Name Abhijit Dilip Mahale

Prn 10303320181129310018

Subject Electrical Power Quality

Unit TRANSIENT OVER VOLTAGES.

Topic Causes and Effects of Transient over voltages.

 #Case study – 02

A transient over-voltage or spike is an electrical impulse of short duration but high energy
that is induced onto an electrical or electronic circuit from external sources; these may be
repetitive or random. Repetitive examples include switch-on or -off of electrical motors or
other heavy machinery, but random events like lightning strikes or electrostatic discharge
(ESD) can also induce spikes onto vulnerable circuits. The risk of transient over-voltage
events, and ways to mitigate them, have become of increasing concern as electronic systems
become ever-more essential to our working and personal lives. Data centers house ranks of
potentially vulnerable servers, but equally susceptible devices exist in our cars, homes and
pockets. As these devices have proliferated, they have also become ever-smaller. This
miniaturization has resulted in increased sensitivity to electrical stresses. Microprocessors for
example, have structures and conductive paths which are unable to handle high currents from
ESD transients. Such components operate at very low voltages, so voltage disturbances must
be controlled to prevent device interruption and latent or catastrophic failures. Over voltage
tends to stress the insulation of the electrical equipment’s and likely to cause damage to them
when it frequently occurs. Over voltage caused by surges can result in spark over and flash
over between phase and ground at the weakest point in the network, breakdown of
gaseous/solid/ liquid insulation, failure of transformers and rotating machines.
A Case Study
Our case study is based on a 100 MW wind farm that is proposing to interconnect at 115 kV
to an existing transmission grid. The interconnection point is not voltage stiff (another way of
saying this is that it has low short circuit levels), and hence is inclined to let voltages drift a
bit before any sort of reactive power control can be provided by the grid. The wind farm’s
design involves a 34.5 kV collector system that connects all 56 wind turbines to the main
substation where voltage is stepped up to the 115 kV level. At the 34.5 kV bus, there are
three 3.6 MVAr capacitor banks to provide steady-state voltage support at various operating
levels of the wind farm.
The wind farm was modeled in commercial software for simulating electromagnetic
transients, PSCAD, from the Manitoba HVDC Research Centre, and the following tests were
specified:

 Energization, when a collector circuit is energized from the substation, or when the
whole collector system is energized from the 115 kV grid.
 De-energization, when the whole collector system is switched off from the main
circuit breaker.
 Switching of the capacitor banks.
 Load rejection, when a collector feeder breaker opens while the connected wind
turbines are at full output.
 Various faults, primarily single-line (“SLG”) and three-phase (“3θ”) short circuits.

When energizing the wind farm, voltages rise by up to 80%. The maximum transient
overvoltage is about 2.6 p.u. crest (per unit of the maximum instantaneous voltage). With
lighting arresters, the maximum voltage is reduced by about 21% to around 2.1 p.u. When the
wind farm is de-energized, there is an overvoltage of up to 2.0 p.u. crest on certain locations
in the 34.5 kV collector system. The maximum voltage when energizing one capacitor bank
is about 2.0 p.u crest occurring when the first bank is switched in. This simulation assumes
that the bank is connected wye grounded and there is no pre-insertion resistor. A pre-insertion
resistor is expected to reduce the maximum switching overvoltage by 0.3-0.5 p.u. The
capacitor energization inrush current is about 6.3 kAmps at about 10 kHz. Energizing the
second and third banks, i.e., back-to-back switching, results in inrush currents of up to 13
kAmps. These levels of inrush current are within the capacitor switchers’ withstand
capability. When de-energizing the capacitor bank, restrike by the capacitor switch results in
overvoltage of 1.7 p.u. For the load rejection tests, the maximum overvoltage is 2.1 p.u. The
highest overvoltage observed for the SLG and 3θ fault tests is about 3.0 p.u. for a Phase A to
ground on the 34.5kV collector bus, cleared in 9 cycles. Overall, the maximum level of TOV
of 3.0 p.u. are within the basic switching impulse levels (BIL) for the main transformer rated
5.9 p.u., the GSU transformers rated 4.4 p.u. and capacitor switch rated 7.1 p.u. However, the
grid owner must then use this information to determine if the potential TOV impacts to their
customers supplied on the same grid are within acceptable levels.
Conclusion
Because of the nature of wind and solar farms, there is a potential risk of transient over
voltages when integrated with existing grids. The risk is in addition to traditional sources of
TOV such as lightning strikes. The magnitude, frequency and duration of TOV may be
evaluated using computer simulation for electromagnetic transients, also known as EMTP,
such as the commercial package, PSCAD. The TOV may be present in the collector system
of the farm or may be introduced into the grid from the farm.