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UHV AC Transmission Systems- Challenge for the future

Hemang Tailor, Dr. A.R. Chudasama, Dept. of Electrical Engg., Faculty of Technology & Engineering, MAHARAJA SAYAJIRAO UNIVERSITY OF BARODA, Vadodara-390001 Email : hrtailor-eed@msubaroda.ac.in, archudasama@msubaroda.ac.in
AbstractFrom AC system voltages in the order of 100 kV at
the beginning of the last century a continuous rise lead up to maximum values of 1200 kV for large interconnected systems. The driver for future development is the further increase of electrical power demand, based on expectations for the increasing world population, the development of economy and the fact that electric energy is the most suitable form of energy with respect to commodity for people and environment. The rapid growth in electrical power demand in China and India is a great challenge leading to the development of Ultra High voltage (UHV) transmission systems. The proposed interconnected UHV power grid will be composed of 1000 kV to 1200 kV AC system and 800 kV DC projects. UHV transmission system requires comprehensive system analysis and system simulation, not only to solve technical problems but also to reduce costs and to assure a reliable operation of the interconnected grid. The paper gives examples of such system simulations and recommendations for substation equipment ratings and dimensioning.

Trends in Power Systems The development of power systems follows the requirements to transmit power from the generation to the consumers. In industrialized countries, power systems have grown first to regional, then to national and finally to large, internationally interconnected networks using high voltage levels. From AC system voltages in the order of 100 kV at the beginning of the last century a continuous rise lead up to maximum values of 1200 kV (Fig. 1).

Key Words: UHV AC Transmission; Insulation Coordination;

UHV-Substation Equipment, Ratings, Dimensioning, Network Planning; System Stability.

Fig.1 Development of voltage levels for AC power Transmission The operating voltage of power systems depends mainly on the geographic conditions and the average transmission distance. In Europe, 400 kV became the highest voltage level, in Far East countries it is mostly 550 kV, and in America 550 kV and 765 kV. High complexity of such large systems has been reached in Europe (UCTE, NORDEL and IPS/UPS systems), and the grids of India and China will also reach a similar high density and complexity soon. The Ultra High Voltage (UHV) AC transmission with voltage levels of 1000 kV to 1200 kV has been anticipated in the past in some countries and also some test lines have already been built. Today these lines are operated with 500 kV. The main characteristics of these UHV AC transmission systems are depicted in table 1. Power System in India With the increasing power demand in India, in the 1980's it was envisaged to build a national grid by interconnecting the regional networks to gain the advantages of power exchange, sharing generation resources, and to increase the reliability of supply. Tab. 1 Main Characteristics of UHV AC Systems ( Japan; Kazakhstan)

INTRODUCTION Long-term developments in power industry depend on expectations for future political, financial and technical conditions. For the last decade, however, the developments have been strongly driven by the globalization, leading to deregulation and liberalization. A worldwide trend in the development of power systems is to build interconnections with the goal to achieve economical benefits. Such large interconnected systems can cover many subsystems, countries or even wide continental areas. Interconnections of power systems may offer significant technical, economical and environmental advantages, such as pooling of large power generation stations, sharing of spinning reserve and use of most economic energy resources taking into account also ecological constraints. The driving force for the development of power systems is the growing demand for electric energy. In strongly industrialized countries of Europe and North America, and Japan, we can expect slow demand growth, or even stagnation, based, however, on a high present level of demand. In Asia and partly in South America and Africa growth is further expected to be rapid. These are the regions where energy demand increase will be greatest in the future. This expected fast rise in electric energy demand will likewise lead to rapid further development of power systems.
Manuscript received August 9, 2008.

2 o o o o Reduction of transmission losses Reduction of energy transfer cost per unit Reduction of transmission corridor width Shortening the electrical distance between synchronized power grids

At present, the installed generation capacity is about 120 GW, 67% produced in coal fired plants, 29% in hydro plants and 4% in nuclear plants and others, in which the wind generation is the most important one. Large hydro energy resources in India are available in the north and north-east of the country, near the Himalayan Mountains. Huge coal reserves are available in the West and East areas of the country. Power produced in hydro stations and coal fired plants has to be transmitted to the loads over large distances of 1000 km and more. So far transmission voltage in the country has been mainly 400 kV AC with few lines of 765 kV AC (Fig. 2).

UHV AC equipments mainly include transformers, high voltage reactors, GIS circuit breakers, bushing and trans mission lines and are characterized by high voltage and large load and short circuit currents. UHV technology is technical feasible, but there are many challenges in insulation design, thermal stability and dynamic stability and the need for R & D and standardization works. UHV transmission system requires comprehensive system analysis and system simulation, not only to solve technical problems, but also to reduce costs, to optimize design and to assure a reliable operation of the interconnected grid.

Fig 3: Indian Power System 2025 & beyond Recommendations for Insulation Coordination One of the major technical and economical dimensioning criteria for UHV systems is given by the requirements of proper insulation coordination. For substation equipment IEC 62271203 gives preferred rated insulation levels. The existing standard covers rated voltages up to Ur = 800 kV, but extrapolation to voltages of Ur = 1100 kV seems to be appropriate for a first approach. The extrapolation has to consider several boundary conditions and shall take into account experiences taken from running UHV-installations built since the 1970s pioneering the Ultra High Voltage field of transmission systems. As a matter of fact switching impulse withstand capability dominates the dimensions as lightning impulse stress will cause lower flashover probability due to shorter impulse duration and lower flashover lead-time. The following Fig. 4 and 5 are paying tribute to former installations and demonstrate recent recommendations discussed in a variety of publications to define the appropriate specification requirements according to IEC, ANSI and existing UHV-installations. Different authors have considered the most important SIWL very clear in the range of 2 p.u. which means 1800 kV line- toground in case of Ur = 1100 kV. Some authors feel even

Fig.2

Indian National Grid by 2007

Future plans include construction of a ring of 765 kV transmission lines interconnecting eastern, western and northern regional grids by the year 2010. Interconnections between regional grids started by the realization of HVDC back to back stations. For long distance, point to point bulk power transmission HVDC transmission with 500 kV has been implemented. In order to meet the requirement of transmitting power from remote generating stations to load centers, it is now felt that there is need to increase the AC transmission voltage beyond 800 kV and explore the possibility of increasing the transmission voltage up to 1200 kV (Fig. 3). The proposed nationwide interconnected UHV power grid will be composed of 1000 kV AC system and 800 kV DC projects. This hybrid UHV power grid will realize the optimal allocation and utilization of energy resources containing the following advantages: o Increase of transmission capacity

3 confident if the SWIL for transformers is defined as 1675 kV between terminals. For LIWL the recommendations vary from 2100 kV for transformers to 2400 kV for other equipment and may be defined up to 2700 kV if all tolerances shall be covered on the safe side. Todays electrical equipment is highly reliable and can be designed with narrow band of flashover likelihood due to homogeneous electrical field shaping. components reasonable. (e.g. bushings, porcelain-insulators etc.)

Fig. 6 Insertion point for additional arrester for limitation of Lightning Impulse Level Fig. 7 shows test results from various sources including IEC 60060-1 as the lower reference. Several CIGRE studies and other investigations are indicating that the relation of required flashover distance at a SIWL of approximately 1800 kV results in an insulator length of about 9000 mm which is expected to be state-of the art for insulator design and manufacturing.

Fig. 4 Comparison of rated Lightning Impulse Withstand Voltages 1p.u. = Ur * (2/3)1/2 Additionally, the insulation coordination can rely on the modern Metal-Oxide arrester-technology with exact voltage limitation due to high break-through currents and extremely high energy dissipation capability.

Fig. 5 Comparison of rated Switching Impulse Withstand Voltages 1p.u. = Ur * (2/3)1/2 Recent studies carried out demonstrated the influence of arrester-positioning in an outdoor substation with Highly Integrated Gas-Insulated-Switchgear H(G)IS. The single-line diagram shows the 1 Circuit-Breaker arrangement with two bus-bars, overhead-line incoming feeder and outgoing transformer feeder. The isolation coordination was set for LIWL 2700 kV/1.15 = 2438 kV at the equipment terminals. As standard layout practice considers one arrester is located close to the transformer and another close to the OHL-terminal. In this case Lightning Impulse Voltages at the transformer terminals will not exceed 2180 kV. Surprisingly, the maximum impulse levels are far higher at the terminals of the H(G)IS. Therefore, it is recommended to position an additional arrester at the OHL-terminal connection point of the H(G)IS. This will result in significant reduction of lightning impulse voltage to 2438 kV at the switchgear terminals. The side view illustrates the situation and general dimensions (Fig. 6). Finally, it is a matter of manufacturability, whether substation equipment can be built within the existing manufacturing capabilities to keep the additional investment cost for UHV-

Fig 7. Switching Impulse Voltage & flashover distanceState- of-the-art. However, experimental investigations with current products shall be performed to optimize the design assuring long life time and flashover-free operation in service. A broad variety of manufacturers is working on UHV- equipment that will cover the requirements of modern UHV AC transmission technology. Keeping the opportunities high for world wide application in the field of UHV-ratings up to 1100 kV Gas-InsulatedSwitchgear is offering opportunities to optimize substation equipment. However, the overall cost shall be taken into account. One of the most efficient solutions is the Highly Integrated Gas-Insulated-Switchgear H(G)IS. Fig. 8 shows the design study for the Circuit-Breaker module for Ur = 1100 kV and 63 kA short-circuit current interrupting capability. The H(G)IS is capable to carry a continuous current up to 6000 A for the bus-bar sections. High modularity and modern circuit breaker (C.B.) design with spring operated drive-mechanism and self compression interrupters allows for low drive energy and high flexibility.

Fig.9 Load Flow simulation of a 1000 kv model network Fig. 8 Design Study of Highly Integrated GIS H(G)IS Since the C.B.-components are arranged using newest two inline 550 kV-C.B. technology the all new 1100 kV version is built by intelligent scaling-up from the successful basic C.B. family. All other components like disconnector and grounding switches are designed for high no-load capacitive currents. Integrated surge arresters are reducing switching over-voltages. This applies explicitly to short-circuit current interruption keeping the crest value of the Transient Recovery Voltage very low without any additional opening resistors. Of course, closing resistors with synchronized operation are included. The 2-cycle switching performance demonstrates the superior design for fast failure interruption and re-energizing. System Stability In large interconnected systems the damping of electromechanical oscillations depends as one important factor on the system voltage level. The higher the voltage level the better the damping. On the other side in each system the damping depends on many other factors like topology, structure and load flow situation. The example shows the limits for an UHV-system. An example system will show some principle dynamic effects in a large 1000 kV transmission system. The investigated system is depicted in Fig. 9 and shows as a base case the transportation of 4000 MW over a distance of 2 times 500 km to two load centers with 5200 MW and 8100 MW load and own generation of 3900 MW and 5400 MW respectively. The loading of the lines is referred to the thermal capacity, which is about twice the surge impedance loading. The phase angles between the sending end, the centre and the receiving end are 15 and 25 degrees, which is a typical phase angle far away from critical margins (typically 40 degrees) for the system stability. A typical standard fault situation is shown in Fig. 10. One of the lines between nodes B and C is disconnected after a 3 phase fault. The fault is cleared in 400 ms (second protection zone) without stability problems for the generators. Fig. 10 Rotor angle & power excange after 3 phase fault (t F =400 ms; system infeed 4000 MW) When the loads in the centres D and E are increased so that the infeed in A is 7000 MW the phase angle difference between A and C reaches a value of more than 50 degrees which is without topological countermeasures or active damping control in the system a critical value for the system stability. Fig. 11 shows that a 300 ms fault results in a non-stable system situation which has the consequence of a system collapse. The exchange of power with the sending grid and the oscillation of the generation centres against each other reach the system dynamic capacity. When the system protection allows to clear the fault faster (here 250 ms) the system stability and suitable damping can be reached after the fault (Fig. 12). Although the generators oscillate against each other, the related loads dampen the oscillation relatively fast in centre E, but with a lower damping in centre D, related to the relation of loads and generators to each other. The natural damping is not high enough to guarantee an uncritical system damping after system faults. Additional measures like series compensation or static-Var-compensators are necessary to improve the situation together with a fast protection to overcome critical post fault situations and long low damped system oscillation periods. The machine load angles show that the machines are far away from the stability limit and the generators oscillate in phase against the feeding grid (global oscillation). In the first seconds after the fault the generators are individually related to their own loads and exchange power with the grid in opposite phase. A power oscillation of up to +3500 MW is the consequence of the fault. The disconnection of one of the lines between B and C reduces the damping compared with a full parallel two line transportation system.

ABOUT AUTHOR Mr Hemang R Tailor was born at Vadodara on 1st November, 1969. He received his B.E.(Electrical) and M.E.(Electrical) from the M.S. University of Baroda in 1994 and 2004 respectively. He has total 2 years of industrial and 12 years of teaching experience. He is at present working as Reader in Electrical Engineering Department at Faculty of Technology & Engineering, The M. S. University of Baroda. Dr. A.R.Chudasama was born on 9th May, 1956. He received his B.E.(Electrical), M.E.(Electrical) and Ph.D (Electrical Engg) from The M.S.University of Baroda in 1979, 1987 & 2003 respectively. He has total 4 years of industrial experience in India & North America. He has more than 25 years of experience as university academician. At present, he is working as Professor in Electrical Engineering Department at Faculty of Technology & Engineering, The M. S. University of Baroda. Dr. A.R.Chudasama has published and presented more than 40 research papers and articles in various journals & conferences.

Fig 11 Rotor angle & power exchange after 3-phase fault (tF = 300ms; system infeed 7000MW)

Fig.12 Rotor angle & power exchange after 3-phase fault (tF = 250ms; system infeed 7000 MW) Conclusion With the increasing power demand in load centres generally far away from generating centres, the need of large interconnected AC & HVDC schemes is understood. The challenge of supplying 450 GW against required total installed capacity of 600 GW in next ten years is to be fulfilled by development of 1000 kv & 1200 kv UHV transmission systems. The recommended insulation co-ordination for LIWV & SIWV for sample case of 1100 kv system is examined & found that the insertion of additional arrester in existing scheme is sufficient enough. The possibility of designing H(G)IS is also under due consideration. Finally the simulation results for 1000kv model network is analyzed & need of series compensation or static Var-compensators is also discussed. References: A) Books : [1] Ultra High Voltage Transmission by J G Anderson [2] Power System Optimization By D P Kothari & J S Dillon [3] High Voltage Engineering : Theory & Practice by M Abdel Salam [4] Mat lab 7 by Rudra Pratap B) Papers : [1] W. Breuer, D.Povh, D. Retzmann, E.Teltsch Solutions for large power system interconnections (CEPSI Conference, Shanghai 2004) [2] R. Nayak, M. Krishnakumar, A. Anand Design of 1200 kV transmission line (GridTech Conference, New Delhi 2007) [3] S. Yinbiao Ultra High Voltage Transmission Development in China (CIGRE Conference, Paris 2006) [4] E. Lerch, K. Schilling Planning criteria for extra high voltage networks (Fifth International Conference on Power Transmission & Distribution Technology, Beijing 2005) [5] K.H. Schilling, E.Lerch, A.Luxa. UHV AC Transmission Systems (IEC/ CIGRE UHV Symposium Beijing, 2007)