March2009

ICPCI

CaseStudy18

VoltageSagsandSwellsinWindMillsofaSubStation

CaseStudy18

VoltageSagsandSwellsinWind MillsofaSubStation
Abstract
Windmillsareincreasinglybecominganalternativegeneratingsourcetofulfilltheeverincreasingneed for electricity in India. India is currently fifth largest country in the world in terms of wind generating capacityconcerned.Criticalissuesaffectingtheirperformancesuchaspowerqualitycouldimpacttheir vitalcontributiontothepowersector.Itisessentialtounderstandtheissuesinvolvedclearlyandadopt solutionstoovercomethemonceforall. Thisinterestingcasestudyinasubstationisanindicationofthewaytoproceedwithsuchanimportant renewableresource,withsuggestionsforfuture.

Background
WindmillgeneratorsarecontributinginabigwaytobridgeelectricalpowershortagesinIndia.Ason 31stDecember2008,thetotalgenerationduetowindmillsis9200.MW,morethan90%ofrenewable energyproduction.

Systemdetails
110kVgroupcontrolincomerwith11kVfeedersandassociatedequipmentsforasubstation.

Fig01:PowerSystemSLDofASubStation

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Problemstatement
PowerQualitystudywasundertakeninone110/11Kvsubstationforexaminingthecausesfortripping ofwindmillgenerators.Oninitialanalysisoftrippingitwasfoundthatthetrippingcouldberelatedto grid disturbances or precisely power quality issues that are occurring within the substation in some otherfeedersorcouldbesomeothersubstationsontheupstreamside.HencethePowerQualitystudy wasundertakentodorootcauseanalysisforwindmilltrippingandsuggestpossiblesolutions.

Objective
To identify causes for frequent tripping of wind generators and some feeders of the substation and recommendsolutionstoeliminatetheissues.

Methodology
APQstudywasundertakenatthesubstationatincoming110kVand11kVfeederlevels. Fluke Power Quality Analysers were installed in A substation particularly in 110kv Group control in comer breaker and in the 11kv feeder. Frequency, dips and other electrical data were colleted simultaneously in 110kv level and 11kv level and from one wind mills also. The collected DATA is analysedandseveralinterestinginferencecouldbeconcluded.

DATE 19508 21508 22508

No.ofMillsTripping 10Nos 28Nos 6Nos

PercentageofDip recorded 15.8% 52% 25.6%

CauseforDip Trippingofadjacentfeeder Trippingofadjacent Feederduetoearthfault Trippingofadjacent Feederduetophasefault

Table01:TabulationoftrippinginASubstation

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Givenbelowaresometypicalgraphsandwaveforms

Voltage Sag in WM Feeder

-49.61%

Fig02:VoltageSaginWMFeeder

Current rise due to Voltage Sag

+268%

Fig03:CurrentriseduetoVoltage

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Voltage Sag

-51.4%

Fig04:VoltageSag

Tripping of Wind Mills due to Voltage Sag

Loss of WM Generation -42.5%

Fig05:TrippingofWindMillsduetoVoltageSag

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Fig06:VoltageRiseduringafault

Fig07:InrushCurrentduringfeedercharging

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Waveform (Current Distorted)

Fig08:Waveform Fig09:HarmonicTable(Current)

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Observationsandanalysis
Fromtheabovedataitcouldbeinferredthatseveredipinvoltagehascausedtrippingofthewindmills. Thedipsinthefeederarecausedbytrippingofadjacentfeederinthesamesubstation.Thefaultinthe feeders caused tripping of the feeders. From the study it could be concluded that the tripping of windmills are due to severe voltage dips caused by tripping of adjacent feeders due to feeder fault, mostlyonearthfaultcondition.Duringthevoltagedip,feedercurrentroseabnormallycreatingsevere stain on the wind Generator, and related transformers. Frequent strain may ultimately damage the generatorandtransformersalso. ThereareseveralotheroccasionswheredipsrecordedwithoutthewindmillTripping.Duringonesuch conditionon5608at18.38hrstherewasdipinvoltageofthefeeder.Duringthisconditiontherewasa suddenraiseoffeedercurrentandfeedercurrentincreasedby250%.Thewindmillgeneratorsustained thefaultconditionandthegeneratorcurrentincreasedby209%.Thisconditionwillalsobeinjuriousto thegeneratoriffrequentdipinvoltageandswellinloadcurrentaffectsthegenerator. Duringonesuchconditionitwasobservedthattherewasanovervoltagecausedduetotrippingofthe feedersandbeforethevoltagedeclinedtozerovalue.On1952008at17.45hrsitwasobservedthat the feeder voltage rose by 15.3% before falling to zero value. These phenomena may be due to dischargeofstoredenergybythePowerfactorcorrectingcapacitors.Thiscouldbeavoidedbyinstalling quickbreakswitchesintheeventofvoltagefallingtozerovalue.

PQanalysisandrecommendations
Studies show that nearly 60% of PQ issues are contributed by voltage sags and 29% by voltage swells. Power electronic loads are sensitive to voltage sags and industrial customers are impacted78timesbyvoltagesagsthanbyoutages. Toovercometheseissuesfollowingrecommendationsweresuggested: 1.Tominimizethefaulttrippingsinthefeeders,itwasrecommended: i) toclearfoulingtrees. ii) to resag the conductor in the feeders to avoid swinging of conductors during windy seasons. iii) insulatedconductorscanbeconsideredincertainvulnerableareas. iv) replacesuspectedinsulators. 2. To install improved version of relays in the feeder breaker to minimize the fault clearing timeorotherwiseprolongedfaultconditionwouldbeinjurioustothegenerator.

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3. Certaintypeofearthfaultisnotclearedorgetsdelayedresponsefromtherelayduetolow faultcurrent(duehighfaultimpedance).Thiskindofsituationcanbeovercomebyinstalling improvedversionofearthfaultrelaywhichcansensenegativesequence/positivesequence unbalancecurrentandhelpfultodetectweakearthfaults.Thiswouldavoidpersistingearth faultwhichprolongsdipduration. 4. Overridingfacilityinthecontrolcircuitwithoutinjuringthegenerator/turbine.

Furthersuggestionsforfuturecourseofaction
Thisstudywasconductedinonefeederinonesubstation.Sufficientlongtermdataifacquiredwouldbe veryusefultohaveafinerpictureaboutthepowerqualityissuesingeneraltotakeproperdecisionson protectionandalsoevaluationofanypotentialrisktothegenerator.Thevalueofvoltagesagcouldbe relatedtothetypeoffault,impedanceoffault,locationoffault(distanceetc.,),shortcircuitlevel,load onthefeeder,loadonthegenerator,generationatthetimeoffault,relayoperatingtime,faultclearing timeandsoon. Henceifstudyiscontinuedusefuldatacouldbecapturedwhichcanbeusedforfuturedecisions.The study could extend to other feeders, substations in different locations under different seasons to acquiresufficientdataonpowerquality. Other power quality issues like swell, transient unbalanced voltage sag, variation in frequency, DC offset,notches,couldalsobeacquiredandthedataacquiredwillbeveryusefulfortakingdecisionsin future.Fromthedataacquired,conditionofthegridcouldbeassessedwhetherthegridiswithinthe tolerancelimitsprescribedlike,CBEMA/ITICcurves.

Conclusion
Ifthesetypesofinformationareavailableinanappropriateformat,itwillbepossibletoestimatehow oftentheequipmentisexpectedtotripperyearanditsimpactonthesystem.Basedontheoutcomeof thisstudyonecandecidetooptforabettersupplyorforbetterequipmentortoremainsatisfiedwith thesituation.Anessentialconditionforthisstepisthatsystemperformanceandequipmenttolerance arepresentedinasuitableformat. Any avoidance of downtime due to PQ related issue is direct contributor to revenue of the wind mill ownerbyavoidingthefailuretosupplytothegrid.Reactivepowerdrawalduringstartingandvoltage sagrelatedeventsforgridconnectedwindmillarecriticalpowerqualityareasthatrequirestobepaid attention by the owner. The appropriate solutions to the issues would result in improving the cost competitivenessofthewindmillownertoincreasetheprofitabilityandreliabilityofthesystem.

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As these power quality issues are location specific it is suggested to continue this study further to acquirebroaderdataandcontinuethepowerqualitysurveyindifferentlocationstoacquiregooduseful dataforfuture. These data could be of use for further study by simulation techniques for which several versions of softwareareavailable.
Abouttheauthorandcompany

Author : A.D.Thirumoorthy Company : TamilNaduEnergyDevelopmentAgency(TEDA). Mr.A.D.Thirumoorthy,isanElectricalEngineerwhoworkedinTamilNaduElectricityBoardforthepast25 years,isworkinginatechnicalfield,handlingmeteringareaandsubstationprotectionareaforthepast6 years. He was one of the three members in finalising the specifications for static meter. And permanent memberofITformulationCommitteefortheBoard,forImplementingintegratedITsolutionsindistribution. He is presently working as deputy general manager in Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency (TEDA). He has presentednumberoftechnicalpapersindifferentforumsincludinginconferencesorganizedbyCPRIandElecrama 2006,&Elecrama2008. HeiscurrentlypursuingM.S.(byresearch)inpowerqualityatAnnaUniversity,Coimbatore. The Government of Tamil Nadu realized the importance and need for renewable energy, and set up a separate Agency,asregisteredsociety,calledtheTamilNaduEnergyDevelopmentAgency(TEDA)asearlyas1985withthe followingspecificobjectives: Topromotetheuseofnewandrenewablesourcesofenergy(NRSE)andtoimplementprojectstherefor. Topromoteenergyconservationactivities. Toencourageresearchanddevelopmentonrenewablesourcesofenergy. Thepromotionofgridconnectedanddecentralizedpowergenerationfromlocallyavailablesourceswillreducethe dependence on conventional power. The decentralised power systems can also make power available at remote places in the State where grid power could not be extended and will facilitate development of rural and remote areas. Someoftheprogramscurrentlyundertakenare: WindEnergy BioEnergy SolarEnergy SolarEnergy(PhotoVoltaic)

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Thesoleresponsibilityforthecontentofthisdocumentlieswiththeauthors.ItdoesnotrepresenttheopinionoftheEuropean Communities.TheEuropeanCommissionisnotresponsibleforanyusethatmaybemadeoftheinformationcontainedtherein. APQIissupportedbyAsiaInvestEuropeAidCooperationOfficeandLeonardoEnergy.

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