Benghazi University

Faculty of Engineering

Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Department

Power System Protection & Control Lab.

EE486

Experiment Number (2)

Experiment Name: underground

Students Name : Mohamed shakir

Students Number : ) 24680 (

Group Number : (2)

Instructors : Dr. Sulaiman Elsaid & Mr. Zakariya Rajab

Underground

1. OBJECTIVES:

This exercise will investigate the investigate the inherent limitation of high voltage underground
cables because of the shunt capacitive effect and will simulate typical corrective measures in present.

2. Introduction:

Electric power can also be transmitted by underground power cables instead of overhead power lines.
They can assist the transmission of power across:

Densely populated urban areas

 Areas where land is unavailable or planning consent is difficult
 Rivers and other natural obstacles
 Land with outstanding natural or environmental heritage
 Areas of significant or prestigious infrastructural development
 Land whose value must be maintained for future urban expansion and rural
 development

Some other advantages of underground power cables:

 Less subject to damage from severe weather conditions (mainly lightning, wind and freezing).
 Greatly reduced emission, into the surrounding area, of electromagnetic fields (EMF).
 All electric currents generate EMF, but the shielding provided by the earth surrounding
underground cables restricts their range and power. See section below, health concerns.
 Underground cables need a narrower surrounding strip of about 1–10 meters to install, whereas
an overhead line requires a surrounding strip of about 20–200 meters wide to be kept
permanently clear for safety, maintenance and repair.
 Underground cables pose no hazard to low flying aircraft or to wildlife, and are significantly
safer as they pose no shock hazard (except to the unwary digger).
 Much less subject to conductor theft, illegal connections, sabotage, and damage from armed
conflict.

Some disadvantages of underground power cables:

 Undergrounding is more expensive, since the cost of burying cables at transmission voltages
is several times greater than overhead power lines, and the underground/ overhead installation
cost ratio can exceed 10/1 in many cases.
 Whereas finding and repairing overhead wire breaks can be accomplished in hours, underground
repairs can take days or weeks.
 Underground power cables, due to their proximity to earth, cannot be maintained live, whereas
overhead power cables can be.
 Operations are more difficult since the high reactive power of underground cables produces
large charging currents and so makes voltage control more difficult.
The advantages can in some cases outweigh the disadvantages of the higher investment cost,
and more expensive maintenance and management.
Most high voltage cables for power transmission that are currently sold on the market are
insulated by a sheath of cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE). Some cable may have a lead or
aluminum jacket in conjunction with XLPE insulation to allow for fiber optics to be
seamlessly integrated within the cable, before 1960, underground power cables were
insulated with oil and paper and ran in a rigid steel pipe, or a semi-rigid aluminum or lead
jacket or sheath. The oil was kept under pressure to prevent formation of voids that would
allow partial discharges within the cable insulation. There are still many of these oil-and-
paper insulated cables in use worldwide. Between 1960 and 1990, polymers became more
widely used at distribution voltages,

Mostly EPDM (ethylene propylene diene M-class); however, their relative unreliability
particularly early XLPE, resulted in a slow uptake at transmission voltages. While cables of
330 kV are commonly constructed using XLPE, this has occurred only in recent decades. A
significant characteristic of all underground cables is the high capacitance resulting from the
close phase to neutral spacing at high voltages. For a typical 115 KV system this capacitive
reactance in modest amounts is beneficial to compensate for low power factor loads.
However, at 345 KV the capacitive current at no load (charging current) can approach the
current carrying capacity of the cable. At 345 KV, this occurs at a cable length of
approximately 25 miles at this voltage must employ compensating shunt inductive reactors at
appropriate intervals. Since the inductive current is 90° lagging it will be 180° out phase with
the 90° leading capacitive current and thus will cancel it. This experiment will simulate the
effect of shunt capacitance on a cable at its critical distance by introducing phase to ground
capacitance. The compensatory effects of a shunt inductive reactance connected phase to
ground will also be shown. Line D1-11 will be used to simulate a 345KV pipe type cable of a
length equal to its critical distance. Source voltage (E) will supplied from station 11. In part I,
the effects of line parameters at no load will be observed. In part II after compensation at no
load, normal load currents will be allowed to flow.

3. Procedure

Part I
Se board to simulate line D1-11 as a pip-type cable as discussed. Assume the maximum ampacity is
about one ampere.
2. On each phase of line D1-11, insert impedances as follows:
 Series:
R=25 ohms
X=15.7 ohms at 50HZ
 Shunt:
Insert 8µf. To ground from each phase.
3. Open disconnects at station 1 to simulate no load conditions.
4. Set voltage (Es) at station 11 at 600 volts and energize line.
5. Read following values and enter in Table (1) :
6. Receiving voltage (ER) at station 1.

Fig.2

Part II
1. Simulate parallel resonance by inserting 0.9 HY from each phase to ground.
2. Keep line at no load conditions, set Es at 600 volts and energize line.
3. Read value as in part I, 5 above.

Fig.2
 Vfl = 450V L-L L = 7.8j Z = 1000+500j

Table 1 calculations
Set line Z measured Calculation
Part Set load Set
Z Es
(Ω) (V)

Series Series Shunt Shunt Er V.R%

XL XL XC XL (V)
(Ω) (Ω)

25 15.7 600 560 16%

I open 8µf --

25 15.7 0.9 HY 600 515 7.2%

II open 8µf

COMMENT:

In part I V.R = 16% we not expect because high voltage cable V.R = ±5%
In part IIA V.R = 7.2% not expect because for high voltage V.R = ±5%

4. Calculation
Vl−Vfl 560−480
The V.R% for part I V.R = X100% = X 100% = 16%
Vfl 480

Vl−Vfl 515−480
The V.R% for part II V.R = X100% = X 100% = 7.2%
Vfl 480

5. Questions
Q.1. Did you measure a voltage drop at no load? Explain the difference between part I
and part IIA .

-yes, the voltage drop occurs when we interred the shunt inductance

Q.2. Discuss the basic differences between series and parallel resonance?

- he main difference between series and parallel resonance is that series resonance occurs when
the arrangement of the components creates the minimum impedance whereas parallel resonance
occurs when the arrangement of components creates the largest impedance.
Q.3. Why shunt reactors are used for at no loads?

- To control the voltage and keep it constant and to maintains the stability of the network.

Q.4. Calculate the shunt compensation facto

BL 2 πfL 1
- shunt compensation factor = = = 0.71= 71%
Bc 2 πfc
f=50Hz
L=0.9H
C=0.8uf

6. Conclusion
When shunt reactors are included in the line protection zone, a fault in the reactor may result in the line
protection operating and taking the line out of service. For example, a fault very close to the terminals of
the reactor will have the same voltage and current profile as a fault close in to the line terminal and, as
such, will be readily detected by the line protection scheme. However, a fault close to the neutral of the
reactor will not be detected by the line protection scheme
Shunt reactors are used in power systems to counteract the effect of the line parasitic capacitance,
thereby stabilizing the system voltage within acceptable limits. The greatest threat posed by shunt
reactors to sensitive line protection (67Q, 67G, 87LQ, and 87LG) schemes is when they are energized or
they experience faults close to their terminals if the reactor is excluded from the protection zone. For
these situations, it is recommended that the protection scheme be secured by dc saturation and
external fault detection logic. Infeed from the shunt reactor during faults on the power system is not a
concern because the percentage of fault current contributed by the shunt reactor is negligible and, for
all practical purposes, can be neglected. Distance relays that are memory voltage polarized and are
connected to the power system via line PTs need to be fitted with ring down detection so as not to
corrupt the memory voltage when the line is de-energized. When applying sensitive protection
elements, excluding the reactor from the line protection zone requires the protection device to
compensate for the line charging current, whereas if the reactor is included in the zone of protection,
this is not strictly required. When considering line protection, there is not a significant advantage in
including or excluding the shunt reactor from the protection zone.