ZESCO LIMITED

TRANSMISSION DIRECTORATE PROTECTION DEPARTMENT

REPORT ON THE LOSS OF THE ENTIRE LOAD AT COVENTRY STREET SUBSTATION ON OVERLOAD PROTECTION

1.0 INTRODUCTION On 11th May 2012 at 11:25hrs the entire load at Coventry Street substation was lost due to the tripping of transformer banks 1 & 2 on overload protection. There are two transformer banks at Coventry substation. Bank No.1 consists of 132/11kV transformer T1B and 132/33kV transformer T1A with a common HV circuit breaker CB 110. Bank No. 2 consists of 132/33 transformer T2A and the defective 132/11kV transformer T2B with a common HV circuit breaker CB 210. 2.0 CAUSE OF TRIPPING There was an over load condition on transformer T1B of magnitude 245.5A on the HV side against a setting of 130A. Ideally this condition should have resulted in the tripping of the LV 11kV circuit breaker if coordination was correct. Instead what operated was the HV overcurrent protection on T1B. Owing to its tripping configuration, the 132kV, 33kV and 11kV circuit breakers on transformer bank No.1 tripped. This left out transformer bank No.2 which has only one transformer in circuit. The remaining transformer T2A could not cope with load and tripped on the 33kV side on overcurrent protection. This resulted in loss of the entire load at Coventry Substation. 3.0 REMEDIAL ACTION The improper coordination between LV and HV overcurrent protection on T1B has since been resolved. This problem was caused by protection settings which were calculated at nominal tap position. Usually if coordination is achieved at nominal tap position, it may not be the case at extreme tap position owing to the altered turns ratio. The worst case occurs when you have the minimum number of turns on the HV side where a higher current would result. This higher current resulting from decreased winding turns on HV side may cause the protection coordination to be lost. To avoid this scenario, the protection coordination should be calculated at the extreme tap position with the least number of turns. The new settings were worked out and implemented in the HV overcurrent relay. The discrimination margin of 0.4s was observed between the LV and the HV overcurrent protection. The settings were adjusted as follows: On the LV side no adjustment was made. The settings are at PS 0.99, TMS 0.3 and CT ratio 1500/1 On the HV side adjustments were made. The new settings are: PS=0.97 (from0.87), TMS =0.41 (from 0.42). The CT ratio is 150/1. These settings will ensure adequate discrimination between faults on LV and HV with a margin of 0.4s. 4.0 CHALLENGES FACED DURING RESTORATION The reported failure to operate the circuit breakers from NCC was caused by the lockout trip relay which the substation attendants were supposed to reset. Apparently they were unaware of this action until protection personnel got to site and advised them how to reset the master trip relay. In the meantime the affected circuit breakers were closed locally at site.