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PROTECTION STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING QUQLITYOF SUPPLY

G H Topham
Eskom, South Africa

ABSTRACT

QUALITY OF SUPPLY PARAMETERS

Electricity supply quality has becorne an important and


integral part of the utility business. Current topics
receiving attention include, inter alia, the incorporation
of quality of supply parameters into electricity supply
agreements, utility and user mitigation technologies, the
development of standards and the quantification of
quality of supply parameters thrlough measurement.
Voltage dips are one of the most common events on the
utility power system which can adversely affect the
quality of supply. The occurrence of voltage dips IS
costly, both to the customer and the national economy.
In South Africa, the loss suffered by major industrial
customers due to dips is more than R 1,2 billion per
annum (Coney (1)).

The proliferation of power electronic equipment and the


increased sensitivity of industrial equipment to
electricity supply disturbances has brought pressure to
bear on utilities to pay more attention to quality of
supply issues. Quality of supply is measured in terms of
a number of parameters including voltage fluctuations
(notches, dips, undervoltages, spikes, surges and
overvoltages), frequency variations, voltage unbalance,
harmonic distortion and voltage flicker (Eskom Quality
of Supply Group (2)). By far the most prevalent
disturbance type contributing to a degradation of quality
of supply is the short time voltage depressi-q,
commonly referred to as a dip or sag.
VOLTAGE DIPS

This paper explores the influences of protection


operation on quality of supply, focusing on voltage
dips, and proposes some possible strategies to improve
quality of supply through the adoption of different
protection technologies, philosophies and application
and setting practices.
The strategies focus, inter alia, on hult clearance times,
auto-reclose policies, setting philosophies and adaptive
protection techniques. The paper also presents the
results of a study in which voltage dip measuremenls
over a 2,5 year period are correlated with 2624 fault
events on the Eskom transmission system over the same
period, in terms of the type (and hence speed) of
protection employed.
INTRODUCTION
Power system stability, safety and minimizing
equipment damage have traditionally been the focal
issues of power system protection. The impact of
power system faults and associated protection remedial
action on customers operations has not, until recently,
received much attention.
One of the major
consequences of the operation of protection equipment
following a power system fault is short duration dips
experienced by customers. Reclosure, following a
protection operation, onto a sustained fault, causes yet
another dip further exacerbating the customers supply
quality. A strategy to improve the quality of supply in
terms of dips, therefore, needs to focus on fault
clearance times and reclosing philosophy.

Voltage dips are largely caused by power system faults


such as insulation flashovers (utility initiated dips) and
the connection and operation of large loads such as
motors (customer initiated dips). Power system causes
of dips cannot be completely eliminated, but can to a
certain degree be controlled by mechanical intervention
and indeed by adopting sensible protection philosophies
and practices. Utility interventions to decrease the
depth of voltage dips as well as other quality of supply
phenomena could require the building of additional
transmission lines. This action in itself increases the
exposure of the utility network to power system faults
and hence dips. On the other hand, intervention behind
the meter at customers premises to increase the
immunity of customers plant to voltage dips, only aids
a particular customer (i.e. is very localized).
Voltage Dip Parameters
Voltage dips are characterized by a number of
parameters. These are:
the frequency of occurrence;
the duration (the time when the measured r.m.s.
voltage is less than 0,9 per unit);
the magnitude of the depression (the extent below
nominal to which the measured r.m.s. voltage
drops);
phase shift; and,
propagation.
Protection equipment and philosophies can have a direct
influence on the first two of these parameters.

Developments in Power System Protection, 25-27th March 1997,


Conference Publication No. 434, 0 IEE, 1997

2
Correlation of protection employed and the latter three
parameters has not, as yet, been fully investigated.
combinations Of these
dips with
parameters affect different c w m m s differently,
depending on the sensitivity of the customers
equipment, but generally, the duration and depth Of the
depression, coup1ed with the frequency Of Occurrence
are the main concerns.

Voltage Dip Classification


South Africa historically uses a two dimensional scatter
plot of the magnitude of voltage depression versus dip
duration to -present dip data (see figure 1).
Superimposed on the plot are five key areas or
windows. The first is the area in which a voltage dip
would have little or no effect on customers plant. This
area is where the depth of the dip is not more than 10%
and the duration of the dip is less than 20 ms. The other
four areas on the plot which are labelled A, B, C
and D, give a simplistic classification of the severity
of the dip.
~

Magniludcof Dip ( X below nominal)

Figure 1: Dip Window Plot


ESKOM QUALITY OF SUPPLY
MEASUREMENTS
In 1994 Eskom embarked on a drive to measure the
depth, duration and frequency of occurrence of dips at
selected measurement points throughout the network.
To date, quality of supply measuring equipment has
been installed at 176 Iocations on the Eskom
transmission network and at selected customer locations
in the distribution network. Data captured is loaded into
a central database, providing a platform on which to
base studies and investigations into quality of supply
issues. The data is also used as a basis for making dip
mitigation and capital investment decisions, and as an
input into the setting up of supply contracts with
customers.

fault events on the transmission system. A subset of


this data was used together with the quality of supply
database information in a correlation exercise to
determine the linkages between measured voltage dip
duration and the type of protection involved in clearing
the correlated fault. The subset of the transmission data
included the fault date and time, the transmission line,
and the types of protection at each line end, The results
of the correlation exercise are presented later in this
paper.
CLASSIFICATION OF PROTECTION USED ON
THE ESKOM TRANSMISSION NETWORK
Prior to the mid 1980s, the transmission line protection
utilized by Eskom was largely of the electromechanical
and early analogue electronic types. For the purposes of
the correlation exercise, the protection schemes using
these relay types have been termed Phase 1. From the
mid-1980s to the mid-1990s , Phase 2 schemes were
installed and the relays used were largely second
generation analogue electronic devices. These relays
are further classified according to whether or not they
employ switched measurement techniques (i.e. only one
measuring element). Also included in this category are
the early analogue electronic relays used by Eskom for
the protection of series compensated lines. Phase 3
schemes, installed from the mid- 1990s, comprise
numerical-based relays.
The majority (more than 88 YO)of Eskoms transmission
line protection schemes use dual main protection relays.
Twelve distinct relay types, applied in various
combinations in single and dual main arrangements,
were used in Phase 1 type schemes. Four different
relay types were used in Phase 2 type schemes,
predominantly in an identical dual main protection
arrangement. Two different relay types are used in
Phase 3 type schemes with the two main protections
being either identical or comprising one of each relay
type.
PROTECTION SPEED OF OPERATION
The speed of operation of protection equipment together
with the speed of operation of the associated circuitbreaker determines the fault clearance time. Before the
correlation exercise mentioned above was undertaken, a
number of expected results were postulated. These
were:

TRANSMISSION LINE FAULTS

clearance at both line ends of a meshed transmission


line is required to effect full restoration of the
voltage as measured at a location within the zone of
sensitivity of the particular fault. Therefore, the dip
duration is largely dependent on the line end with
the slowest protection time.

Transmission line faults are the predominant


disturbances in the Eskom transmission system, with
single-phase-to-ground faults representing some 87 %
of all fault types. The System Operations Department
in Eskoms Transmission Group maintains a database of

it was anticipated, based on manufacturers


specifications of relay operating times, that the best
performance was to be expected from Phase 2 nonswitched protection relay based schemes, followed
by Phase 3 numerical relay based schemes, followed
by Phase 1 (electromechanical and analogue

3
electronic relay) based schemes and then by Phase 2
switched relay based schemes.

The results were grouped according to the types of


protection employed at each line end. The main
groupings were as follows:

CORRELATION OF QUALITY OF SUPPLY


MEASUREMENT AND FAULT DATA
As the raw data required to perform the correlation
between the measured quality of supply dip data and the
recorded transmission system fault data was located in
two different databases, some dala manipulation was
required. The transmission line fault data was obtained
in Microsoft Excel@ form and comprised 2624 fault
events. The quality of supply data was accessed from
the separate Prealism database and contained 28676
measurement records. The data of interest for the
correlation exercise was imported from the two separate
databases into Microsoft Access@. A query w , ~
generated to perform the correlation. As the time
references of the individual recording devices in the
transmission network are not synchronized, a
correlation algorithm based on an exact match of the
date and hour stamps and a time stamp difference of
less than or equal to 1 minute was used to generate a set
of correlated results. As the main focus of the exercise
was primary protection operations, correlated events
where the measured dip duration was greater than 1510
ms were discarded. Figure 2 show!$the data processing
methodology used.

0
0

Phase 1 at each line end;


Phase 2 at each line end;
Phase 3 at each line end;
Phase I at one line end and 2 at the either line end;
and,
a combination of Phase 2 and 3 at each line end.

As the whole quality of supply initiative focuses on the


customer, the worst dip duration for the three measured
phases (in the case of multi-phase dips) was used in
further processing of the results.

The average maximum dip duration for all correlated


records was 79,70 ms. The average dip duration for
faults cleared by Phase 1 protection was 85,79 ms. For
faults cleared by Phase 2 protection the average dip
duration was 69,2 1 ms. These results were as expected.
An unexpected result was the average dip duration of
57,42 ms for faults cleared by Phase 3 protection which
is markedly better than the average for all events. The
reason for this is, at this stage, not clearly understood.
Some possibilities include favourable conditions for fast
breaker clearance (all correlated events relate to two
particular lines in the Natal area), or more consistent
protection operating times as compared to Phase 2
relays. Future investigations will aim at establishing the
explanation for the results.
A selection of the
correlation results is shown graphically in Figure 3 .
100

--

Category of protection types

Figure 2: Data correlation metholdology


Figure 3: Chart showing correlation results
CORRELATION RESULTS
A total of 46 16 correlated records was obtained. An
important point to note is that the query did not result in
a one-to-one correlation as the effect of individual fault
events was, in Some cases,
at more than one
location. However, averaging the results still provides a
good indication of the correlation between measured dip
duration and protection speed Of )peration. Table I
provides a summary of the correlation results.

The results indicate that the choice of relay technology


employed has a definite influence on the voltage dip
performance in the vicinity ofthe faulted transmission
line. In contradiction to expectation, it
reasonable to conclude that upgrading the protection
even at only one line end can reduce the overall voltage
dip duration. From a financial point of view, it is

obviously not feasible to upgrade all older types of


protection equipment purely for the sake of reducing
voltage dip durations.

TABLE 1: Numerical results of correlation study

I Phase 1 at both line ends

85,79

26,59,

3063

Phase 2 at both line ends

69,21

22,14

1067

Phase 3 at both line ends

57,42

16,59

62

Phase 1 at end I and Phase 2 at end 2

65,98

21,93

404

52,s

9,67

68,62

21,47

Phase 2 & 3 at both line ends


Phase 2 Non-switched protection at both line ends

I Phase 2 Switched protection at both line ends

90,93

23,18

20

972
43

However, it would make sense to keep protection


technology upgrading as a possibility when considering
the options available to reduce voltage dip durations for
specific customer quality of supply mitigation projects.
When cost justifying refurbishment, quality of supply is
an important aspect which should be brought into the
equation.

installed at a particular location in the Eskom network


to gather data regarding the currents and voltages
during a single pole open condition following a single
pole trip. This data was used to train the adaptive
reclose relay. A field trial relay was installed during the
first quarter of 1996 on the Eskom network and is
currently under evaluation.

The settings employed on transmission line protection


relays will also have an influence on the overall fault
clearance times and hence the voltage dip duration.
Revising settings with the aim of improving relaying
speed of operation could be an economical solution to
improving quality of supply, although, the results would
perhaps be somewhat marginal compared to other
options. If this option was considered, it would be
important to not place the security of the protection in
jeopardy when revising the settings, as this could
worsen the quality of supply rather than improving the
situation.

The auto-reclose relay monitors the line voltages during


the open pole condition. Through a signature analysis,
the recloser can determine when it is safe to reclose
thereby minimizing the chance of reclosing back onto
an uncleared fault and thereby minimizing the number
of voltage dips which would be experienced by
customers in the vicinity.

RECLOSING PHILOSOPHIES

As was mentioned earlier in this paper, another voltage


dip parameter of importance is the number of dips.
Some customers equipment, which can tolerate single
dips of a certain depth and duration, cannot withstand
multiple dips within a short space of time. Eskoms
reclosing philosophy to date has primarily been one of
reclose at all costs (1). This clearly is not to the
advantage of the customer. An improvement to this
approach is therefore required.
Adaptive Reclosing
An improved approach to reclosing would be to only
permit a reclose if the probability of success was
determined to be of an acceptable level. An adaptive
auto-reclose relay has been developed by Reyrolle in
conjunction with the University of Bath in the UK, and
with input from Eskom (Laycock (3)). The relay is
based on neural network technology. A data capture
unit was

CONCLUSIONS
Voltage dips experienced by customers are costly and a
review of protection philosophies and practices, and the
installation of appropriate protection equipment, can
have a positive impact on minimizing the effect of the
dips.
REFERENCES
1. Coney RG, 1996, The impacts of protection
philosophy and performance on quality of supply
Southern African Conference on Power System
Protection

2. Eskom Quality of Supply Group, 1994, Power


Quality Reference Guide
3. Laycock, WJ, 1994, Adapting reclosure of HV
circuits to system conditions, Southern African
Conference on Power System Protection.

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