 17 , February 2020 issue discussing this
emerging area in more details. This Reference Paper was prepared by a small task
force made up of members from SC C4 – Power System Technical Performance. The
paper discusses in details the effects on power quality due to the green transition of
the power system.

TECHNOLOGY 2E2
New technologies, materials and

approaches for overhead lines
Overhead Lines (OHL) play an important role in the electricity
business. They are the oldest and – till today – the most common
used transmission method worldwide to transport electrical energy,
and especially to transport bulk energy over big distances on land.
Extra high voltage lines may exceed a route length of 1.000 km for the
transport of several 1.000 MW per electric circuit in alternating (AC)
or direct current (DC), up to voltages of 1.150 kV. OHL will be
designed to build up new grids or to improve and strengthen existing
grids.
Herbert Lugschitz
Chair of SC B2 - Overhead Lines
More and more renewable energy sources need to be integrated into the existing
transmission grid. In addition due to the liberalization of the electricity market in the
last years the demand for production and consumption of electricity has changed.
The transmission line business has become more challenging, however, new
techniques allow for new solutions and approaches. Among them are:
build new overhead lines with new techniques, design and approaches;
change of components on existing lines (e.g. other conductors with higher current
capacity);
increase the line voltage on existing lines (e.g. from 220 kV to 400 kV) or change
from AC to DC;
application of Dynamic Line Rating systems on existing lines.
Long term reliability, long service life, cost ef ciency and consideration of
environmental aspects are required for overhead lines. Modern approaches,
materials, methods and design help to ful ll these requirements.
New technologies and materials for overhead

lines
Recent advances in new materials and technologies have provided transmission
utilities and operators with multiple options for better designs, more ef cient
operation and maintenance of their assets.
High temperature – low sag - conductors (HTLS) are made of special alloys and can
be used at temperatures of up to 210°C. Such conductors can carry more electric
current than standard conductors with an allowable temperature of 80 - 90°C. The

new materials limit the sag and conductor pull to prevent respective minimize
adaptions of towers including prevent replacements by higher towers. HTLS
conductors are used for reconductoring for the uprating of existing lines as well, as
for new lines. They are often “tailor made” for a project and each project must be
investigated on a case to case basis. The picture shows the correlation between
capacity (Amperes) and conductor temperature. The higher the temperature, the
more Amperes can be carried – but also higher losses.
Dynamic Line Rating (DLR) indicates the actual temperature of a conductor and the
actual environmental parameters to calculate the permissible maximum electric
load in this moment. The principle is: the higher the ambient temperature - the
lower the permissible electric load; the higher the windspeed - the higher the
permissible electric load. The optimum for a high current capacity of an OHL are cold
winter nights (no solar radiation) and wind at high speed perpendicular to the line
direction.
Several systems for DLR exist, using thermal sensors directly mounted on the
conductor, or sensors for the conductor pull, or calculating methods from the
environmental data, or measuring vibration frequencies of the conductor, and many

others. Advantages are the rather small investments for the existing line. Several
preconditions must be kept and checked before introducing DLR:
clearances to ground, buildings, obstacles

maximum allowable conductor temperature (mechanical aspect)
equipment in substations must be prepared for higher current
load ow considerations of the grid
legal situation (permission) to run the line with the desired current
The conversion of an existing AC line to DC can increase its ampacity. Adaptions on

the line will become necessary, and AC/DC- and DC/AC-converter stations at the two
ends of the line must be built. Such AC-to-DC-conversions are not common today but
are an option for the future. The efforts and costs must be counterbalanced with the
gained advantages.
High Voltage and Extra High Voltage DC overhead lines. The increased use of such
lines is a solution for the transmission of large quantities of energy over long
distances (typically exceeding 600 km). They exist in many counties. For shorter
lengths AC lines are usually more economic, even for voltages exceeding 1000 kV.
Worldwide projects and ideas exist to transport hundreds of GW over several
thousands of kilometres in the future. The concept of a Global Interconnection is
based on such technologies.
New materials for structures like bre reinforced polymer (FRP) are light weight,
have a high strength-to-weight ratio, are environmentally inert with high durability,
and have electrical non-conductive properties. FRP does not rust or corrode which
would be especially bene cial in coastal or industrial areas. First lines in the lower
HV range have already been built with such materials.
Environmental aspects of Overhead Lines,

maintenance

The visual impact is often the reason for opposition against new and existing OHL.
New tower design can help to overcome this problem. The typical standard tower
con gurations have been developed over the decades in all countries, which are
optimized in terms of material, the local environmental situation, transportation,
erection, maintenance, costs, lifetime, national rules and standards, appearance.
Many utilities started considerations for a new tower design to get or to increase the
acceptance for new OHL. Several towers in alternative design are known from
countries all over the world. Many of them are single solutions (only one tower in a
line), some even have the function as eye-catchers. More and more examples for new
tower design is being used over longer distances and some of them have reached the
status of a new standard tower design for certain line owners. Examples are in
Denmark and The Netherlands, others are shown in the CIGRE Technical Brochure
416 .
Another way to get acceptance is to “hide” OHL wherever the landscape allows this,
or to camou age the line by appropriate coating of towers and even conductors. The
picture shows a “camou age line” in the Austrian Alps with coated towers and coated
conductors.

Audible noise may occur from OHL under unfavourable weather conditions. Methods
are available to reduce this, among them are multiple subconductors, phase
arrangement, conductor arrangement and conductor surface treatment.
Overhead lines produce electric and magnetic elds (EMF). The electric eld
depends on the line voltage, the magnetic eld depends on the actual current owing
through the conductors. Both can be minimized during the design of an OHL by
phase arrangement and route decision. Their permissible values are de ned in
international and national regulations.
Maintenance with robots in assessment and maintenance of OHL is becoming more

and more common at many utilities. Such machines can check conductors,
insulators, and can climb structures. They assist asset managers in evaluating
damages, end of life, and are a valuable tool to evaluate damages. Line Suspended
Robots are designed to perform visual inspection of conductors. They may detect and
locate corrosion pits and broken steel core wires, measure the remaining cross-
section of steel wires as well as do temporary repair of components. Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles are helicopters with give images when they y close to the
transmission lines. In addition they can take pictures in the infrared and ultra-violet
spectrum from insulators and conductors and can detect hot spots due to pollution
and corona discharges. Ground Based Robots are designed to remotely capture and
control energized conductors and execute tasks that are far beyond human
capability from a mechanical and electrical stress perspective. This technology can
be used for live line structure work, e.g. repair and insulator replacement. A big
advantage is the reduction of time needed. Other Types of Robots are specialized e.g.
for climbing of towers and poles, inspection of insulators and jumpers and for
cleaning of insulators.

B2 Publications and Working Groups dealing
with new developments in the eld of OHL
Several publications from B2 deal with new developments for existing and future
applications, with methods to upgrade existing lines, and to improve environmental
impacts from existing and new lines.
Title and year of

Publication publication
GB1
CIGRE Green Book Overhead Lines, 2016
TB 147
High voltage overhead lines. Environmental concerns, procedures, impacts and

mitigations, 1999
TB 265
Life Cycle Assessment for Overhead Lines, 2004
TB 331
Considerations relating to the use of high temperature conductors, 2007
TB 353
Guidelines for increased Utilization of existing Overhead Transmission Lines, 2008
TB 416
Innovative solutions for overhead line supports, 2010

Title and year of
Publication publication
TB 425
Increasing capacity of overhead transmission lines, 2010
TB 426
Guide for qualifying high temperature conductors for use on overhead transmission
lines, 2010
TB 498
Guide for Application of Direct Real-Time Monitoring Systems, 2012
TB 583
Guide to the conversion of existing AC lines to DC operation, 2014
TB 601
Guide for thermal rating calculations of overhead lines, 2014
TB 643
Guide to the operation of conventional conductor systems above 100ºC, 2015
TB 695
Experience with the mechanical performance of non-conventional conductors, 2017
TB 748
Environmental issues of high voltage transmission lines for rural and urban areas JWG
C3-B1-B2, 2018
TB 763
Conductors for the uprating of existing overhead lines, 2019
TB 792
Compact AC overhead lines, 2020
A number of active Working Groups in SC B2 re ect the new developments in the

eld of OHL.

Title of Active Working
WG number Group
WG B2.59
Forecasting dynamic line ratings
WG B2.62
Compact HVDC overhead lines
WG B2.61
Transmission Line Structures with Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Composites
WG B2.66
Safe handling and installation guide for high temperature low sag (HTLS)
conductors
JWG B2/D2.72
Condition Monitoring and Remote Sensing of Overhead Lines

TECHNOLOGY 2E2
The development of a remote temperature

logging system for pole mounted
distribution transformers
South African power utility company, ESKOM’s fleet of reticulation
transformers is greater than 200,000. More than 90% of which are
pole mounted transformers (PMT). In the winter months (May to
September) the average PMT failure event is 2200. This costs the
company R70.4Million ($4.1Million) annually. Additionally, this has a
signi cantly negative impact (>10%) on system average interruption
duration index (SAIDI). PMT failure events during the winter period
are predominantly due to overloading therefore a remote temperature
logging (RTL) system was developed to detect the overload condition
and alert eld services to upgrade the PMT before failure. The system
is made up of 2 parts: the solar powered, temperature sensing
devices with remote communication and a custom master station
software. Using this system, it is now possible to predict the failure of
PMTs (due to overloading) months before it happens, allowing enough
time for replacement with a suitably sized PMT.

By P. Adigun, Quality of Supply Engineer, Eskom, South Africa
T he overload condition occurs when a transformer sources more than 150% of its
maximum rated current. This puts undue strain on the transformer’s windings,
resulting in excessive heat generation in its windings. The excessive heat degrades
the transformer oil and the insulation paper’s ability to insulate the winding which
eventually leads to a complete insulation breakdown and hence catastrophic failure.
While the increase in electricity usage during the winter period contributes
signi cantly to the overloading of transformers, illegal connections and improperly
planned electri cation projects are major contributors to overloading. However,
addressing the societal causes of overloading was not the focus of this work. Instead,
this work seeks to develop an early identi cation method for overloaded
transformers to minimize its impact on network performance, operating expenditure
and customer satisfaction. It is also vital to the economy that the power utility
continues to operate and maintain the existing infrastructure while minimizing
operating expenditure.
Methodology

Initially, existing instruments
Figure 1such as
- Thermal
load recorders, thermal sticker
scanners and
thermal stickers (Figure 1) were used in
an attempt to provide a solution.
However, none these methods were
scalable across ESKOM’s eet of PMTs (>
100,000) since the process of retrieving
data from the transformer to the
decision makers can be cumbersome
and expensive. These were therefore not
considered as a viable, long term
solution.
The RTL system was therefore

developed to automate the data
retrieval process. The system applies
the ndings of an internal ESKOM
research, which concluded that a tank
temperature reading of 82°C or more
signi es that the transformer is
overloaded i.e. producing greater than
150% of its rated current.
Remote temperature logger

The RTL is a temperature sensing device which attaches to the PMT tank through
magnets embedded in its enclosure. The device weighs 300 grams, is battery
powered and the battery is recharged through the on-board solar panel. A fully
charged RTL can function for more than 40 days with no daylight to recharge the
battery.
The RTL is installed from the ground level thus eliminating the need to isolate the
PMT and switch off customers. A special link stick attachment has also been
designed to aid easy installation and removal of the device. The RTL can also be
remotely recon gurable. Time stamped temperature data is periodically transmitted
to the master station via the cellular network. When needed, the RTL generates

alarms and sends an alarm noti cation to the master station. The alarms include:
Battery Low, Sensor error, Power down and High temperature. The total cost of the
components required to assemble an RTL is R950 ($55). A low monthly SIM cost of
R7 ($0.41) per device is achieved by positioning RTLs as edge computing devices
containing rmware which analyses the tank temperature and transfers only the
important information to the master station for storage and of ine analysis. A heat
shielding adhesive is wrapped around the back of the device to prevent the heat
radiating from an overloaded PMT from damaging the electronics in the enclosure.
As shown in gure 2, the RTL is installed near the top of the PMT so that the
measured temperature is as close to the top oil temperature as possible.

Master station
The master station (known as RTL Master) is a software application that stores the
data received from temperature loggers and analyses the data. The application is
hosted on a Windows PC which has a modem attached. The RTL master generates a
list of PMTs at-risk (whose temperatures are above the overload threshold) and
automatically emails the list to responsible personnel. The RTL master also tracks
the data it receives from RTLs and will generate a COMMS failure alarm if a device
stops sending data. Persons responsible for the RTL will be dispatched to replace the
device.
Results
There are 2 major ndings from the introduction of the temperature logging system.
Firstly, by using the temperature logger a PMT can be classi ed into 1 of 3 load
categories. Secondly, using a PMT’s tank temperature in the summer months it is
now possible to predict if the PMT will be overloaded during the following winter
period.
Load categorisation
Using data collected from over 800 PMTs (at 1 month intervals) between 2016 and
2018, it is possible to classify PMT load into the following: Under-loaded, Loaded,
Overloaded
Under-loaded
In this category the PMT load is negligible (<50%) in comparison to its capacity. The
temperature pro le measured from the tank follows the same pattern as ambient
temperature. The maximum temperature is typically less than 40°C. This is shown in
Figure 3 below:

Loaded
In this category the PMT’s load is signi cant i.e. >50% but not overloaded. Therefore
the tank temperature will change to re ect the highest loading periods of the day.
These are typically 5AM to 8AM and 5PM to 8PM. The maximum temperature is
typically greater than 40°C but less than 82°C. This is shown in Figure 4 above:
Overloaded
In this category the PMT is overloaded i.e. >150% load. The tank temperature
exceeds 82°C either during the morning peak or evening peak or during both peaks.
As seen in Figure 5 below, tank temperatures can exceed the oil ash point thus
posing a signi cant safety and re risk.

Winter load prediction
Certain PMTs will exhibit maximum temperatures less than 82°C in summer.
However, increased electricity usage in the winter period will cause the tank
temperature to exceed the overload threshold. This makes it impossible to identify
these PMTs as overloaded if their temperature was only recorded during a brief
period in the summer. By recording the temperatures of 50 overloaded PMTs from
the winter of 2017 to the winter of 2018 the load pattern (shown in Figure 6 below)
emerged.
The blue rectangle marks the summer period, which is between January and
February 2018. The average maximum temperature on all 50 PMTs was
approximately 60°C during this period but all 50 PMTs exceeded 82°C in the
following winter. This led to the conclusion that 60°C can be selected as the summer
threshold temperature.
Bene ts

RTLs make failure prediction (due to overloading) a reality for an important
distribution asset such as PMTs, they also provide additional bene ts to the wider
distribution business:
Load visibility: Through temperature, RTLs provide an estimation of the percentage

loading on a PMT. This can be bene cial to electri cation project planning, Network
upgrade planning and detection of bulk illegal connection on PMTs
Environmental: Overloaded PMT failures can often be catastrophic, causing the

transformer oil to spill on the ground, kill existing vegetation and prevent growth of
new vegetation. Such hazardous spillage can be prevented by replacing an
overloaded PMT before failure.
Safety: Catastrophic failure of PMTs can cause injury to members of the public and
may even endanger their lives. This may leave the power utility open to safety
claims. Upgrading a PMT prevents this.
Future work
The RTL system is a step towards the deployment of 4th industrial revolution
devices to monitor assets. The intellectual properties created during the
development of this system are owned by ESKOM. Presently, there are other ongoing
pilot projects whose aim is to (non-intrusively) detect additional failure modes on
PMT. These devices are based on the same low cost hardware designs used in the
development of the RTL.
Conclusion
Using the RTL system, 171 PMTs have been detected as overloaded over the last 5
years. Seventy-two of these PMTs have been upgraded. This is a savings of at least
R2.3Million ($135 000). In that period, 280 loggers have been assembled for a total
cost of R260 000 ($15 000), yielding a return on investment (ROI) ratio of 39:1 over
the 5 year period and making mass RTL deployment a sensible choice.
Mass implementation of this system will allow power utilities to make a signi cant
leap in their approach to overloaded PMT failures i.e. from reactive to proactive.
However, a collaborative effort will be required from all role players (Network
Planning, Network Engineering Design and eld services) so that PMT upgrades can
be promptly executed.
A proactive approach to prevent PMT failures using the data generated by RTLs will
also assist in network planning, electri cation and bulk illegal customer detection
tool.

GLOBAL CONNECTIONS
Impact of Covid-19 to System Operators

and Electrical Equipment Manufacturers
The COVID-19 pandemic which began late 2019, beginning of 2020
brought a new aspect affecting world´s economy. Players of different
industries were not used to global catastrophes, but rather
geographically circumscribed ones. The measures taken all over the
world to slow down the dissemination of the virus, mostly
concentrated on social distancing. In some extreme cases quarantine
was applied to the population in regions with high contamination
indexes. Both national and local health authorities were deeply
involved in monitoring the contamination curves as well as applying
and continuously adapting control rules for social contact and
working environment.
CIGRE Utility Advisory Group A3

By Nenad Uzelac (US), Frank Richter (DE), Antonio Carvalho (BR),
Robert le Roux (IE), Pavel Novak (DE), Jorge Amon (BR)
In the power industry, the direct effects of COVID-19 resulted in a reduction of eld
services in general, speci cally maintenance services. In many cases services have
been postponed or extended in time to completion. The direct effect of this could be
an increased risk of equipment failure. On the other hand, the veri ed reduction of
system load, between 10% and 30% of the load before pandemic, helps to keep
service continuity under control. Figure 1 gives a clear picture of system load

behavior in 2020 compared to the same time span of 2019. As a consequence of load
reduction, energy prices in general dropped causing, unexpected nancial problems
for Generation Companies, Energy Traders, TSO´s and Distribution utilities.
Having this unusual scenario in mind CIGRE Study Committee A3 – Transmission &
Distribution Equipment collected information worldwide from transmission and
distribution utilities, as well as HV equipment manufacturers to investigate the
effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their daily business and measures taken to
overcome the problems faced. In parallel a questionnaire was conveyed in the
industry. The full results of the survey are available at CIGRE SC A3 website .
The compilation of the collected information together with a consolidation of the

impact on the global electricity sector and the measures taken by Utilities and
system operators during the pandemic are presented in this paper. Full article with
comprehensive information is published in CIGRE Science & Engineering journal
(October 2020 edition).
Impact of the restrictions applied to system

operators and the supply chain
In all global industries, personnel and personal safety is the highest priority, which
gets even more underlined under working conditions during pandemic times. Many
companies and institutions whose activities are mainly organized as teamwork in
of ces or meeting rooms have allowed their employees to work from home, a practice
known as home of ce. While in typical companies the internal processes and
functions can be ensured remotely or outsourced, Utilities face a unique challenge in
comparison to the others. The workforce being critical for the continued operation of
the business, and the safe and reliable delivery of electric power becomes a
spotlight.
Several security actions have been taken to preserve the corporate environment of
the Covid-19 pandemic by big utilities in Brazil and Ireland. The companies have
adopted numerous contingency measures that have been shown to be effective in its
of ces and in the areas of operation of plant and substations. The measures were
ranging from provision of protective materials, activation of redundancy structures
in Operation Centers and the Telecommunications Supervision Centers, over to
organization of employee working regime. The most restricted arrangements were
put in place for Network Technicians and Dispatchers. They were only allowed to go
directly to site from home, and returning home after any site visit. Food and drink

were provided to them in accordance with special safety procedure. Further, control
rooms are being disinfected after every shift, and even special policies of shifts
including reduced number of dispatchers during shift or keeping reserve shifts in
isolation are organized.
Supply chain problems are in uencing the schedule of ongoing projects or short-
term intervention plans, as identi ed by the survey carried out. Though supply
issues have already emerged to a certain extent, the industry as a whole has
overcome these. Most utilities and system operators stated that, delays in supply
chain have not been a signi cant issue so far. This is the result of identifying
manufacturers as providing essential services, so the equipment production delays
are under control. The major concern remains mid-to long-term uncertainties, due to
border closure and travel bans during any future regional pandemic lockdowns.
In global context, maintenance of electrical equipment at generation, transmission

and distribution level during pandemic is limited. Priority is given to the
maintenance of critical elements, unplanned outages and ensuring electricity supply
to healthcare facilities (e.g. hospitals) and temporary quarantine centres.
Impact to product quali cation and factory

tests
Development of new products comes along with a variety of tests. Type tests are
performed before the product is launched on the market and in accordance with
international standards to ensure reliable equipment application in power
transmission and distribution. There is a limited number of test laboratories that are
capable to perform all tests as required by the standards and for the execution test,
objects need to be shipped to the laboratory. Development engineers and testing
experts from the manufacturer typically travel to the laboratories to prepare test
setup, execute and supervise the test process or attend the visual inspection after
test execution together with experts from the laboratories.
COVID-19 has made product quali cation quite challenging due to travel
restrictions, local regulations or social distancing rules. In order to continue with
development and testing activities, while ensuring personal safety some labs have
established remote testing programs. In a nutshell, “remote testing” means shipping
the test-object to the testing laboratory while the experts from the manufacturer stay
at home and are given the opportunity, through IT systems, to witness, support and
evaluate the tests remotely.
As an example, testing of a medium-voltage breaker was performed in KEMA

Laboratory in Netherlands, with manufacturer experts connected from USA. The
breaker to be tested was assembled by the manufacturer and shipped to the lab.
During test execution phase a close collaboration between manufacturer and lab is
essential: to review and agree on the test plan, inspect the test circuit and test
parameters. Communication between the lab engineer and expert from
manufacturer can be done by conferencing tools which are well known from online
conferencing. Additionally, videos, including slow-motion, from the remote-
controlled observation cameras are shared online. Once the testing starts, the
remote engineers need to have immediate access to the measured data. Remote
desktop applications or sharing data on a common drive are two ways to realize this.
With remote desktop applications the client controls the remote computer from his

local computer. Upon completion of the type test, visual inspection was performed,
using ‘Hololens’. In this way manufacturer could follow and comment to test engineer
directly on the product. The remote testing campaign is illustrated in gure 2.

Another point is linked with product inspection and nal quality assurance through
users. Such activity generally requires the end user to be on-site due to down time
needed for test setup and movement of equipment. Due to manufacturers´ site
access restriction, also here remote solutions for factory acceptance tests were
implemented.
G&W Electric Company leveraged corresponding technology and teamwork to meet

customer demand for witnessed testing, while still practicing social distancing
guidelines. In the initial stages of the outbreak, G&W Electric Company’s Order
Management group teamed up with its Marketing department to produce a short lm
that documented each of the routine tests associated with the customer’s SF6
switchgear. This included the high voltage one minute withstand test, circuit
resistance test, visual inspection, and the full script of relay test steps needed to
prove the automation associated with the switch. Social distancing was easily
practiced as only 3 people were required to complete the entire production. The
completed lm consolidated all activities and allowed the customer to witness each
of the required tests in approximately 1 hour with no travel requirement.
Further, virtual meeting technology such as Zoom and Go-to-meeting to provide a

more interactive experience for customer witnessed testing was deployed. Large
groups from multiple locations were able to enter virtual meeting rooms while G&W
team members broadcast real time activities from their computer screen. HD video
camera mounted on a tripod was used to capture the overall equipment setup, while
handheld smart phones or tablets were used to provide live close-up feeds of the
equipment.

In general, same procedures were established throughout the industry. Insight to
remote factory acceptance test (FAT) is given in gure 3.
Financial impact on system operators &

manufacturers
Slowdown in economies strongly impacts the industry. An example on Brazilian
economy shows the nancial impact, which are illustrative in global scale. Fall of
electricity consumption, is considered from an "optimistic" scenario with 4.7%, over
to a "pessimistic" scenario with a 12.3% drop. The projections take into account a
3.6% decline in Brazilian GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in the optimistic scenario
and a 9.5% decline in the economy in the pessimistic view. Energy traders expect a
negative impact of R$ 5 billion this year due to these requests for exibility and the
lower consumption by their customers as a result of the pandemics [1].
Most of Europe adopted some form of lock-down and several countries have already
started relaxing rules since June 2020. For 2021 the GDP forecast shows positive
growth, but lower than the 2020 drawback, as shown in Figure 4.

Conclusion
In summary, system operators, energy companies and equipment manufacturers
mobilized their capabilities and resources to maintain critical infrastructure and
business continuity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Priority remained the health
and safety of the employees, users and partners. Manufacturers utilized remote
testing for quali cation of electrical equipment and FAT. The added valued of
Digitalization, remote assistant and online video tools could be demonstrated. In this
way, the limitations enforced by the COVID-19 situation can increase ef ciency and
reduce costs.
No COVID-19 network congestion issues or problem with security of supply have

been reported in Europe´s systems. The pandemic has given direct evidence of
appropriate protection methods used by system operators. It can be envisaged that
all system operators will come out strengthened. The true impact of Covid-19 is still
to be determined, however some plans for post-COVID-19 recovery that promote
sustainable growth through the green and digital transition are already created [2].
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their gratitude to Rene Smeets (NL), Martin
Kriegel (CH), Marta Lacorte (BR) and Andre Mercier (CA) for their valuable
contribution to this paper.

[1] Consumo de eletricidade no Brasil pode cair até 12% em 2020, diz consultoria,
g1.globo.com, May 25th 2020. Available at
g1.globo.com/economia/noticia/2020/05/25/consumo-de-eletricidade-no-brasil-
pode-cair-ate-12percent-em-2020-diz-consultoria.ghtml
[2]
System Operations impact of Covid-19: European Perspective, CIGRE, June 02nd
2020. Available at www.cigre.org/article/GB/system-operations-impact-of-covid-19-
european-perspective

GLOBAL CONNECTIONS
The Application of Blockchain Technology

in Power Systems
Due to the centralised structure of energy systems with large-scale
industrial and commercial loads and because of the environmental
concerns, power generation centers have been located far from the
load centers. High-Voltage (HV) transmission lines and power
distribution networks are used to transfer the generated power to the
load centers. Traditionally, energy systems with a centralised
structure have been capable of delivering power with higher
ef ciency with the use of fossil fuels.
David Bowker
Convenor of CIGRE WG C5.30
Energy Markets overview

T here are three technological trends which are driving the transformation of the
energy sector:
1. the energy sector is becoming more electri ed due to a shift away from the direct
energy consumption of non-renewable energy sources for commercial sections;
2. the increasing deployment of RESs and DGs facilitates the decentralization of
energy sector and increases the volatility of the operation of the power system in
real time;
3. the increased development of digital technologies makes large parts of the energy
value chain digitalised.

The grid has remained fundamentally the same for more than 130 years. The result
is a centralised, rigid system that cannot effectively manage the variability of
distributed energy resources and modern energy use and where maintaining
balance becomes increasingly dif cult as more complexity is added to the system.
Managing this grid is like trying to centrally control the internet.
Digital and technological transformation enhances the real-time communication

infrastructure between different nodes across the energy value chain. This allows
new emerging technologies, such as Blockchain, to facilitate the rapid changes in the
energy sector. As an example, Blockchain supports bidirectional information ow
between different nodes in energy systems while streamlining transactions.
What is Blockchain?
Centralised energy systems record the value of the transactions in central records.
Blockchain, by contrast, is a distributed and immutable ledger of transactions
without the need for central governance and trusted third parties. In other words,
instead of storing the data on some data servers, a copy of Blockchain can be stored
locally by each participant (the peers) of the distributed network. There is a
continuous growth in the chain of data records when new blocks are validated and
attached to the chain. The peers of the distributed network are capable of verifying
the validity of each block in the chain using a cryptographic hashing algorithm.
Blockchain offers substantial changes in current energy systems by supporting
decentralisation and a highly secure information ow.
Once a transaction is added to a Blockchain, it is impossible to alter it with todays

computing power. Therefore, the ledger cannot be modi ed or tampered with by
peers of the distributed network.
Consensus

The Blockchain ledger is maintained by the connected parties agreeing to all
changes, that is forming a consensus regarding changes. This consensus is reached
when all or the majority of the peers agree on the same state (version) of the ledger.
There is a need for a predetermined protocol for a distributed network to reach
consensus on including a transaction, handling some pieces of data, and transferring
the ownership.
There are several attempts to use different algorithms, such as Proof of Work (PoW),
Proof of Stake (PoS), Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT), Proof of Authority
(PFA) and many more, to solve the consensus problem. However, dif culty, cost, and
validation time are their major issues, which all depend on the Blockchain design.
Potential application of Blockchain to energy

markets
Blockchain technology is an elegant protocol enabling people to verify information
and transact directly with one another in a trust-less environment. Three important
and fundamental characteristics of blockchain are security, transparency, and
immutability. These aspects are what make blockchain technology unique and a
potential solution for energy and power applications.
The absence of a third-party can result in cost, operational and market ef ciencies. It
could be applied to almost any market, in theory. In the energy sector, dozens of
companies are attempting to use blockchain for asset registry, peer-to-peer trading,
grid-level transactions, energy nancing, electric vehicle charging and renewables
tracking.
A more open and decentralised system is urgently needed, where the grid itself
becomes the ‘internet of energy’. A platform based on decentralised control and
permissionless innovation, while maintaining the strict reliability and security
requirements, is essential to such critical infrastructure. A system that adapts to and
enables new technologies and patterns of use, not the other way around.
The table below lists some of the potential ways in which blockchain technology can
mitigate the current market shortcomings.

There is merit for blockchain in speci c marginal use cases where it can optimise
existing processes. However, blockchain can be integral to a systemic energy
solution in one way — using the technology to better manage the connection between
the physics (the electrons) and economics of energy, taking into consideration both
the time and location of energy within the system. This requires suf cient visibility
within the system itself, which can only be achieved by embedding the technology
into the grid. No current blockchain for energy applications yet take this approach,
let alone have the capability to deliver upon it, according to the World Energy
Council’s recent blockchain report.
What is needed is a t-for-purpose solution that is speci cally designed to optimise

the energy trilemma and deliver a sustainable energy system for all. This may be an
architecture that inherently balances itself, using decentralised control of energy
exchange enabled by blockchain, or something similar, but the solution must be
determined by the system characteristics, not the other way around.
Current Blockchain implementations

The CIGRE C5.30 Working Group is just completing its study into operational
projects which use blockchain in energy power systems. The graph below shows the
functional areas where these projects have used blockchain technology.

Summary
Blockchain technology has the potential to enhance energy markets signi cantly.
However, current implementations are quite small scale so there is signi cant
development needed before any widespread implementation can be a signi cant
disruptive force in this area.

LIFE OF THE ASSOCIATION
The adventures of the 2020 e-session

In February 2020, preparations for the 48th Session were well under
way, including the collection of the latest reports, and the opening of
registrations on the new website just developed for the occasion.
by Philippe Adam, Secretary General of CIGRE

& Marcio Szechtman, Technical Council Chair of CIGRE
From then on, everything rapidly changed when information was coming in from all
over the world about a new coronavirus that was highly contagious, sometimes fatal,
and spreading very quickly.
Like other international organisations, the Central Of ce initially relayed rules of

good practice designed to limit the risk of contamination during working meetings
within the framework of CIGRE.
Then came decisions to postpone events organised by certain National Committees

(Japan, Greece, and Austria) that had planned national or regional events in the rst
semester.
The Central Of ce then issued a rst communiqué indicating that the governing
bodies were in the process of assessing the consequences of the pandemic on the
organisation of the August 2020 Session.
The Technical Council, which had planned to hold its rst annual meeting in Athens
on 3 and 4 April, took the decision to replace it with a videoconference on the same
dates (Figure 1). For several years now, this option had already been implemented in
exceptional cases of incapacity to travel.

The Steering Committee, which was due to meet in Zurich on 12 and 13 May, also
replaced their meeting with a videoconference on the same dates.
On March 17, the French government imposed a national lockdown.The Central Of ce

staff immediately began teleworking, which enabled them to continue without
interruption all the usual member activities, and to prepare the Session.
On 25 March the leadership team - the President, the Treasurer, the Chairman of the
Technical Council and the Secretary General - recommended the postponement of
the Session to 2021, which was approved on 30 March by the Steering Committee.
This recommendation, voted by a very large majority by the Administrative Council

on 8 April after an exceptional consultation, was the subject of a communiqué which,
in addition to postponing the Session to August 2021, provided for the creation of a
virtual Session, called "e-session" during the original August 202 Session dates.
It is interesting to recall that the only time such a decision was made was during the
Second World War; no Sessions were held in 1941, 1943, or 1945, andthe rst post-
war Session was in 1946.
On 16 April a second CIGRE communiqué announced the postponement of the

presential 2020 Session, and on 15 May a nal communiqué set out the rules for
participation in the 2020 e-session, with new conditions for event registration.
The Administrative Council’s decision gave the Technical Council and the Central
Of ce carte blanche to organise and carry out this new type of Session.
It took four meetings of the Technical Council between May and August (in virtual
mode of course) to design, plan, and organise this unique event.

Quite quickly some main principles were stated:
1st principle: the e-session was to allow authors who had worked on the preparation
of their papers from early 2019 to early 2020 to present them.
This principle made it possible to differentiate the content of the e-session from that
of the now postponed session. Indeed, a normal CIGRE Session is based on the
Special Reports that ask questions open to the community, not on the presentation of
papers.
For the rst time, the Technical Council had selected a much higher number of
papers than in previous Sessions. This meant potentially 800 papers to be
presented.
2nd principle: the time allowed for the presentation of a report should be 10
minutes. This was considered both necessary and suf cient time to allow authors to
present their papers properly.
3rd principle: the presentations had to be pre-recorded, for two main reasons: rstly,
it freed the presenters from the inconveniences linked to their time difference from
Paris time, and secondly, it guaranteed the organising Study Committees a good
control of the speakers' speaking time and speech quality.
The implementation of these three principles resulted in a particular conception of

the event as a whole.
In order to broadcast 800 10-minute presentations, while at the same time providing
for author introductions and question-and-answer sessions, the Study Committees
needed more than one day each, whereas one day was suf cient for each discussion
group meeting in a normal Session. In addition, the Study Committees planned
tutorials, workshops and panels, and an opening session of the event (Figure 2),
aimed at offering virtual delegates a programme similar to that of a physical session.

In order to t all these contents into the duration of a normal Session (5 days), it
would have been necessary to broadcast them on seven to eight channels in parallel,
which was inconceivable. The solution adopted was to broadcast content on four
channels, like the face-to-face Session which occupies four conference rooms at the
Palais des Congrès in Paris.
This choice led to a total duration of nine days for the e-session, from 24 August to 3
September.
The general programme of the e-session nally resulted in 83 sessions including one
opening session, ve workshops, 55 paper presentation sessions, 16 tutorials (Figure
3) and 6 side-events including NGN and WiE forum and partner conferences.
The choice of content delivery technology quickly fell on the tool that the Central
Of ce has been using for more than a year to organise and deliver the CIGRE
Academy Webinars, LogMeIn's GoToWebinar platform, which provided valuable
support throughout the preparation phase.
The tasks of the Study Committees, which in normal times should have been limited
to contribution management and the organisation of oral interventions by
contributors, had been completely disrupted.
In record time, the Study Committees contacted all report authors to inform them of
the new setup and the new instructions to prepare pre-registered presentations.
The Study Committees assigned new roles to adapt to the new format. In particular,
the Special Reporters were not part of the new e-session organisation, but very often
took on the role of session moderators.
They reviewed all the pre-recorded presentations, and to compose a detailed

programme for each session.

For its part, the Central Of ce reorganised itself to plan the 83 sessions, broadcast
the general programme of the e-session, open and manage registrations, ensure
rehearsals with the session organisers and moderators, and assist them during
parallel broadcasts on four channels over nine days.
A sponsorship offer was built to allow exhibitors to be somehow present during the
virtual event, and the integration of the sponsors' messages in the different sessions
was also carried out by the Central Of ce that recruited and trained a speci c staff
for these speci c tasks (Figure 4).
On the eve of the event, more than 2,500

Registrations by
paying attendees had registered (Figure
world regions
5), well beyond initial forecasts. 800
people attended the opening session
live, and an average of almost 1,500
people logged on daily to the e-session
(Figure 6). The number of participants in
the various technical sessions averaged
between 160 and 210 depending on the
type of session, with peaks close to 300.
Two Study Committees even broke their
attendance records for face-to-face
sessions.

13450
connection
s
Even the recorded sessions were an unexpected success with more than 5,000 views
by the end of September.

The satisfaction questionnaire distributed to the 2,500 participants the day after the
e-session received 900 responses within15 days. 36% of delegates responded, which
is a better result than the similar survey conducted for the 2018 Session.
Interestingly, the survey showed that 20% of the e-session participants had not
planned to come to the Paris Session prior to the pandemic outbreak.
This new adventure, and the considerable challenges that were met, showed that
CIGRE, through its Study Committees and with Central Of ce support, was able to
organise and manage in a very short period of time a new type of event - 100%
virtual - which was very well received by the vast majority of participants.

CIGRE Romania - Regional South-East

European Conference (RSEEC 2020) - 5th
edition
CIGRE’s Romanian National Committee organized, with the support of
CIGRE Paris, CNTEE Transelectrica SA (the Romanian TSO), University
“Politehnica” of Bucharest - The Faculty of Power Engineering as co-
organizers, A-LSTR (Live Working Association from Romania), SIER
(the Society of Power Engineers in Romania), CNR-CME (Romanian
National Committee World Energy Council), The Stefan cel Mare
University of Suceava, and the Energy Commission of the Technical
Sciences Department of the Romanian Academy hosted ON-LINE with
success the 5th Edition of the CIGRE Regional South-East European
Conference (RSEEC 2020), between 12-14 October, 2020.
Bucharest, Romania
12-14 October 2020

The conference brought together power systems engineers, decision makers,
economists, academics, students and others with interest in the domain.
The 2nd edition of the young engineers competition “Next Generation in Energetics”
with prizes offered the opportunity for university, masters, and PhD students to
present their results (both theoretical and technological) in a different context to
university, in the presence of power specialists from over 7 countries.
The best papers were selected and will be proposed by the Technical Committee
for publishing in scienti c magazine “Buletinul Universitatii Politehnica din
Bucuresti”, C series, with International Scienti c Indexing.
Main topics of RSEEC 2020
State of the Technology for electrical networks of the future:
Digital Substations;
Power System, Electricity Highways;
Power Electronics, FACTS;
New equipment, environment, sustainability;
Active transmission and distribution networks;
New concept in planning and operation.
Electricity-key factor for society development:
Smart cities:
Cyber security;
Electrical transport.
RES technologies:
Energy storage;
Energy ef ciency.
Challenges in education of power system workforce:
Education and training;

R&D programs application.
Key facts from RSEEC 2020 5th edition

155 registered participants on line from 7 countries and a wide area of interest
(public power sector, universities, power private sector, etc.), from national or
international companies;

The conference included 5 tutorials:
1. Revision of IEC60296, IEC60422 and changes to new edition (Bruce

Pahlavanpour, Nynas, England)
2. Hydrogen and Sector Coupling on the road towards Deep Decarbonization
(Alexander Peschl, Siemens, Austria)

3. Reserves providers from ancillary services to standard reserve - Romania
integration in EU platforms (Doina Ilisiu, Romania)
4. Large Overhead Lines (OHL) Crossings. Particulars Crossing vs. Transmission
Lines Design. Details of Romanian Crossings (Gheorghita Georgel, Romania)
5. Enabling Teleprotection via packet switched wide area networks with guaranteed
performance (Christian Roth, HITACHI ABB Switzerland)
The technical paper sessions with 30 articles were presented over 3 days (more
details on www.rseec2020.org ).
3300 Facebook reach for the posts during the event and 1700 views for the live
events.
The Organising Committee was delighted with overall success of the event and are
thankful to CIGRE Central Of ce, the Technical Committee, and all of our delegates,
volunteers, and partners.
We are looking forward to the 6th edition of CMDM in 2021 that will be held in
Bucharest together with SC A2 & SC B3 as a Joint Colloquium hopefully in the
traditional way this time.

Membership renewal for 2021 -

Renouvellement d'adhésion pour 2021
Renew your membership for our centennial year
Dear Members,
Since the yearly membership covers the period from January 1, to December 31 of
the current year, you are invited to contact your National Committee as soon as
possible to renew your membership for 2021, our centennial year. We invite you to
continue your valued participation in CIGRE and maintain the bene ts associated
with CIGRE Member status.
Members residing in countries with no National Committee should contact Mrs.

Christiane Ounissi (membership(@)cigre.org), Membership Manager at the CIGRE
Central Of ce.
Renouvelez votre adhésion pour le Centenaire du CIGRE

Etant donné que les cotisations annuelles couvrent la période du 1er janvier au 31
décembre de l'année en cours, vous êtes invités à contacter votre Comité National au
plus tôt a n de renouveler votre adhésion pour 2021, l'année de notre centenaire.
Nous vous invitons à poursuivre votre précieuse participation au CIGRE et à
maintenir les avantages associés au statut de membre du CIGRE.
Les Membres résidant dans des pays sans Comité National doivent contacter Mme
Christiane Ounissi (membership(@)cigre.org), Responsable des Adhésions au Bureau
Central du CIGRE.

Journey of a CIGRE Green Book: "Flexible

AC Transmission Systems"
The “Flexible AC Transmission Systems” commonly referred to as
FACTS has been published in the CIGRE Green Book series in July
2020. This two-volume inspiring book is the major milestone of a 4-
year effort to produce a comprehensive treatise about the available
options for improved utilization of existing AC transmission lines as
well as the opportunities to reduce the capital expenditures for new
AC transmission lines.
By Bjarne Andersen and Stig Nilsson,

Editors of the “Flexible AC Transmission Systems”
The production of the “Flexible AC Transmission Systems” Green Book was initiated
in the fall of 2016 by Study Committee B4 on DC Systems and Power Electronics.

Integration of solar and wind power generating systems often located far from the
load centers and also often located where the power transmission systems are weak
has increased the loading of existing AC transmission lines in ways that were not
considered when the lines were originally built. Considering that permits to build
new overhead AC lines often are very time consuming and long AC cables are costly
and often not practical, increasing the loadability of the existing AC transmission
lines is often an attractive alternative. This may be feasible using power electronic
systems to control the power ows across key transmission lines as well as for
control of the AC voltages in the critical system nodes. This is part of the scope of
Study Committee B4 on DC Systems and Power Electronics.
The Green Book on Flexible AC Transmission Systems was produced to provide the
electric power industry with a comprehensive treatise about the modern options
available to the industry for control of the AC power systems as well as practical
examples documenting the experience to date among users of the so called FACTS
technologies. This is a part of CIGRE’s objectives to provide high quality, unbiased
publications and other contributions to the electrical supply industry adding value
by:
Providing information about the many different power electronic options available
to the industry for power ow and voltage control,
Identifying the issues associated with increased loading of AC lines and cables,
Providing information about the power system planning process and needed
studies to be performed when evaluating the FACTS options,
Providing information about proven solutions for incorporating FACTS
technologies in the power systems, and
Providing information about the cost assessment, speci cation of controllers, life
extension of the power electronic systems and the expected useful life of such
systems.
A large group of CIGRE members from all over the world was engaged in the
preparation of the 2-volume Green Book. The assistance provided by the SC Chair of
SC C2, and members of SC C2 is gratefully acknowledged. The Green Book on
Flexible AC Transmission Systems is comprised of two volumes.
This Green Book on FACTS covers a large range of topics in its 6 sections in two
volumes as follows:
Volume #1:
Part I: Introduction to Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) Controllers: A
Chronology
Part II: AC Systems
AC System Characteristics
AC Network Control Using Conventional Means
AC Network Control using FACTS Controllers (Flexible AC Transmission Systems)
Part III: Technical Description of FACTS Controllers
Power Electronic Topologies for FACTS Controllers

Technical Description of Static Var Compensators (SVC)

Technical Description of Static Compensators (STATCOM)
Technical Description of Thyristor Controlled Series Capacitors (TCSC)
Technical Description of Uni ed Power Flow Controller (UPFC) and its Potential
Variations
Part IV: Application Examples of FACTS controllers
Controllers Using the Saturation of Iron for AC Network Control

Development of Magnetically Controlled Shunt Reactors in Russia
Application Examples of the SVC
Application Examples of the STATCOM
Application Examples of the Thyristor Controlled Series Capacitor
Application Examples of the UPFC and its Variants
Volume #2:
Part V: Facts Planning and Procurement
Economic Appraisal and Cost-Bene t Analysis

FACTS Planning Studies
Environmental Considerations for FACTS Projects
Procurement and Functional Speci cations for FACTS Controllers
Part VI: Implementation of FACTS Controllers
FACTS Controller Integration and Design Studies

FACTS Equipment Design and Testing
Commissioning of FACTS Controllers
Part VII: FACTS operation and lifetime management.
Operation of FACTS Controllers

Lifetime Management of FACTS Controllers
As should be evident from the list of topics above, the 2-volume Flexible AC
Transmission Systems Green Book covers topics from simple power system theory
through the selection, design, operation and eventual decommissioning of power
electronic systems built for power system power ow control. It includes information
from users and suppliers of FACTS controllers, which should be helpful for anyone
involved with how to solve AC power load limitations. In each chapter, the current
state of the art, available technologies or methods are discussed. Each chapter also
includes an extensive list of reference material for anyone who requires an in-depth
understanding of FACTS technologies.
The texts provided by CIGRE experts supplemented by subject matter experts

constitute valuable material to understand the trends and developments available
for AC power system power ow control. Bjarne Andersen, former Chair of SC B4 and
Stig Nilsson, former Secretary to SC B4 and past US representative to SC B4, have
performed the main editorial work. The overall presentation of the book is
introduced by the CIGRE President Rob Stephen with contributions by the TC
Chair Marcio Szechtman and the Secretary General of CIGRE Philippe Adam.

The Green Book of Flexible AC Transmission Systems provides information
supporting the recently published “Green Book on Electricity Supply Systems of the
Future” and the two demonstrates the width and breadth of collective knowledge
acquired in CIGRE SCs and its Technical Brochures spanning several decades. The
Green Books provides CIGRE’s unique and unbiased technical views of technology
that can be applied to help transmission system owners and operators to meet
todays and future power system loading challenges. They show the value of global
collaborative work of numerous experts from industry and academia mobilized
within the CIGRE community. It clearly demonstrates that CIGRE is the foremost
authority for end-to-end power system expertise.
The Green Book is available for

purchase on e-cigre and on our
partner's website Springer
Printed copy : place an order on e-

cigre , for Members and non-
members.
Electronic copy or package
Printed+Electronic : Place an order
on Springer . If you are a CIGRE
Member, please contact us to bene t
from a 40% discount on your
purchase (please indicate your
active member number and your
National Committee in your
message).

In Memoriam - Dale Douglass

1941 - 27 October 2020
It is with a very sad heart that I compile this obituary for this great man. Inputs have
been received from the CIGRE community worldwide.
Dale Alan Douglass passed away on October 27, 2020 after a long battle with
cancer. He was 79. After receiving his PhD in 1967 he worked for Boeing, Bell
Laboratories, Kaiser Aluminium and Chemical Corporation, Power Technologies, Inc.,
Power Delivery Consultants and ultimately formed his own company - Douglass
Power Consultants - in 2015. DPC provided consulting services on high-temperature
sag and aging behaviour of conventional and high-temperature conductors, real-time
line monitoring and rating, and eld evaluation of utility line thermal ratings.
Dale actively joined CIGRE SC 22 (now B2) in 1994 as the US representative. He was
active in my Working Group 22.12 dealing with subjects on electrical aspects of
overhead lines. He took over as Chairman of the WG in 2000. He was actively
involved in the compilation of many Technical Brochures for CIGRE and always
offered to comment or review brochures that were in his vast area of expertise. In the
last few years he was TAG Chairman and held many other of ce bearer positions on
the SC. He received the Technical Council award in 2007 for exceptional work in
CIGRE and was recently awarded the prestigious Philip Sporn Award, "For
cumulative career contributions to the advancement of the concept of system
integration in the theory, design and/or operation of large, high voltage electric
systems in the United States”.

His ability to negotiate tough technical issues and obtain resolution from many
diverse opinions around the world is legendary. One example is the methods used for
calculation of conductor sag. This brochure is still one of the most popular and was
used to form IEC standards on the topic.
A friend wrote “As for everybody in our community it has been a privilege to know
and work with you. Because you were unique. Your knowledge and understanding of
overhead lines, in particular conductors, was unparalleled. You could actually answer
every question on this subject in a clear, understandable way, which only people can,
who are blessed like you with a profound engineering way of thinking. You have been
one of those very rare people, who have a great practical experience and at the same
time a very solid theoretical background, and above all this, you have shared with us
with such a quiet but at the same time sovereign manner, that at the end everybody
happily agreed with you.”
Dale was always game for a beer after a hard day’s work. Inevitably after the rst few
drinks discussion turned to technical issues. At one occasion discussion turned to
some in depth topic. A comment was made “You know Dale, there are perhaps 3
people in the entire world that give a damn about this topic”. My wife still has not
forgiven me for refusing to go for coffee one evening because it was too late but
accepting an invitation from Dale for a beer a few minutes later.
As a mentor Dale had no peer, he constantly assisted young engineers and

encouraged them to present work, write papers and make contributions. Another
wrote “Dale is for me at the beginning of my adventure within CIGRE, he has put his
mark on it while leading WGB2.55 and with my presentation!! Really a nice and
happy person, it is desirable to have a lot of people like him in this world.”
Dale was a revered musician, playing the dif cult clarinet and saxophone most of his
life. This was together with his wife and continuous support, Carol, who always
accompanied him on CIGRE travels. He was instrumental in forming the CIGRE B2
band which I had the honour of playing in with him.
On the topic of retirement, he told a CIGRE friend, “No, I do not want to live in a place
for retired people. I need to work in order to feel alive!” A phrase we could all live
by. He lived this mantra to the last. In discussion a few weeks prior to his death he
was more concerned as to who was to complete the Technical Brochure for SC B2.59
(as he was the Chairman) than his own health.
An avid family man, Dale spent hours reading over video call with his
grandchildren. He loved taking family with him on the CIGRE travels and we had the
pleasure of meeting them on numerous occasions.
There are certain people that can never be replaced. Dale was one of those. He will
be forever remembered by the large number of friends from all over the world as
well as the legacy and memory residing in the many papers, meetings, brochures
and conferences that bear his name.
RIP Dale.

New West Africa National Committee

CIGRE and the West Africa Power Pool (WAPP) secretariat are pleased to announce
the creation of CIGRE’s 61st National Committee representing the 15 member
countries that make up the West African energy sharing pool.
The West Africa National Committee (WANC) includes Benin, Burkina Faso, Capo Verde,
Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinee, Guinee-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria,
Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
WAPP was created on December 5, 1999 to develop a shared power structure

between the 15 contiguous countries. The CIGRE WANC will be in charge, among
other things, of the management, development and implementation of CIGRE
activities within the 15 member countries.

The new CIGRE WANC will participate in the APUA-ASEA conference in 2021 (shifted
from 2020 due to the Covid-19 Pandemic), and in the AFUR Conference on
Regulations on Climate Change.
The WAPP secretariat is inviting all interested scienti c and academic persons and
organizations in the elds of power generation, transmission and distribution, and
manufacturers of electrotechnical materials and equipment to join CIGRE-WANC in
order to bene t from the many association advantages.
For more information please contact masylla[@]ecoapp.org or visit the CIGRE

website .

ANNUAL REPORT
SC D1
Materials and emerging test techniques

by Ralf Pietsch, Chair, and Johannes Seiler, Secretary
Scope, organisation and membership

The scope of Study Committee D1 has not changed within the last years. It covers
new and existing materials for electrotechnology, diagnostic techniques and related
knowledge rules, and emerging test techniques which may be expected to have a
signi cant impact on power systems in the medium to long term. As a horizontal
Study Committee, SC D1 strives to support the other CIGRE Study Committees and
external customers as well. The mission of the Study Committee is to facilitate and
promote the progress of engineering and the international exchange of information
and knowledge. It achieves this through the synthesis of state-of-the-art practices
and developing recommendations, as well as identifying, investigating and
monitoring the use of new or novel materials, test techniques and generic concepts
for diagnosis.
Test and measurement procedures are developed using knowledge of the

performance of materials and electrical insulating systems (EIS) with regard to
electrical, thermal, mechanical, chemical and environmental stresses. These can
then be applied to the development of new diagnostic and analytical methods for
asset management of electrical apparatus to aid the work of equipment, subsystem
and system committees.
The current membership of the SC consists of 23 regular members, 6 additional

regular members and 12 observer members. 3 new WGs has been approved by the
TC Chairman during the last year and 1 WG has been disbanded, thus SC D1 counts
presently 25 WGs, including 4 Joint WGs with SC B1, one JWG with B3 and 2 JWG
with SC A2. In total, about 450 expert members from 39 countries are active in SC D1
working bodies. In addition, one new Advisory Group, Insulating gases and mixtures
has been put into place. The activities can be grouped in four areas, namely
“Insulating gases”, “Liquid and liquid impregnated insulation systems”, “Solid
materials” and “High voltage and high current testing and diagnosis”. The major
activities in the various areas covered by D1 WGs are shown in Figure 1 and details
are given below.

Materials
SC D1 deals with materials for electrotechnology which covers a wide variety of
conducting and insulating materials including novel materials such as
superconductors and nanocomposites. The majority of materials considered are
insulating materials and the focus is on material characteristics and performance.
In practical applications, insulating materials are used in structures containing one

or more electrical insulating materials together with associated conducting parts
employed in an electrical device, thus forming an electrical insulating system (EIS).
The life of an EIS is frequently determined by the life of electrical equipment under
electrical, thermal, mechanical and environmental stresses, acting either
individually or in combination (IEC 60505). SC D1 deals with the associated ageing
processes which affect materials, which are used in generation, transmission and
distribution of electric energy, and not only covers the materials but also interfacial
phenomena.
Insulating gases
Based on the phenomena in electrical gas-insulated systems under DC and transient
voltage stress and taking into account the properties of the involved materials
JWG D1/B3.57 is investigating appropriate testing strategies for gas-insulated HVDC
systems. WG D1.66 is dealing with requirements for partial discharge monitoring
systems for gas insulating systems and WG D1.67 focuses on the dielectric
performance of non-SF6 gases and gas mixtures for gas-insulated systems.
Liquid and liquid impregnated insulation systems

The work focussed on basic phenomena and mechanisms of conductivity, dielectric
performance, dielectric strength and ageing of relevant materials and insulating
systems, covering traditional insulating uids as well as biodegradable uids. The

work aims to discover and understand the basic physical and chemical mechanisms
associated with ageing, thus forming the basis for diagnostics and asset management
of products like transformers and liquid impregnated cables. JWG A2/D1.51 strives
to develop improvements to partial discharge measurements for factory and site
acceptance tests of power transformers by measuring high electromagnetic waves
with the ultra-high frequency (UHF) method. WG D1.68 is dealing with natural
synthetic esters – evaluation of the performance under re and the impact on
environment and WG D1.70 is studying functional properties of modern insulating
liquids for transformers and similar electrical equipment. Two new JWGs have been
established this year. JWG D1/A2.77 is dealing with liquid tests for electrical
equipment and JWG B1/D1.75 is investigating the interaction between cable and
accessory materials in HVAC and HVDC applications.
Solid materials
In the eld of solid materials, the current focus is on polymeric insulating materials.
In view of the lack of a standardised test to evaluate the residual content of methane
and other ammable gases evolved as by-products during the crosslinking process
of XLPE insulation, JWG D1/B1.49 is developing a harmonised test procedure for the
measurement of residual ammable gases in insulating materials. WG D1.56 has
nished its work and the according CIGRE TB 794 has been published. WG D1.58
studies suitable test procedures for the evaluation of dynamic hydrophobicity of
polymeric insulating materials under AC and DC voltage stress. WG D1.59 studies
methods for dielectric characterisation of polymeric insulating materials for outdoor
application with the aim to elaborate guidelines for performing precise and
repeatable measurements of dielectric properties. The experts of WG D1.62 are
dedicated to explore the root cause and mechanisms of surface degradation in
polymeric materials for outdoor use, and to derive potential countermeasures for
various material groups. WG D1.64 was established to explore electrical insulation
systems at cryogenic temperatures. WG D1.73 is dealing with the multi-functionality
of nanostructured dielectrics. JWG D1/B1.75 is dealing with strategies and tools for
corrosion prevention for cable systems.
High voltage and high current testing and

diagnosis
In general, methods of testing and related techniques of measurement can be very
different depending on the test object, the purpose of testing and on the conditions of
testing. For example, the object of the test can be the materials, insulating systems,
equipment, subsystems and systems; the purpose of testing can be to determine
characteristic properties of the test object, such as electrical, thermal, mechanical

and chemical properties as well as ageing performance under various stresses.
Further, the purpose can be for design, type, sample or a routine test of the
equipment. The test can also be performed on-site or off-site as well as under on-line
or off-line conditions. Testing always goes along with the requirement to measure the
stresses as well as the response of the device under test in order to analyse the test
result and to evaluate the performance of the test object. Lastly, testing can be used
to collect information which form a basis for diagnosis, e.g. to evaluate the condition
of a test object. The development of test techniques is driven by various factors, like
the introduction of new materials or electrical insulating systems (e.g. polymeric
materials, nanocomposites), new requirements on accuracy (e.g. more precise
correction factors) or on higher stress levels (i.e. UHVAC, UHVDC) or new test objects
(e.g. testing of arti cially or naturally polluted insulators). SC D1 studies and
synthesises state-of-the-art techniques of testing and measurement, develops
relevant recommendations and new diagnostic and analysis methods for asset
management, all in close cooperation with its customers.
According to a request from IEC TC 42 the WG D1.50 has been established, dealing
with atmospheric and altitude correction factors for air gaps and clean insulators.
After having checked and evaluated the existing correction factors for installations
up to 6.000 m above sea level round robin tests will be performed by the members of
the WG. Finally, guidance shall be given on modi cations of the atmospheric and
altitude correction factors. WG D1.54 studies basic principles and practical methods
to measure the AC and DC resistance of conductors of power cables and overhead
lines. The aim is to de ne a test procedure including suitable equipment for the
measurement of AC and DC resistance taking into account the major factors of
in uence, e.g. frequency of current, current density and conductor temperature.
WG D1.60 has been established to coordinate the development of suitable hardware
and software for traceable measurement techniques for very fast transients, e.g. very
fast transient overvoltages (VFTO), in order widen the basis for reference
measurement capabilities meeting the relevant calibration requirements. WG D1.61
accepted the challenge to develop objective methods and indicators which can be
used for optical corona measurements on overhead lines and equipment, preferably
by performing comparative measurements on different sites and laboratories and by
application of different types of cameras. To support the development of existing IEC
standards, WG D1.63 studies methods of partial discharge detection under DC stress
and the analysis of partial discharge activity with respect to pulse patterns and the
sequence of pulses under various factors of in uence, e.g. slope of voltage change,
voltage magnitude, and material properties of the test object. The response of
measuring instruments and possibilities of noise suppression will be addressed.
Newly approved WG D1.69 is dealing with guidelines for test techniques of High
Temperature Superconducting (HTS) systems. WG D1.72 is dealing with test of
material resistance against surface arcing under DC. WG D1.74 is investigating PD
measurement on insulation systems stressed from HV power electronics and new
JWG B1/B3/D1.79 is caring about recommendations for dielectric testing of HVDC
gas insulated system cable sealing ends.
As a resume, one can observe that the focus of our working group activities has
changed within the last 10 year. We observe a quite strong increase of topics dealing
with DC. This includes discussion and de ning how to test DC-GIS, investigation of PD
activities under DC, surface arcing under DC, methods to measure the AC and DC
resistance of conductors of cables & overhead lines and the evaluation of dynamic
hydrophobicity of polymeric insulating materials under AC and DC voltage stress.

Figure 2 shows the development from 2009 to 2019. Additionally the focus within SC
D1 shifts to testing & diagnostics: From 7 WGs in 2009 up to 11 WGs in 2019. Finally,
the number of JWG with B1 increased in 2020 again.
Relations to other organisations

SC D1 strives to establish and maintain good relations to internal customers, i.e.
equipment and sub-system committees, as well as to external organizations, like IEC,
IEEE and CIRED. The main partners within IEC are TC 2 “Rotating Machines”, TC 10
“Fluids for Electrotechnical Applications”, TC 14 “Power Transformers”, TC 36
“Insulators”, TC 42 “High-voltage and high-current test techniques”, TC 90
“Superconductivity”, TC 99 “Insulation co-ordination and system engineering” and
TC 112 “Evaluation and Quali cation of Electrical Insulating Materials and Systems“.
SC D1 also has a good relationship with the relevant IEEE organisations. With some
technical committees of these organisations, SC D1 has established formal liaisons.
Tutorials and Workshops

SC D1 has established a set of tutorials covering speci c topics in its eld of activity.
A list of tutorials (25 at present) is available on CIGRE KMS system. This year the
following tutorials and workshops were held or are planned for the next months:
Tutorial “Mechanical properties of insulation materials and conductors for power

transformers”, Lars Schmidt, CIGRE e-Session 2020, 27th August 2020
Tutorial “High-Voltage On-Site Testing with Partial Discharge Measurement”, Ralf
Pietsch, Online CIGRE Colloquium India, October 23rd 2020
Tutorial “Guidelines for altitude correction of pollution performance of insulators”,
Igor Gutman, Online CIGRE Colloquium India, November 3rd, 2020
Tutorial “Application guide for PD detection in GIS using UHF or acoustic
methods”, Uwe Schichler, Online CIGRE Colloquium India, December 2nd, 2020

Tutorial “Methods for dielectric characterization of polymeric insulation materials
for outdoor applications”, Jens Seifert, Online CIGRE Colloquium India, December
12th, 2020
Publications
TB 794 - Field grading in electrical


insulation systems - WG D1.56
Is it planned to nalize and publish the results of four additional WGs within the next
5 months. Among them is the JWG D1/B3.57 with Claus Neumann as Convenor and
WG D1.59 with Jens Seiffert as Convenor.
Furthermore, SC D1, among the other 15 Study Committees, contributed a chapter

for the very unique Green Book, “Electricity Supply Systems of the Future“,
published in August 2020.
Claus Neumann, Convenor of JWG D1/B3.57 wrote a short contribution for the 4th
newsletter “Future Connections” with the title “Dielectric Testing of HVDC gas-
insulated systems - Fundamentals for a future standard” .
In ELECTRA N°312 – October 2020, a Reference Paper was published under SC A2

and SC D1 with its title “Changes of new unused insulating kraft paper properties
during drying - Impact on degree of polymerization” .
Meetings and Events

This year SC D1 participated at the special Session 2020, called CIGRE e-Session with
the Group Discussion Meeting (2.9. and 3.9) and a Tutorial. This year the CIGRE
Technical Council Award was granted to Claus Neumann (DE) for his expertise and
outstanding contribution to the CIGRE community.
Finally, the Chairman and the Secretary of SC D1 like to express their sincere thanks
to all authors for their contributions and presentations.
Without the strong support, hard work and good preparation by the Special
Reporters Lars Lundgaard (NE) and Simon Sutton (GB), this fruitful GDM meeting
would not be possible. To prepare and run this special GDM with live Q&A, Karsten
Juhre (DE) and Joe Tusek (AU) support us as moderators. As a team we were able to
realize this smooth running, interesting and well-organized Group Discussion
Meeting.
On September 4th, 2020, SC D1 held its annual meeting (in conjunction with this
CIGRE e-Session 2020) as GoToMeeting. The Chairman likes to mention the very high
participation rate, as the SC D1 members were and are spread all over the whole
world, from North to South America, via Europe, Asia to Australia.
Our next annual SC D1 meeting is planned for August 25, 2021, in Paris.

ANNUAL REPORT
SC D2
Information systems and

telecommunication
by Dr Olga V. Sinenko, Chair, and Joël Nouard, Secretary
Mission and scope
Mission
To facilitate and promote the progress of engineering on Information &
Communication Technology (ICT) for Electric Power Industries
To publicize and promote state-of-the-art practices
Principal areas of interest

Studying and considering the evolution of information and telecommunication
technologies to cope with traditional and new requirements driven by the digital
transformation in power industry including extension of Distributed Energy
Resources
Assessment of Technologies and architecture to assure business continuity and
disaster recovery
Overcoming security threats in the deployment of the networks of the future and
especially in Smart Grids
Scope
Interoperability and data exchange
between Electricity Network Grid Operators, System Operators, Market Operators,

Generation Companies, Industrial Product Manufacturers, Telco Operators, ICT
services providers, Energy Regulators, Certi cation Entities
Telecom network technologies and management:
Studying and considering telecommunication technologies and architecture

evolution
Assessment of technologies and architecture to ensure business continuity and
disaster recovery
Telecommunication network management when deploying new technologies and
architectures

Implementation of the networks of the future:
Monitoring of on-the- eld experiences and proof of concepts of smart technologies

Impact on the existing ICT systems such as telecommunication network and
equipment
SCADA, enterprise business functions (Smart Grid Architecture Model domain)
New digital trends used by EPU and new business services:
Monitoring on the eld experiences on the deployment of digital equipment such

as IEDs, PMUs, IoT, Fog and Cloud Computing, Network Function Virtualization, as
well as the processing of large quantity of information (big data) in the domains of
asset health, system operation, smart metering.
Cyber Security:
Assessment and promotion of best practices, tools and solutions of cyber security
from eld equipment (protection) to corporate IT supporting the whole resilience
strategy along the system life cycle: design, implementation, testing, operation
and maintenance.
Cyber security challenges related to new devices, technologies and DER
interconnection and the additional data exchanges between Transmission System
Operators, Distribution System Operators and Signi cant Grid Users, as required
by the exibility management of future grids
Membership
The members’ renewal campaign for 2020 – 2022 term is over, at the moment SC D2
consists of the 24 regular members, 2 additional regular members and 12 observer
members representing overall 36 countries.
Advisory Groups
Title Convenor
Core business information systems and services
Marcelo Costa de Araujo (BR)
Cyber Security
Giovanna Dondossola (IT)
Telecommunication networks, services and technology
Victor Tan (AU)

Publications
Technical Brochures
TB 796 -Cybersecurity: Future threats and

impact on electric power utility
organizations and operations - WG D2.46
This Technical Brochure offers an insight into the evolution of the cyber-physical
security threat landscape for the next 20 years. The approach used is well-aligned
with the concepts described for the “Grid Architecture of the Future.” Based on the
guidance provided by a world-wide survey of stakeholders, the most important
issues were addressed. Using a well-de ned model-based system engineering
process, multiple solutions were analysed to improve the maturity posture of the
technical staff and identify the spy craft tools needed for a proactive or anticipatory
response to these threats.
Article in CIGRE Science & Engineering

CSE Journal N.19 - Boosting Cybersecurity

in Communication Gateways for Better
Substation Protection and Control
by Joshua. LIN, Center Liang Project Lead Senior Engineer MOXA Inc., Taiwan
This paper explores all the different challenges of cyber security at the substation
level and provides an overview of the main existing technologies and solutions.
Article in Future Connections Newsletter

D2 article “About the key role of cyber security in power system resilience” has
been published in Future Connections Newsletter #2 . The article focuses on Cyber
Security hot topics for Power Industry.
Chapter in new Green Book "Electricity Supply Systems of

the Future"

The Green Book is available for
purchase on e-cigre and on our
partner's website Springer
Printed copy : place an order on e-

cigre , for Members and non-
members.
Electronic copy or package
Printed+Electronic : Place an order
on Springer . If you are a CIGRE
Member, please contact us to bene t
from a 40% discount on your
purchase (please indicate your
active member number and your
National Committee in your
message).
CIGRE e-session
SC D2 e-session was held from 25th to 26th September 2020. The event included
four sessions covering the three preferential subjects for the presentation of fty-
eight papers from twenty-seven countries, as well as one tutorial.
To be mentioned the participation in C6 panel on End-to-end power systems

enabling the energy transition and market transformation.
Tutorials
Chengdu Symposium, 20-25 September 2019, Tutorial “Enhanced Information
and Data Exchange to Enable Future Transmission and Distribution
Interoperability” presented by Gareth Taylor (GB)
Southern Africa 9th Regional conference, 01 October 2019, Tutorial “ICT Solutions
for Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and Microgrids” presented by Zwelandile
Mbebe (ZA) and Victor Tan (AT)
University of KwaZulu Natal, 31 October 2019, Tutorial in web format “Arti cial
Intelligence in the Power Grid of the Future” presented by Marcelo Costa de
Araujo (BR)
e-Session 2020, 24 August – 3 September, Tutorial based on Technical Brochure
“Cybersecurity: future threats and impact on organizations and operations”
presented by Dennis K. Holstein (US) and Chen-Ching Liu (US)
The tutorials based on Technical Brochures have also been presented on CIGRE
webinar platform. You can consult the 2020 webinars’ program on our website .
Active Working Groups

The total number of Working Groups at the end of 2020 was 12, gathering more than
200 experts from 40 countries. New working groups, launched in 2020, include:
WG D2.52 - Arti cial Intelligence Application and Technology on Power Industry”

WG D2.53 - Technology and Applications of Internet of Things in Power Systems”

Telecommunication
Cyber infrastructures or
Business-related Security services
JWG D2/C6.47 - Advanced Consumer Side Energy Resource Management

Systems
WG D2.45 - Impact of governance regulations and constraints on EPU

sensitive data distribution and location of data storage
JWG B5/D2.67 - Time in Communication Networks, Protection and Control

Applications – Time Sources and Distribution Methods
JWG D2/C2.48 - Enhanced Information and Data Exchange to enable

Future Transmission and Distribution Interoperability
WG D2.50 - Electric power utilities` cybersecurity for contingency

operations
WG D2.43 - Enabling Software De ned Networking for EPU telecom

applications
JWG B2/D2.72 - Condition Monitoring and Remote Sensing of Overhead

Lines
WG D2.51 - Implementation of SOC in EPI as Part of Situational

Awareness System
WG D2.44 - Usage of public or private wireless communication

infrastructures for monitoring and maintenance of grid assets and facilities

Telecommunication
Cyber infrastructures or
Business-related Security services
WG D2.49 - Augmented reality / Augmented reality - Virtual reality to

support Operation and Maintenance In Electric Power Utilities
Plus : Active link with IEC TC57 WG15, on IEC 62351
At the moment, almost half of our Working Groups are Joint. This is a nice illustration
of the collaboration strategy of SC D2 with other Study Committees.
Conclusion
2020 has brought new challenges and new visions on the development of core and
emerging IT (IoT, Bid Data, AI, Cloud, etc.), cybersecurity and telecommunication
technologies from the viewpoint of ensuring sustainable operation of electric power
utilities in force majeure clauses like the coronavirus pandemic the world has faced.
Now we can hardly exaggerate the role of remote control, additional cybersecurity
measures and new methods of telecommunications. In this regard, cooperation with
other CIGRE Study Committees remains essential for joint research using the
mechanisms of Joint Working Groups as well as joint events: Symposiums, panels,
tutorials. We are extremely grateful for the ongoing members and experts’ support
and looking forward to our face-to-face discussion of the hottest topics during CIGRE
2021 Centennial Session.

TECHNICAL BROCHURE
TB 816 WG A3.30
Substation equipment overstress

management
The end-of-life considerations for HV equipment are generally based
on the equipment’s condition and performance. Another speci c
aspect of life management is related to the possibility that substation
equipment might be subject to predictable/unpredictable
system/environmental stresses, what can influence end-of-life
decisions.
Convenor (BR) Secretary (BR)

A. CARVALHO J. AMON
C. LINDNER (CH), R. KARRER (CH), M. HOOIJMANS (NL), M. LACORTE (BR), K.

EDWARDS (US), P. MOREAU (FR), S. NKOSI (ZA), S. ANNADURAI (IN)
CORRESPONDING MEMBERS : J. OLIVEIRA (BR), A. MERCIER (CA), K. TSUBOI (JP)
For the purposes of the present work, stresses beyond the equipment’s capabilities
are classi ed as overstress and it was the duty of CIGRE Working Group A3. 30 to
carry out an investigation to identify practices for detecting and mitigating potential
overstresses which might affect substation equipment. The results of WG A3.30 are
presented in CIGRE Technical Brochure Substation equipment overstress
management and they are summarized in this article.
The traditional approach for end-of-life management asks for permanent follow up of
equipment performance, operation conditions and maintenance practices. A robust
database on equipment’s life allows asset managers to de ne performance indicators
that are fundamental inputs to identify approaching of end-of-life and thus deciding
for refurbishment or replacement [1].
Equipment ageing has also a relevant in uence on its performance. However, for this
speci c topic the CIGRE WG A3.29, “Ageing High Voltage Substation Equipment and
Possible Mitigation Techniques”, produced the detailed CIGRE Technical
Brochure 725 [2] about ageing process of high voltage substation equipment and
recommendations for possible mitigation techniques to manage its performance
deterioration.
Ageing is the consequence of the deterioration of equipment’s withstand capabilities,

as illustrated in Figure 1. Two mechanisms are generally observed, the normal slow
ageing over time or stepwise reduction of withstand caused by faults.

Overstresses are stresses beyond HV equipment withstand, as de ned in the
standards and/or in the speci cation. The concept of overstress can be well
visualized in Figure 2, where the correlation between the statistical distribution of
the equipment withstand and the stresses distribution applied to the equipment are
presented.
Equipment is subjected to overstresses when the stress probability distribution is

displaced to the right, thus leading to a relevant risk of equipment failure
represented in Figure 2 by the overlap of the externally applied stresses and
equipment withstand distribution. In this situation, action must be taken for
upgrading, or replacement, or application of mitigation measures [3].
Overstress causes

There are two main kinds of overstresses affecting HV equipment:
Electrical overstresses originating from the system;

Environmental overstresses.
Electrical overstresses originating from the system were traditionally related to

capacity expansion [4] before deregulation started in the nineties. At this time, the
impact of future overstresses could be clearly identi ed and was a very strong driver
for equipment replacement strategy.
However, in a rapidly changing deregulated environment, where integrated planning

of generation, transmission and distribution has been forsaken in favour of market
driven planning, overstress management is more challenging than before.
Environmental overstresses can reach levels above standard values and/or

equipment speci cation, such as ambient temperature, lightning, ice, earthquake,
etc. Also possible and more frequent are extreme ambient stresses, such as tsunami,
ooding, earthquake above 8 Richter scale, etc., which could devastate the electrical
equipment [5].
The overstress causes are broadly classi ed in two main categories, controllable and
uncontrollable, as shown in Figure 3. The lowest level of the overstress tree is formed
by the primary overstress origin.
Controllable Causes: initiated by human action or system operation measures and

strongly related with system operation/expansion and living activities.
Uncontrollable Causes: initiated by natural phenomena. These are further

subdivided into predictable and unpredictable causes.
Most of the uncontrollable causes are predictable based on historical data. Beyond
standard values the natural phenomena have much lower associated probability.
Therefore, they are considered unpredictable and the respective damage can be
extreme [6].
Only controllable and uncontrollable but predictable overstress causes can be

managed in planning or operation stage. Unpredictable causes are associated to a
low risk. Therefore, counter measures generally are not taken to cope with them,
unless in very speci c situations [7].

Table 1 presets detailed classi cation of overstress causes based on its origin.
Equipment performance parameters

High voltage equipment performance parameters can be split in four main
categories, i.e., electrical, dielectric, mechanical and thermal, as shown in Figure 4.
The equipment performance parameters presented in Figure 4 have a direct relation
with the withstand ability of HV equipment due to external stresses. In practice, this
set of performance parameters are translated into equipment standard
requirements, generally IEC or IEEE, which are adopted for the purposes of the
overstress analysis.

A systematic method was applied to prioritize the overstress causes by looking into
the possible impact of the overstress to the HV equipment. The well-known Delphi
Method [8] was selected as the method for the prioritization of the overstress causes.
For each overstress cause, the frequency of occurrence was estimated, ranging from
1 (never or rarely seen) to 4 (several times a year) and its severity on the component
was judged, ranging from 1 (very low) to 5 (complete loss of functionality). The impact
of the overstress cause is calculated as the product of Frequency and Severity
values:
Impact = Frequency of occurrence x Severity
Each expert of the working group judged the frequency of occurrence (F) and the
Severity (S) of the overstress causes to the HV equipment individually and
anonymously. By applying the Delphi-Method, the individual answers of the experts
were collected, analysed and presented again to the group. The experts which had
major deviations or contradictions in the answers had been called for a second round
to come up with a common negotiated solution.
The team of experts concluded that a threshold value of 6 would be appropriate for
further investigation of the potential overstress causes, but for some of the cases, it
was decided in the team to include it in the further investigation because of its
relevance to the system operation.
Overstress causes vs. equipment performance

parameters
For the most relevant overstresses on the equipment, IEC, IEEE or CIGRE documents
were analysed, to check coverage of the equipment performance parameters.

Overstress can be treated in two different horizons, at planning or operation.
Nevertheless, it shall be identi ed early enough to allow any countermeasure before
it might affect equipment integrity.
The real time processes consider equipment ratings and maximum operating
current and voltage levels to establish operating rules preserving equipment
integrity.
Utilities practices
Two types of electrical overstress analysis are available, the systematic and the non-
systematic analysis. The systematic analysis shall be applied with a de ned
frequency, typically every year or couple of years, depending on utility practices.
Table 3 shows performance parameters the equipment considered in the study.
Non-systematic analysis is carried out only if the utility identi es potential

overstress evidences by means of real time operation, monitoring systems or short-
term planning studies. The non-systematic analysis checks the equipment speci c
electrical performance parameters as shown in Table 4.

Conclusions
Overstresses affecting HV substation equipment was the task of CIGRE WG A3.30,
whose investigation results are presented in the CIGRE Technical Brochure
Substation equipment overstress management. An important step was to develop a
proper de nition of overstress. According to WG A3.30 overstress is understood as
the worsening of the stress patterns imposed to the equipment, whereas the
equipment withstand performance remains unchanged. It is assumed that the
equipment is well maintained and is not affected by ageing. In uence of ageing is
covered by CIGRE TB 725 [9].
The step-by-step approach adopted to analyse the impact of overstresses to HV

substation equipment includes:
Identi cation of the overstress causes that might impact equipment performance;
Selection of relevant equipment performance parameters that can be affected by
the overstress;
Correlation between the two previous set of parameters in order to prioritize the
kind of overstress causes that are relevant for each type of equipment considered;
For each selected overstress cause the coverage of existing standards and/or
relevant CIGRE documents were reviewed and discussed for the considered
equipment;
Utilities practices to assess overstresses that might impact equipment
performance, as well as discussion of mitigation measures.
Utility needing guidance on how to proceed to manage overstresses affecting HV

equipment can make use of the TB by going through the following steps:
1. Identify which equipment can be affected by the kind of overstresses considered;

2. Check on how the overstress cause affects the speci c equipment, the technical
standard coverage as well as the relevant technical references;
3. Check if there is an identi ed utility practice to deal with the speci c overstress;

4. Apply the solution that better ts to solve the speci c equipment overstresses
case analysed. However, whether replacement, uprating, application of local or
system mitigation measures is the optimum solution, this is a question under
utility’s responsibility. Economic aspects, regulatory boundary conditions,
responsibilities, as well as asset management strategy shall be considered.
Utilities practices to deal with equipment overstress management have a common

point: measures are taken to avoid equipment to be submitted to overstresses, since
they are generally not designed to withstand it.
The fast changing of network conditions observed because of market liberalization

and high penetration of renewables can be considered as the main drives for
occurrence of electrical overstresses on HV equipment. As well the changing
environmental conditions observed in the last decades are the main source of
ambient overstresses
Recommendation for further investigation

The work carried out by WG A3.30 identi ed some speci c overstress causes
needing further investigation from technical community in order to give better
support to asset managers and system operators. Guidance for standard
improvements, including testing methods, commissioning and maintenance
procedures are required.
Operation voltage above ratings

A speci c electrical overstress of operating at a voltage above the maximum
operating voltage values of transmission equipment. This is usually a consequence
of the intermittent pattern of renewables generation and the fast growth penetration
of this kind of source, including distributed generation at distribution level, as well
as the relatively short time for its implementation. This can lead to an insuf ciency
of voltage regulation resources in the network, thus imposing operation voltages
above equipment ratings. This is a topic requiring further investigation, since the
actual standards do not cover this operation condition.
Temporary overvoltage withstand ability

A clearer picture on the required ability of HV equipment when submitted to
temporary overvoltage stresses is also identi ed as necessary. The lack of speci c
testing for this kind of stress, as well as the lack of guidance of equipment standards
in de ning limits for TOV asks for speci c investigation of the technical community
on this subject.
Users specify equipment to withstand the electrical and environmental stresses as a

function of system topology and geographical location they will be installed. In
addition, secondary system solutions can be adopted, like controlled switching or
monitoring, to reduce or forecast stresses that might affect HV equipment in order to
avoid possible overstresses and their consequences. The response of CIGRE to this
kind of overstress was the creation by the end of 2019 of a join working group (JWG)

between Study Committees A3, A2, A1, and B1.44 to investigate the “Limitations in
Operation of High Voltage Equipment Resulting of Frequent Temporary
Overvoltage’s”.
Controlled switching performance

Controlled switching is a mitigation measure for switching transients. However, it has
been reported that in some cases its performance in the eld is not as planned. The
investigation of such problem is under way by CIGRE Working Group A3.35
(Guidelines and Best Practices for Commissioning and Operation of Controlled
Switching Projects) and a technical brochure discussing commissioning and
maintenance practices for this kind of technic shall point out a set of
recommendations and best practices that are of relevance for guaranteeing the
performance of controlled switching systems. Among them, commissioning and
maintenance practices can be highlighted.
Instrument transformers performance

Recent failures reported for different types of instrument transformers in
transmission systems is attracting the attention of specialists. A possibility for these
occurrences is overstresses due to unforeseen VFTO caused by compaction of AIS
substation arrangements. Therefore, a CIGRE Working Group A3.42 (Failure Analysis
and Risk Mitigation for Recent Incidents of AIS Instrument Transformers) was
recently created to investigate these occurrences and try to track the possible
reasons and propose applicable mitigation solutions.

[1] [a] CIGRE Technical Brochure 309 (2006), “Asset management of transmission
systems and associated CIGRE activities”, WG C1.1, www.e-cigre.org ; [b] CIGRE
Technical Brochure 486 (2012), “Integral decision process for substation equipment
replacement”, WG B3.06, www.e-cigre.org.
[2] CIGRE Technical Brochure 725 (2018), “Ageing High Voltage Substation Equipment
and Possible Mitigation Techniques”, WG A3.29, www.e-cigre.org

[3]
[a] Carvalho, A.C., Muniz, M., Sinder, D., D’Ajuz, A., “Managing HV equipment
replacement due to overrating”, CIGRE Session 2008, paper A3-106, September
2008, Paris. [b] Carvalho, A.C., D’Ajuz, A., Monteiro, A.M., Sinder, D., “Overrating
mitigation measures for HV circuit breakers CIGRE SC 13 Colloquium”, paper PS2-10,
September 2007, Rio de Janeiro. [c] Carvalho, A.C., Tenorio, R., Waldron M., Escoto M.,
Lemaitre N., “Criteria for Tracking Transmission Equipment Overstress”, paper A3-
207, CIGRE SC A3 Technical Colloquium, 2011, Vienna. [d] Carvalho, A.C., Amon, J.F.,
Lindner, C. Karrer, R., Moreau, P., Hoijmans, M., Annaudari, S., Nikosi, S., Mercir, A.,
“Managing Substation Equipment Overstresses”, CIGRE SC A3 Technical Colloquium,
paper 103, 2015, Nagoya. [e] Pereira, F. P., Peralta, J. M., Sereno, M. G., Fontes, M. A. P.,
Amon, J.,” Equipment overrating – transmission companies alternatives to avoid
equipment replacement”, XIX SNPTEE, paper SGE 14, 14-17/10/2007, Rio de Janeiro,
(in Portuguese). [f] E. Carlini, M.L. Crociani, D. Falorni, A. Freddo, V. Iuliani, E.
Colombo, G. Pucci “Upgrading of the short-circuit power of a 380 kV substation:
problems to cope and possible solutions in a uni ed context” CIGRE 2010 Session,
paper B3-213.
[4] Carvalho, A.C., Tenorio, R., Waldron M., Escoto M., Lemaitre N., “Criteria for Tracking
Transmission Equipment Overstress”, paper A3-207, CIGRE SC A3 Technical

Colloquium, 2011, Vienna
[5] [a] Ohno, T. Ito, H. Nakakoji, T. Kobayashi, H. Sato, “Study of seismic design and
guideline of substation equipment based on the Great East Japan Earthquake”,

CIGRE 2014 Session, paper A3-304. [b] H. Miyakawa, H. Takada, Y. Ito, M. Toyoda, J.
Kida, H. Koyama, “Investigation of composite insulators in extreme environments –
Heavy snow and severe pollution”, CIGRE 2014 Session, paper A3-305. [c] CIGRE
Technical Brochure 614 (2015), “Air Insulated Substation Design for Severe Climate
Conditions”, WG B3.31, www.e-cigre.org.

Heavy snow and severe pollution”, CIGRE 2014 Session, paper A3-305.

Heavy snow and severe pollution”, CIGRE 2014 Session, paper A3-305.
[8] Sackman, H., Delphi Assessment: Expert Opinion, Forecasting and Group Process,
R-1283-PR, 1974
[9] [3] CIGRE Technical Brochure 725 (2018), “Ageing High Voltage Substation
Equipment and Possible Mitigation Techniques”, WG A3.29, www.e-cigre.org

TECHNICAL BROCHURE
TB 817 WG A3.38
Shunt capacitor switching in distribution

and transmission systems
The switching devices associated with different loads in distribution
and transmission networks have different switching duties to ful l
with sometimes contradicting performance requirements. Thus, a
switching device intended to switch reactors might require other
abilities than a device to switch capacitors. In this Technical Brochure
(TB) the switching of capacitor banks is addressed with the main
focus on the applied switching devices, not on the associated
equipment such as capacitors, reactors etc.
Convenor (DE) Secretary (DE)

E. DULLNI C. HEINRICH
R. ALEXANDER (US), B. BAUM (NL), A. BOSMA (SE), D. DESMOND (US), M. KAWADA (JP),
M. KLEIMAIER (CH), S. KIM (KR), Z. LIU (CN), S. MÖHL (DE), R. NICOLINI (IT), M.
RECKER (DE)
CONTRIBUTING MEMBERS : E. BOYLE (IR), Y. GENG (CN), X. GODECHOT (FR), A.
KALYUZHNY (IL), M. MOABELO (ZA), J.A. SANCHEZ (ES), R. SMEETS (NL)
Objectives of this Technical Brochure

G enerally speaking, the performance of a capacitor switching device actually
required in the eld is quite close to its rated and type tested performance and thus
poses high stress to the device over the entire life of the equipment. This not only
comprises electric stress due to the high recovery voltage, but also mechanical
stress due to the large number of operations. The kind of switching device i.e.
whether it is based on SF6 gas or vacuum has an impact on the particular physical
processes occurring during energizing and deenergizing of capacitor banks and
therefore gain special attention in this TB.
The reason to start work on this topic was that 20 years ago the results of CIGRE
working group 13.04 initiated a revision of two particular IEC and IEEE standards i.e.
IEC 62271-100 and IEEE C37.09 with the implementation of a new extended type
test procedure on capacitive switching. The rst question was whether this revised
procedure really satis ed the expectations of users and improved the performance
of switching devices in the eld. The second question was whether the testing
procedure and parameters still re ect the parameters required in the eld.

Contents of the Technical Brochure
The CIGRE WG A3.38, which was formed in 2016, tried to evaluate shunt capacitor
switching performance of medium voltage and high voltage switching devices. This
was achieved on one side by collecting testing and service experience in distribution
and transmission networks by a survey of utilities in multiple countries. On the other
side, the state-of-the-art was obtained from an analysis of publications on the
performance of capacitor switching devices and own experiments. The survey
contained questions on the size of substation and line capacitor banks, the kind of
switching devices, typical switching rates and means for controlling inrush currents,
maintenance practices and age of equipment. Publications on the performance of
switching devices during breaking of capacitive currents were evaluated pertaining
to the inrush current parameters during energizing of capacitor banks. One main
target of the Working Group was to assess the long-term performance of capacitor
switching devices, in particular with respect to the probability of restrikes.
The TB also provides an evaluation of the standards IEC 62271-100 and IEEE C37.09
with respect to test sequences and test parameters such as capacitive current and
peak inrush currents. In particular, the effectiveness of the applied accelerated test
procedure focusing on minimum arcing times and high inrush currents and their
relevance for operation in the eld is analyzed. Also, the particularities of synthetic
testing are described, which is the only reasonable procedure to test high voltage
capacitive switching devices in the laboratory.
For enhancement of the performance of capacitive switching devices, the state-of-

the-art of alternative devices is also described in this TB covering controlled
switching, pre-insertion resistors and current limiting inductors and the use of semi-
conductors. The pros and cons and bene ts of such alternative devices are
discussed, some of which are known since long and some have been introduced in
the last ten years.
One chapter of this TB discusses the peculiarities of lter bank switching.

Parameters of lter banks are explained. In comparison to shunt capacitor switching,
inrush currents during energizing of a lter bank are much smaller and therefore
less demanding for the switching device. Breaking of currents can be more
demanding due to the fact, that the recovery voltage is modi ed by the additional
voltage contribution from the inductance and a superposition of a high-frequency
transient voltage. This transient is due to the resonance of lter inductances and
cable capacitances. The voltage withstand of the switching device during recovery
therefore needs special attention.
Main results
The survey on the application and user experience of capacitive switching devices
returned 52 responses from utilities in 18 different countries from which only 38
responses provided suf cient data to be evaluated. Each respondent (utility)
provided data on three to four voltage ranges so that the survey covers 146 different
utility-voltage ranges, from 3.6 kV to 550 kV (Figure 1).

The survey covered SF6 and vacuum circuit breakers, oil circuit breakers, capacitor
and load switches and circuit switchers. It has to be remarked that the resulting
occurrences (Figure 2) do not re ect the mean percentage of use in one utility but
the percentage of respondents using the indicated switching device.
It is not astonishing that the switching of capacitors attains much attraction since in
order to reasonably support the network with respect to voltage and VAR, the rate of
switching of the device should be approximately once a day, which is con rmed by
Figure 3.

The table summarizes some of the most important questions of the survey and
related answers in brief:
Overall
Survey questions results
Why capacitor banks are applied in networks?
The majority applies them for voltage and VAR support.
What is the average power of installed capacitor banks?
Capacitive currents at all rated voltages vary between 250 A and 390 A with higher mean current values
below 17 kV.
Are capacitor banks used on overhead lines?
Only responses from US indicate they are used for this purpose and only at rated voltages up to 38 kV.
What is the classi cation of breakers?
The majority claim class C2 and rarely indicate class C1 or C0 (C0 is only de ned by IEEE).
What is the rate of switching?
More than 50% of the devices are switched at least once per day.

Overall
Survey questions results
What is the age of the switching equipment?
High voltage equipment is not older than 20 years, whereas medium voltage equipment has an age of
10 to 30 years.
What is common maintenance practice?
89% of the respondents maintain on a time-based schedule with a majority of 47% applying intervals >
5 years in HV networks, whereas in MV networks 42 % claim a one to ve years interval.
What are causes of failures?
50% of failures are of dielectric nature occurring in the capacitor bank or in the switching device and
24% are mechanical failures of the switching device.
How often surge arresters are used?
Only 33% of the respondents apply surge arresters with a higher percentage in the high end of MV and
HV ranges.
What is the satisfaction of users with respect to their switching devices?
Satisfaction is expressed mainly for SF6 devices.
Are alternative methods applied?
Point-on-wave closing is applied to 60% of all HV breakers, whereas more than 63% do not use any
control for MV devices.
What are the peak inrush currents?
For MV applications, the majority of inrush currents peak up to 10 kA, whereas for HV peaks even above
20 kA are reached.
One main purpose of this TB is to give guidance to users for selecting a switching
device at the capacitive currents and inrush currents calculated for the capacitor
banks used in their distribution and transmission network. These parameters may
differ from the switching parameters speci ed and tested according to the standards.
Since the main principles of switching used in today’s switching devices are typically
based either on the vacuum or on the SF6 gas technique, the performance of these
devices is treated separately in this TB, where appropriate. Other principles are only
brie y mentioned. However, the aim of the distinction of the breaking techniques is
not to discriminate one against the other but to understand their different
performances. Results can be summarized as follows:

Capacitive breaking current
The type tests performed for a rated current of 400 A as speci ed by the standards
are not only valid for currents equal or lower 400 A but also for larger capacitive
currents, since higher currents exert a bene cial conditioning effect. This effect is
more pronounced for vacuum interrupters, mainly regarding their contact surfaces,
than for SF6 interrupters. The Working Group concludes that even signi cantly
higher capacitive currents above the tested value does not change the performance
class of the device. A conservative approach may be 50 % higher breaking currents.
The breaking performance depends to some degree on the peak inrush currents and
the related erosion of contacts.
Inrush current peak
As long as the inrush current peak is smaller than the tested value, it can be
assumed that the deterioration of the contact surfaces in a switching operation is
smaller than in type tests where the highest inrush current peak (rated value) is
applied. In particular, vacuum interrupters show an inverse relationship between
peak inrush current and breaking performance. Therefore, peak inrush currents in
excess of the rated and tested values cannot be permitted, unless it can be proven
that the deterioration of the surface by higher inrush currents is lower than tested,
which depends on the inrush frequency. Therefore, a new parameter was introduced
i.e. the inrush current integral, ICI, which is an approximate indirect measure of the
contact erosion. Figure 4 compares ICI values for back-to-back and single bank
switching at different capacitive currents, however, common pre-arc duration and
damping factor. Since capacitive current and inrush current peak are preset in Figure
4, inrush frequencies vary between 1400 Hz and even 16800 Hz for back-to-back
switching and between 300 Hz and 950 Hz for single bank switching. Under the
premises of equal or smaller ICI, the Working Group believes that an extension to
higher peak inrush currents might be possible without negative impact on the
switching performance. The bene t of alternative devices is to reduce the inrush
current peak.

Inrush frequency
Except for oil interrupters, the performance of switching devices does not depend on
the inrush current frequency. Frequencies considerably above or below the
frequency as speci ed in standards (4250 Hz) can be permitted for vacuum and SF6
interrupters. In any case, the switching of single capacitor banks implies much lower
inrush frequencies than for back-to-back capacitors, and the standards do not
require separate tests if back-to-back switching has been veri ed. In order to reduce
the inrush current peak and ICI, additional series inductances (reactors) can be
installed. This automatically lowers the inrush frequency and has a positive impact
on the breaking performance due to the lower inrush current. The frequency
speci ed in the standards is mainly for de ning a common test circuit.
Electrical endurance
Based on responses from the survey, the Working Group concludes that the existing
type tests according to the standards are an adequate method of evaluating the
performance of capacitor bank switching devices. The survey revealed that users are
generally satis ed with the performance of their capacitor switching devices. This
satisfaction has to be seen in the light that more than fty percent of the respondents
indicate their devices are switched daily, which easily amounts to even more than
1000 operations in a couple of years. This supports the positive assessment of the
Working Group that the restrike performance of capacitor switches and circuit
breakers tested according to the standards is acceptable in the eld or at the very
least, if restrikes occur, they are not noticed and therefore are not destructive.
The back-to-back capacitor switching performance veri ed in 104 three-phase or

168 single-phase attempts according to class C2 per standards IEC 62271-100 and
IEEE C37.09 can be extrapolated to at least 500 random operations in the eld
evaluating the accelerated test procedure applied in the standards. It is probably
applicable to a much higher number of operations. Occasionally in experiments,

several thousand making and breaking operations were performed. The switching
contacts exhibited some deterioration up to severe erosion and melting upon post-
test inspection. An impact on the restrike probability could not be determined.
Chapter 4 of the TB discusses in detail the speci c dependencies determining
reignitions and restrikes after current breaking, separate for vacuum and SF6
interrupters. The inrush current characteristic mainly determines the breaking
performance among other factors. For vacuum interrupters, where still a lot of open
questions on the prevailing physical processes exist, the deterioration of the
contacts due to the rupture of microscopic welds from pre-arcs and large-area
melting of surfaces due to high inrush currents are essential. For SF6 interrupters,
the gradual changing of the geometry of arcing contacts and nozzles due to the
erosion of high inrush currents is important.
Conclusion
CIGRE SC A3 keeps the state-of-the-art of switchgear up to date. Readers of this TB
will gain a comprehensive understanding of the switching abilities and performance
of devices energizing and deenergizing capacitor banks. The peculiarities of vacuum
and SF6 interrupters are described and assessed so that users may understand
different performances and behavior in service. Guidance is given for users to select
switching devices for the speci c purpose of single or back-to-back capacitor bank
switching in dependence of manufacturer’s speci cations and ratings veri ed in type
tests.

TECHNICAL BROCHURE
TB 818 WG B2.61
Transmission lines with Fiber Reinforced

Polymer (FRP) composites
For a long time traditional material such as wood, steel, and concrete
were used for transmission line structures. Advancement in material
science and demand for solutions in the aerospace and maritime
industries led to the development of new high-tech materials with
properties that could also be bene cial for the electrical utility
industry. One such class of emerging materials are Fiber Reinforced
Polymer Composites (FRP). Different manufacturing methods and
shapes make it possible for designing a great variety of structural
elements.
Convenor (IS) Secretary (CA)

A.B. JONASSON J. TOTH
C.G. BARRIOS (ES), J. BARTSCH (SE), T. BJARNASON (IS), D. CHAMBERS (UK), J.B. DA
SILVA (BR), V. DALE (NO), P. DE HORA (IE), P.W. DULHUNTY (AU), M. ERMOSHINA (RU),
G FECHT (CA), M. HUGHES (US), S. LABOCHA (PL), S. LANGLOIS (CA), F. LIRIOS (AU), J.
LUCEY (IE), L. NAZIMEK (PL), E. PLATENKAMP (NL), X. POLETTA (FR), A. RUFFIER
(BR), B. WAREING (UK), O. WELGAARD (NO),
CORRESPONDING MEMBERS: A. BANGOR (AU), F.K. GBEDEY (BJ), R. GEARY (IE), T.
GILLESPIE (AU), C. HUGHES (IE), D. LOUDON (NO), A. MOGILEVSKY (CA), M.
RAMASWAMY (IN), V. ROULET (FR), D. SMAZNOV (RU), O. SEMENKO (UA), K. VALIMAA
(FI)
REVIEWERS: M. ELLENBOGEN (IL), W. TROPPAUER (AT), K. VALIMAA (FI)
What are glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer

composites?
Fiber Reinforced Polymer composite materials have two major components. Fibers
and the resin system the holds the ber system in place. Other components may be
added to the system such as llers, Ultraviolet (UV) inhibitors, and property-
enhancing additives.
Resin systems

Resins are solid or highly viscous substances that are converted into polymers.
When converted to polymers they solidly hold together the other components, such
as the llers, modi ers, additives and the bers. For transmission lines typically two
major resin systems are used, Vinylester and Polyurethane. Each has some
advantages and disadvantages, but overall properties serve the transmission line
structures very well.
Fibers
Many different types of bers could be used for polymer composites, such as carbon,
glass, basalt, and aramid. Due to cost, availability, chemical, electrical and
mechanical properties E-Glass bre is the primary reinforcement for the composite
materials used for transmission lines. E-glass is electrically non-conductive,
inexpensive (about 1/10 of the cost of carbon ber) and has good mechanical
properties for transmission lines.
Manufacturing methods of ber reinforced

polymer composite transmission line structures
structures
There are three major manufacturing methods used for making FRP transmission
line components; Filament Winding, Pultrusion and Centrifugal Casting.
Filament winding
Filament winding is the open mould manufacturing practice of wrapping resin
saturated bers around a tapered or cylindrical mandrel. A typical laminate wind
schedule consists of opposing circumferential wraps in which the manufacturer will
usually have the ability to adjust the ber placement angle (Figure 1).
The pultrusion process makes constant cross section, cut-to-length pieces that can
be used for a variety of structural components (Figure 2):

The cross sections could be either round, rectangular or polygonal. A great variety of
shapes could be made with pultrusion for transmission lines (Figure 3):
Centrifugal casting
Spun berglass poles with round

Figure cross-of
4 - Image
section are made of glass- ber
Centrifugal casting
complexes and polyesterofresin and
FRP pole
are
produced with a centrifugal
process (Figure 4).
The use of FRP for transmission line structures

There are many advantages Figure 5of using
- Large
FRP structures for transmission lines,
number of FRP
such as long service life,poles
resistance to
shipped with
corrosion, light weight, high speci c
one truck to site
strength, high dielectric strength,
dimensional stability, re resistance,
environmental inertness, resistance to
animal damage (such as woodpeckers),
engineered product, ductile, and lower
overall life cycle cost compare to other
materials. Further details are available
in the Technical Brochure 818.
Figure 6 - Shoulder
carrying of FRP pole
High dielectric strength

to installation site
FRP materials have such a high

dielectric strength that they are
considered electrically insulating. This
makes them very desirable for
increasing safety for live (energized)
work. Moreover, the electrical
characteristics and lightening
performance of the lines with FRP
structures are better than the line made
of traditional materials.
Light weight
FRP transmission line structures are
much lighter than wood, steel or
concrete elements made for the same
function. Transportation and installation
costs are reduced as lighter equipment
is suf cient for construction and larger
quantities of material can be shipped
with the same transportation method
then with the other materials (Figure 5).
In addition, it is often possible to
manoeuvre FRP utility poles by hand
into restricted locations (Figure 6).
No rot, spall or corrosion

FRP materials can withstand environmental conditions much better than the other
materials, even in harsh climates and polluted areas
Environmentally inert

FRP materials are environmentally inert, do not leach out components to the
surroundings. Even if disposal is needed, they could be placed in regular land lls
due to their chemically neutral properties.
Unaffected by termites, woodpeckers and vermin

FRP materials can resist insects, woodpeckers and other animals well. In many areas
where woodpeckers damage wood poles FRP poles are the replacement of choice.
Long life span

When the Ultra Violet protection is properly addressed FRP structures last much
longer without any intervention compared to traditional materials.
Stiffness
FRP materials have lower modulus of elasticity than steel or wood [1], as a result of
which their stiffness value is different, and they de ect differently. The stiffness
value, which determines de ection is in uenced by two components, the modulus of
elasticity and cross section properties. When designing FRP elements, the design
needs to consider both and compensate as needed.
FRP transmission line structures

There are many structural elements that can be built using FRP materials that are
similar to structures made of wood, steel or concrete. The most common structures
are poles, cross arms, cross bracings, foundations, anchors, piles and lattice towers.

Poles
The most widely used FRP transmission
line structures are poles. Several
suppliers make lament winded,
pultruded and centrifugal casted poles.
Usually the cross section is round, but
there are also poles with octagonal
shape.
Cross arms
There are FRP cross arms made of
boxed and channel cross sections. Their
usual application is to replace exiting
wood cross arms.
Cross braces
Cross braces made of FRP could be used
with H-frames. An example of an FRP
cross bracing on a fully composite H-
frame is shown on Figure 7.

Anchor logs Figure 8 - 230 kV
FRP lattice
Traditional anchor logs (in some
structure
countries called sleepers) are made of
wood. FRP log anchors can replace
wooden logs providing a cost effective,
light weight and durable alternative to
the original design.
Piles and Sheet piles

Since piles and sheet piles are constant
cross-sectional elements, they can be
made using FRP Pultrusion
manufacturing.
Lattice structures
Three 230 kV FRP lattice structures
have been in service in California, USA
in a highly corrosive seashore
environment since the mid
1990’s (Figure 8). Their easy and fast
assembly, and great resilience in the
corrosive environment provided great
value for the utility that installed them.
FRP transmission line structures cost

comparison
The CIGRE Brochure 818 has a very detailed section comparing the cost of FRP
structures to wood and steel structures. The overall conclusion is that FRP structures
are good and cost-effective alternatives to wood, steel and concrete structures.
Conclusions
Fiber Reinforced Polymer composite structures for transmission lines are new to the
electrical utility industry. However, the aerospace, maritime, bridge and light
commercial industries have been using FRP for a long time with great success.
FRP provides a cost effective, environmentally friendly, durable and reliable solution
for many of the challenges the electrical utility industry faces.
Educating the transmission line community on the bene ts and use of FRP is
essential to make the use of this technology wide spread.
The CIGRE Technical Brochure 818 is a great tool in this effort, and is a highly
recommended reference for professionals in this eld.

TECHNICAL BROCHURE
TB 819 WG B5.50
IEC 61850 - Based substation automation

systems – Users expectations and
stakeholders interaction
The publication of IEC 61850 standard series started to replace the
use of old proprietary and IEC 60870-5-103 based protocols in Digital
Substation Automation Systems. Its main objective is to allow
interoperability between Intelligent Electronic Devices of different
vendors in one automation system and increase substation
engineering ef ciency. Its scope has lately extended beyond the
limits of a substation. IEC 61850 aims to be THE standard applied in
substations worldwide, as in many other domains.
1st Convenor (BE) 2nd Convenor (FI) Secretary (US)

G. HUON P. LINDBLAD P. MYRDA
R. LIPOSCHAK (US), D. MOERS (BE), B. CAFFERTY (IE), R. HUG (CH), B. KAPKAC (SE), Q.
HONG (UK), J. HOLBACH (US), Y. YIN (CA), I. ROHLEDER (CH)
CORRESPONDING MEMBERS: R. DIAS PAULO (PT), C. HOSU (RO), I. METS (EE), I.
YOUNG (AU), M. PAULINO฀ (BR)
Previously, CIGRE Working Groups have published reports related to IEC 61850 as
follows:
TB 466 : Engineering Guidelines for IEC 61850 Based Digital SAS

TB 329 : Guidelines for speci cation and evaluation of substation automation
systems
TB 326 : The introduction of IEC61850 and its impact on protection and
automation within substations
TB 584 : Implications and bene ts of standardized protection and control
schemes
TB 628 : Document requirements throughout the lifecycle of DSAS
These have been considered by the Working Group in order not to repeat much of the
statements of earlier published reports.
Nevertheless, during the rst years using IEC 61850, several reports and position
papers have been published pointing out particular dif culties of transmission users
trying to design, con gure, test and maintain IEC 61850 systems. In the beginning,

IEC 61850 based systems were sold eagerly by vendors in order to get a rapid
replacement of IEC 60870-5-103 based systems. However, due to limited
interoperability of the IEC 61850 based products and the rather high complexity
level of the standard and offered solutions, there were several projects experiencing
a lot of challenges and compromises. The users were not happy with such a "trial-
and-error" stage. It seemed that there was only a smallish number of specialists
being able to solve the application challenges and the standard seemed to give too
much exibility so that the use of it affected the level of interoperability.
Structure and content of the Technical Brochure

The report gives the results of the Working Group examination about experienced
challenges from early implementation cases of the IEC 61850 standard, as well as
about user expectations and needed stakeholder interactions to improve the
interoperability. It also gives some examples of work-around methods like users’
pro le de nition and implementation agreements.
A detailed description of the background, targets and scope of work of the WG can be
found in chapter 1 “Introduction”.
The main part of the report concerns users’ expectations on the use of IEC 61850,
which are described in chapter 2 “User Expectations”. Firstly, the main expectations
on interoperability features of IEC 61850 are stated.
Then, user expectations concerning backward compatibility of IED products, software

and communication buses are presented. These considerations are followed by user
expectations for enhancement of substation engineering processes, including the
processes for speci cation and con guration of DSAS. As IEC 61850 data models are
signi cant, these are described in a separate sub-chapter. In matters on
telecommunication, only a few speci c expectations are identi ed. On the other
hand, as the correctness of documentation is essential, several requirements and
expectations related to the documentation are stated in the report. Testing seems to
be the eld which raises even more discussion around the user expectations and
thus, the identi ed expectations related to testing are divided into several sub-
chapters. Also, some expectations are mentioned regarding operation and
maintenance of IEC 61850 substations. Finally, the WG views on speci c
expectations for process bus implementations are given.
Chapter 3 “Stakeholder interactions” starts by discussing the stakeholders and

needed interactions in the standardization process. Examples thereof cover IEC
standard development, user pro le development as well as conformance and
interoperability veri cation testing. Interactions between different stakeholders
differ depending on the used contracting method, as per the stakeholders’ roles in

these. Two rather “opposite” types of substation implementation and contracting
methods are described, i.e. in-house approach with frame agreements vs. “turn-key”
contracting. Similarly, there are differences between stakeholder interactions
depending on whether the DSAS maintenance is performed in-house or outsourced,
of which some examples are mentioned.
In chapter 4, the report concludes that IEC 61850 is a complex standard to

implement into all the needed products and tools. Thus, some challenges have been
encountered in the rst years of application of the standard. These challenges have
raised several issues by the end users as improvement expectations to the
implementation of the IEC 61850 standard. Even though a lot of work and efforts
have already been done in improving products and tools, as well as in improving
skills, methods and procedures, protection and control engineers still need some
more time to further develop and mature the application of the standard, in order to
be able to gain the majority and the most signi cant parts of the expected features
and bene ts for the end users, of which interoperability and ease-of-use are the most
essential ones.
At the end of the report, some examples / use cases are presented in the Annexes.
These comprise an example of GOOSE monitoring and the approaches of some
utilities how they have adopted IEC 61850 in their DSAS implementation projects as
well as in their operation and maintenance processes.
Conclusions
The user main expectations regarding IEC 61850 solutions can be summarized as
follows:
To gain all bene ts of the interoperability between different IEDs and products
from different vendors, in order to minimize common mode risks and the best
features of today’s products and to improve obsolescence management and
communication platform upgrades;
Both the IEDs/products and tools should be exible so that it is easy to use the
products of different vendors and both IEC standard editions 1 and 2 in the same
installation as well as to con gure them with the same tool. This implies clear
visibility of the rmware and versioning;
DSAS engineering process ef ciency should be enhanced with the use of IEC
61850 through the lifetime of the substation. This implies e.g. ease of use, process
ef ciency, user-level communication, vendor-independency and design exibility.
SCL requires enhancement in virtual IED/System design and validation, as well as
in communication network description;

Ideally thinking, the data model should be strictly de ned by the standard in
order not to be left open for interpretations and avoiding the use of generic logical
nodes with loss of semantics. On the other hand, different users and user groups
may have different ways to use the standard and thus, the standard should allow
setting up functional user application pro les for the data models in an
interoperable and independent way and enabling the user to describe the
functions of his application in his technical speci cations;
Communication network and devices should always in a sustainable way allow the
use of international standards including any future development in upgrading and
being directly backwards compatible. This shall comprise use of IEC 61850
Ed.1/2/x, PRP/HSR, IP versioning, etc.;
The shift to model-based engineering should reduce the amount of documentation
and increase the ef ciency, manageability and correctness of the process. DSAS
documentation focus should include naming conventions and object modelling,
communication network, data ows and exchange, tools and overall
documentation optimization;
It should bene t users to develop and improve testing procedures, tools and
documentation, including both commissioning procedures and the creation of as-
built documentation. Several expectations are related to proper and easy-to-use
testing tools, like virtual isolation, simulation, monitoring and testing methods for
both station and process bus applications, and for GOOSE and MMS messages. The
tools should include comprehensive database error checking and data entry
validation, audit trail, debugging and compare facilities, as well as import / export
of SCL les to allow interoperability between different vendor IEDs, consistency

checking of the complete SCD le and comparison features to manage the different
le versions;
To bene t by improving DSAS operational reliability resulting in decreased risk of
human errors and more ef cient information handling, and by improving DSAS
asset and maintenance management, change management, fault tracing and
MTTR of faulty equipment, i.e. saving money by enhancing ef ciency. This implies
also an improved level of condition monitoring of the substation devices, updating
clients and version management of all PAC devices and tools; and
To reach interoperability in process bus implementations, also regarding merging
units (interface, performance) and to gain safety improvements using on-line
testing, improvements in indication of test mode and in measurement handling
(e.g. summation, switching), integrated time synchronization with PTP and
improved withstand against errors.
In order to successfully develop and ef ciently use such a complex international

standard like IEC 61850 and to tackle all the abovementioned challenges with the
user expectations, all stakeholders would need to be involved in the work. The user
feedback should be collected from all stakeholder groups, especially end
users/owners, consultants/engineers, conformance testers and manufacturer
developers. Also the traditional organizational matters of separate telecoms and
protection expert groups need to be reviewed.
It could be bene cial to perform a thorough gap analysis study of IEC 61850
standard series performed e.g. by a group of users like ENTSO-E, when developing
Basic Application Pro les in the aim to reach improved interoperability.
Figure 3 - Interactions between stakeholders / Continuous improvement cycle [1]
The purchasing policy of substations and their DSAS upgrade projects have an
impact on IEC 61850 knowledge management and control. They differ between users
that do all work in-house and those who outsource all implementation work. “Who
needs to know what” is dependent on “who does what part of the work”. Type
approved, pre-con gured and pre-tested standardized PAC schemes would be
bene cial. In case of outsourcing, framework contracts can be very helpful, too.

Similarly, the stakeholder interactions in the operation, maintenance and services
processes depend on the utility's operation & maintenance (O&M) organization and
its policies. The different tasks can be either in-house or outsourced. Good
interaction between relevant parties is needed for ef cient condition monitoring,
performance data collection and analysis, feedback (also from operations) to asset
management specialists as well as protection setting/con guration engineers (for
decision making and change management), exchanging of experiences between
users and between users and vendors, repairs, modi cation management and
implementation, training, testing, etc.
Although there has been a signi cant development of the IEC 61850 standard series,
interoperability testing, gap analysis, DSAS products/tools and working methods
since the Working Group started, there is still a need for a continued joint effort
within the whole PAC industry to further develop the standard and the DSAS
products/tools, so that at least most of the user expectations will be met in due time.
The users still expect that IEC 61850 will be THE standard for DSAS in a broad
application area.
[1] IEC
61850 IOP 2013 Report, presented at CIGRE, Paris Session 2014, booth #370,
Herb Falk

TECHNICAL BROCHURE
TB 820 WG C1.39
Optimal power system planning under

growing uncertainty
The electrical industry around the world is undergoing an influential
evolution with respect to both technology and regulation. On the
supply side, countries set very ambitious goals for the high
penetration of renewables in future power systems. The uncertainty
and intermittency of renewable energy (RE) complicate real-time
power balancing and bring signi cant challenges to power system
planning. On the demand side, electri cation of transportation,
heating, and cooling brings signi cant uncertainty. The integration of
multiple energy systems diversi es the development path for future
power systems. Meanwhile, the rapid development of transmission
technologies and equipment essentially brings in nite possibilities
and uncertainties to the morphology of future power systems. The
worldwide trend of power reform and marketization brings policy and
structural uncertainties to the power system. Traditional power
system planning is a “routine” that uses deterministic methodologies
and xed criteria, which is similar worldwide. Uncertainties relating
to both the “hardware” and “software” of power systems require new
methods and new mechanisms for optimal power system planning.
This report investigates the uncertainty factors that exist in the power
systems around the world and how they are considered in system
planning.
Convenor (CN) Secretary (CN)

C. KANG N. ZHANG
C. SCHAEFER (AU), H. SAMARAKOON (AU), P. MANCARELLA (AU), C. LOPES (BR),

CHRISTOPHER REALI (CA), W. SHOAIB (CA), A. SANTANDER (CL), F. STEINKE (DE), M.
BRAUN (DE), N.A. CUTULULIS (DK), S. LAURENT (FR), VICTOR LEVI (UK), GARRETH
FREEMAN (UK), NOEL CUNNIFFE (IE), J. MACENRI (IE), B. KELLY (IE), P. MAGHOULI
(IR), L. GIORGI (IT), S. TSURU (JP), C. DIACONU (RO), V. ZAHARIA (RO), S.
ASADAMONGKOL (TH), A. KHODAEI (US), XINGPENG LI (US), G. ANISH (US), C.
NDLHOVU (ZA)

Methodology and progress of the work
The investigated dimensions for optimal investment decisions under growing
uncertainty will include:
Collecting the uncertainty factors considered and methodologies employed in the

grid planning analysis from countries of all continents at present. Both
uncertainties from the generation side and the demand side, transmission level,
and distribution level are to be included. Data and overview of the impact of the
uncertainties will be covered, to identify the challenges of uncertainty on power
systems.
Summarizing lessons learned from grid planning under growing uncertainty.
Collect overview of mechanisms, methods, and criteria of power system planning
under growing uncertainty from grid companies or independent system operators.
Search and review relevant prior work, in particular CIGRE’s previous papers and
brochures.
Introducing the best practice of planning under growing uncertainty around the
world. Identify key grid planning theories and technologies utilized under
different market schemes. Access different methods of grid planning under
growing uncertainty in different power systems around the world.
Identifying speci c requirements for power system planning under growing
uncertainty and carrying out cases study on the real grid con gurations. Identify
the conclusions and opportunities for further work.
Description of the Technical Brochure

After an introduction in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 provide s a pro le of power system
planning in the Working Group (WG) member countries. Firstly, the member country
in the WG and some general de nitions are declared. There are 28 members from 17
countries covering all continents of the world (except the Antarctic). The
geographical location of members is shown in Figure 1. Secondly, this chapter
introduces how transmission planning is conducted and by whom in each member
country. Finally, the development of renewable energy in member countries is
presented since renewable energy is one of the major uncertainty factors that is
increasing rapidly.

The de nition of uncertain factors and how they are addressed in member countries
are described in Chapter 3. The uncertainties in transmission system planning
include both long-term and short term uncertainty. Long-term uncertainty denotes
the deviation of the development of power system generation, transmission,
distribution, and load compared with its forecast or planning due to the change of
external environments such as technology progress, economic uctuations, political
choices, environmental constraints, and social development in the time scale of
years. The short-term uncertainty denotes the unpredictability of power system
operation state due to the stochastic nature of weather and consumer behaviour
such as the output of renewable energy generation, and charge and discharge
behaviour of electric vehicles. Due to differences in the environments in which
individual power systems operate, different uncertainty factors are considered by
each member country or region. Figure 2 shows the uncertainty considered and
uncertainty that exists but has not been considered in the transmission system
planning (TSP) of each member.

With all of these uncertainty factors mentioned in Figure 2, many parameters for the
optimization of power system planning are stochastic rather than constant. The
conventional deterministic method for power system planning can hardly address
the challenges presented by growing uncertainty.
Chapter 4 reviews the methodologies addressing uncertainties in power system

planning including the scenario-based model, risk-based model, and robust model.
The applied uncertainty modelling methods for load and RE in each member country
are also concluded in the chapter (Figure 3). For the long term uncertainty of load,
most members conduct multiple scenarios to represent the uncertainty. For the
short term uncertainty of renewable energy, the number of members who adopt
deterministic value is slightly higher.

Best practices and lessons learned from seven members are given in Chapter 5
including:
Scenario planning approach in EirGrid

Ten-year plan of Brazil power system considering scenarios
Scenario aggregation technique applied in Iran
Typical operation mode selection based on operation simulation in Qinghai power
system, China
Transmission planning considering uncertainty in ERCOT (USA)
Impact of renewable uncertainty on transmission planning in Thailand
Atlantic seaboard study in France
The introduction of applied planning software from members is provided in Chapter

6. The background, characteristics, advantages, and case studies are analyzed. The
software introduced are as following:
Antares and the zonal methodology

Grid Reliability Adequacy and Risk Evaluator
MARS and MAPS
Grid optimal planning tool (GOPT)
Tazan and pandapower
Chapter 7 describes the barriers to applying uncertainty optimization technology in

practical TSP. The barriers affect most steps in the process, according to feedback
from members. In general, the acquisition of data, modelling criteria, computational
burden, and some practical issues are the four major barriers. Due to different levels
of maturity in developing power grids and different practical situations, different
countries face different barriers.
Chapter 8 sets out the conclusions made by the Working Group and provides
recommendations for future work. The appendices contain the bibliography , the
original questionnaire form, and the complete survey results.
Conclusions and main learning points

The key ndings of WG C1.39 are summarised as follows:

The two most frequently considered uncertainty factors in TSP are load growth
and renewable energy - they are considered by almost every member of the WG.
Renewable energy is regarded as the dominant short term uncertainty in
transmission system planning. The integration of new participants such as electric
vehicles, storage, and interruptible load, can be characterized as “should be
considered but not yet”.
The commonly used approaches to modelling uncertainties include the
probability model, multiple-scenario-based model, and uncertainty sets/intervals.
Most member countries adopt scenario-based methods to a greater or lesser
degree in transmission system planning because it is the easiest way of
considering uncertainty. Many of these members combine the scenario-based
method with other methods but no one is entirely reliant on using only risk-based
or robust/interval methods.
Scenario-based methods may be best for the near term but, once barriers such as
concerns over the trustworthiness of data and methodologies have been
overcome, then the risk-based method may become preferred. The combined
scenario-based/ robust/ risk-based methods are considered by a considerable
number of members as the most suitable approach.
The challenges of conducting uncertainty optimization technology in practical

transmission system planning lie on almost every procedure. In future work, we
should:
Establish reliable historical datasets to characterize uncertainties.

Develop improved algorithms and computational ef ciency.
Make stochastic criteria more acceptable to the public and integrate them into the
grid code for power system planning.

TECHNICAL BROCHURE
TB 821 JWG C2/B4.38
Capabilities and requirements de nition

for power electronics based technology for
secure and ef cient system operation and
control
The worldwide energy landscape is undergoing a transition with
different pace in different parts of the world. From system operation
perspective, the main contributing factors identi ed with regards to
this ongoing energy transition are threefold, as explained next.
Convenor (NL)
J. VAN PUTTEN
J. ANTOLIN MORALES (ES), V. SEWDIEN (NL), N. KIRBY (US), P. MAIBACH (CH), R
CHATTERJEE (US), O. DESPOUYS (FR), A. HERNANDEZ MANCHOLA (DE), C. SMITH
(UK), J. KJÆRGAARD (DK), F. PARMA (IT), R. DE GRAAFF (NL), D. GLAISE (FR), A.
JANSSON (NO), O. BRONCKART (BE), Y. GU (UK), J. PEIRÓ (ES), L. YANG (BE)
CORRESPONDING MEMBERS: M. VAL ESCUDERO (IE), S. KYNEV (US), A. LUKASCHIK
(DE)
First, the transmission system connected conventional synchronous generators are

rapidly being replaced by transmission and distribution connected variable
renewable energy sources (RES) such as wind and solar generation, which are usually
connected through power electronics converters. Due to their intermittent and
uncertain nature, these RES introduce a variable production pattern in the
generation mix, resulting in a wide variety of operating conditions ranging from
almost no conventional synchronous generation due to high RES production to
opposite conditions with no RES generation.
Second, the regulatory framework in uences the design, planning and operation of
the power system. Network codes and other regulatory requirements need to
continuously provide an adequate framework to facilitate the ongoing transition. A
harmonised regulatory framework is imperative not only on transmission, but also
on the distribution level. This regulatory framework often evolves at slower pace
than the ongoing generation transition.
Third, increasing public opposition for new overhead lines, combined with high costs
and limited experience in design of long underground cables, result in a slow pace of
realisation of new transmission facilities. The exceptionally long times required to
build additional transmission capacity increases the likelihood of operating the
system using congestion management schemes and closer to its security limits.

Taking these observations into account, the energy transition poses an important
operational challenge for System Operators: how should the future, non-fully
synchronous generation based power system be operated at an affordable cost,
while guaranteeing at least the same level of operational reliability as today?
Aims of the Joint Working Group

The goal of the Joint Working Group was to answer this question by assessing best
practises, technology capabilities and requirements for the integration of power
electronics based technologies in the electrical power system, focussing on its usage
for system operations and control. In order to prepare for the near future the joint
working group aimed to bridge the gap between the technology experts and the
system operation experts and to create insight in the technical capabilities of the
power electronic devices and system operational practises. This helps power
electronics and system operation experts to better understand each other's reality
and thus enhances the implementation of power electronics in system operation and
control.
All of this gives insights in the ways power systems could be operated with the
increasing amounts of power electronics interfaced devices, while satisfying today’s
level of operational reliability.
One of the fundamental issues that rst needed to be addressed was gaining insight
in the operational challenges associated with the future power system. This insight
was achieved based on extensive literature review and complemented by two
surveys. An overview of the identi ed challenges is given in Figure 1. It was
proposed to group these challenges into the following three main categories, taking
into account that some challenges t in more than one category:
Challenge 1: Lack of voltage and frequency support

Transient and steady state stability will remain crucial, i.e. frequency and voltage
support requirements of the system will need to be maintained. This category deals
with issues that result from the speci c behaviour of power electronics interfaced
generation (PEIG) compared to existing conventional synchronous generators.
Challenge 2: New operation of the power system

This category of issues identi es areas where how we operate the power system
needs to change. This includes the people, processes and tools in system operation
that observe the bulk electric system and take necessary actions to maintain
reliability.
Challenge 3: New behaviour of the power system

With increasing penetration of power electronics interfaced devices (PEID), the power
system behaviour and response are bound to change. This category of identi ed
issues focuses on new behaviours that are or will be observed in the power system.

Contents of the Technical Brochure
The challenges, complemented with system operators’ experience, are described in
detail in the Technical Brochure.
The Technical Brochure moves on to describe the different capabilites that power
eletronics interfaced devices possess. The power electronics devices that are
considered include HVDC converters, exible alternating current technology system
controllers and power electronics interfaced generation such as wind turbine
generators and battery energy storage systems. The capabilities that are addressed
are categorized in physical cabilities (e.g. overload), grid forming capabilities (e.g.
inertial response), damping capabilities and a last category grouping all other
capabilities (e.g. phase unbalance compensation).
One of the major contributions of this Technical Brochure is the development of a

mapping table, were those capabilities of the devices were identi ed that can help to
mitigate some of the operational challenges of Figure 1. It should be stressed that
the table does not indicate that the technologies by default have the capabilities
available, but it rather indicates where additional modi cations or equipment could
be added to provide such capabilities. The Technical Brochure also provides
practical and academic examples where capabilities were actually already used to
mitigate some of the challenges.

Further in this Technical Brochure design considerations to enable the integration of
the ever increasing numbers of power electronics interfaced devices in the existing
power grids are brie y discussed. The focus here is on the early stages of design,
engineering and taking into operation, where the system operators and vendors work
in close cooperation.
Conclusion
The work in this Technical Brochure highlighted not only different operational
challenges associated with the energy transition, but also showed that the power
electronics interfaced devices have many capabilities to help mitigating some of
these challenges. A table, mapping the capabilities of these devices to the
operational challenges, was produced and can be used as a quick reference for
identifying solutions to operational challenges. When looking for which technology
can help to solve operational challenges.
Finally, the Technical Brochure gives some recommendations for further work in this
eld.
These recommendations include the design and use of grid forming controls, the
development of interoperability standards, the need for a thorough reassessment of
protection philosophies and the increasing need for enhanced power system
modelling techniques and simulation tools.

This edition is sponsored by

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ELECTRA N°313

©2020 - CIGRE ELECTRA N°313 December 2020 1

Power quality trends in the transition to carbon-free electrical energy systems

New technologies, materials and approaches for overhead lines

The development of a remote temperature logging system for pole mounted

The Application of Blockchain Technology in Power Systems

CIGRE Romania - Regional South-East European Conference (RSEEC 2020) - 5th

Membership renewal for 2021 - Renouvellement d'adhésion pour 2021

Journey of a CIGRE Green Book: "Flexible AC Transmission Systems"

In Memoriam - Dale Douglass

New West Africa National Committee

©2020 - CIGRE ELECTRA N°313 December 2020 2

SC D2 > Information systems and telecommunication

TB 817 WG A3.38 Shunt capacitor switching in distribution and transmission systems

TB 819 WG B5.50 IEC 61850 - Based substation automation systems – Users

expectations and stakeholders interaction

TB 820 WG C1.39 Optimal power system planning under growing uncertainty

©2020 - CIGRE ELECTRA N°313 December 2020 3

Worldwide, one consequence has been – due to a pandemic reduction in energy

©2020 - CIGRE ELECTRA N°313 December 2020 4

A short History of Study Committees

The creation and expansion of Study

For the inter-war period, study topics can be summarized as follows:

Parallel operation of power plants and oscillation between machines;

©2020 - CIGRE ELECTRA N°313 December 2020 5

However, in a determinedly positive approach, the new dynamics of CIGRE were

Protection and Relays,

All in all, by 1950 there were 17 Study Committees.

Study Committee membership

©2020 - CIGRE ELECTRA N°313 December 2020 6

Study Committee Chairs were thus given due recognition for

100 years of knowledge sharing

©2020 - CIGRE ELECTRA N°313 December 2020 7

In September 2000, the Administrative

As so, in 2002 adaptation to the new

Equipment domain (A)

Appendix 2 shows the existing 16 Study

APPENDIX 2 - the present CIGRE Study Committees are as follows:

Rotating electrical machines

Power transformers and reactors

©2020 - CIGRE ELECTRA N°313 December 2020 8

Transmission and distribution equipment

Substations and electrical installations

DC systems and power electronics

Protection and automation

Power system development and economics

Power system operation and control

Power system environmental performance

Power system technical performance

Electricity markets and regulation

Active distribution systems and distributed energy resources

©2020 - CIGRE ELECTRA N°313 December 2020 9

Materials and emerging test techniques

Information systems and telecommunication

Next edition: The growth of the National Committees…

©2020 - CIGRE ELECTRA N°313 December 2020 10

Requirements and capabilities of power

by Jan VAN PUTTEN, JWG C2/B4.38

©2020 - CIGRE ELECTRA N°313 December 2020 11

System operational challenges

©2020 - CIGRE ELECTRA N°313 December 2020 12

activate anti-islanding protection for high RoCoF events; and

The Working Group’s current activities involve identifying which capabilities of