Surge Arrester Sizing for Sub-Transmission

Systems Using Grounding Transformers

Arresters
June 24, 2021 10 min read

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The Appalachian Power Region of American Electric Power’s
(AEP’s) service territory includes substations that have
autotransformers with ungrounded delta tertiary windings. In
some cases, tertiary windings are used strictly for AC service
power inside the substation. In other cases, they serve as sources
for a local sub-transmission system that includes a number of
other substations in the region. Either way, grounding
transformers are commonly used to be able to detect line-to-
ground faults and stabilize the neutral during system unbalance
situations such as fault conditions. Given the complex nature of
ungrounded sub-transmission systems with grounding
transformers, sizing considerations for surge arresters are
important.
This edited contribution to INMR by Xuan Wu, Ben Leece, Ron
Wellman, Ken Pose of AEP reviews their surge arrester sizing
methodology for ungrounded sub-transmission systems with
grounding banks with specific focus on varying transient
overvoltage (TOV) conditions.

Fig.1: (left) 46 kV ungrounded sub-transmission station;

(right) 46 kV grounding transformer.
Fig. 2: Line-to-ground fault current circulation in delta
system with grounding transformer.
System Considerations
A sub-transmission system is considered ‘effectively grounded’ at a particular
location if the ratio between its zero-sequence reactance (X0) and its positive-
sequence reactance (X1) satisfies 0<X0/X1< 3. A grounding transformer would
lower the overall zero-sequence impedance of the power system at the grounding
transformer location X0 to a desired value. Assume that X1=X2 (negative-sequence
reactance) and R1 (positive-sequence resistance) = R2 (negative-sequence
resistance) = R0 (zero-sequence resistance) = 0. Therefore, for X0/X1 = 1, voltage
on the unfaulted phases remains at 1.0 p.u.; for X0/X1=3, voltage on the unfaulted
phases increases to 1.26 p.u.; for X0/X1=5, voltage increases to 1.38 p.u.
The above voltage values would take place at the location where the line-to-ground
fault occurs and where a grounding transformer is installed. The voltage on
unfaulted phases at locations away from the fault and away from the grounding
transformer location would be higher. Lowering the X0/X1 ratio at a particular
system location will result in higher line-to-ground fault current at that location.
Higher fault current allows for improved relay protection coordination with
downstream protective equipment. However, even though grounding transformers
improve relay protection coordination, decisions regarding installing grounding
transformers and selecting their impedance to increase line-to-ground fault current
at a particular location should be evaluated case-by-case.

Surge Arrester Selection & Location

Surge arresters should be placed for protection of station equipment, including
transformers, reactors, capacitor banks, circuit breakers, underground power
cables, etc.

Fig. 3: Surge
arresters protecting 765 kV circuit breakers.
In order to select and apply the appropriate surge arrester to protect corresponding
equipment, the following steps need to be considered. Note that the focus here is
on Temporary Overvoltage (TOV) evaluation, which governs the selection process
for surge arresters used on ungrounded sub-transmission systems. Additionally,
determination of separation distance (Step 2) is concentrated as well. Steps 3 & 4
are relatively straightforward and not discussed in detail.

Step 1: Select Surge Arrester

a) MCOV ≥ maximum continuous line-to-ground voltage;

b) TOV capability ≥ system TOV;

c) Pressure relief/short-circuit current discharge capability ≥ system line-to-ground

fault rms current magnitude.

Step 2: Locate Surge Arrester

a) A surge arrester shall be located as close as possible to the equipment to be
protected;

b) Otherwise, calculation is needed to determine maximum allowable separation

distance between the equipment to be protected and the arrester. If so, Step 4 can
be bypassed.

Step 3: Evaluate Insulation Co-ordination

a) Gather surge arrester protective levels, including lightning impulse protective
level (LPL), front-of-wave protective level (FOW) and switching impulse
protective level (SPL);

b) Gather equipment insulation levels, including basic lightning impulse insulation

level (BIL), chopped wave withstand (CWW) and basic switching impulse
insulation level (BSL);

c) If effect of separation distance can be disregarded, the protective ratios for

lightning, PRL1 and PRL2, and switching impulses PRS are:
For acceptable coordination, PRL1 and PRL2 should be equal to or greater than 1.2
and PRS should be equal to or greater than 1.15.
Step 4: Evaluate Alternates
If acceptable coordination cannot be achieved, evaluate the following measures:

1. Increasing BIL and BSL;

2. Decreasing arrester separation distance;

3. Adding additional arresters;

4. Using arrester with lower protective characteristics.

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Surge Arrester Selection

Maximum Continuous Operating Voltage (MCOV)
Select a surge arrester MCOV rating equivalent to or greater than the maximum
steady-state line-to-ground system voltage at the arrester location. Note that some
systems, e.g. supplied from an ungrounded source with no grounding transformer
or from a wye-grounded transformer with a neutral grounding resistor (NGR) and
which are supposed to be operated continuously after a single line-to-ground event,
need to use arresters with MCOV rated line-to-line voltages. As shown in Fig. 4, a
line-to-ground fault occurring on a solidly grounded system results in the voltage
between the faulted phase and the neutral collapsing to zero. However, if the
neutral is ungrounded (as in the second row), the voltage between the faulted phase
and the neutral is retained as the line-to-ground voltage while the faulted phase is
at a zero potential. As a result, the neutral-to-ground voltage is shifted from zero to
the system line-to-ground voltage and the line-to-ground voltages of the unfaulted
phases become the system line-to-line voltages. If an NGR is installed, the neutral-
to-ground voltage during a line-to-ground fault condition is between zero and
system line-to-ground voltage.

Fig. 4: Neutral shifting scenarios.

Note that if a grounding transformer is possibly isolated from the tertiary winding
(such as illustrated in Fig. 5) while the autotransformer is still energized, MCOV
rating of the corresponding surge arrester needs to be sized to the line-to-line
voltage.

Fig. 5: Example of isolating grounding transformer from

delta tertiary.
Maximum Temporary Overvoltage (TOV)
In addition to considerations affecting selection of arrester MCOV, it is also
necessary to select the arrester to be able to withstand the temporary system
overvoltage at the arrester’s location. The basic requirement is that the TOV
capability of the arrester should be higher than the TOV amplitude versus duration
characteristic of the system during all times of concern.
Fig. 6: Example of typical arrester temporary overvoltage
(TOV) data.
Fig. 6 shows an example TOV curve for station-class arresters, shown for
illustrative purposes only. TOV data for applications should be obtained from the
manufacturer. Back-up fault clearing time is the TOV duration, which should be
acquired from the corresponding Protection & Controls (P&C) Engineer. Note that
back-up fault clearing time is calculated considering a single equipment failure
(e.g. breaker / relay / communication failure). The arrester selected should have
both MCOV and TOV capability appropriate for the operating system. Sometimes
the MCOV is decisive while other times TOV considerations are decisive. A
change in relay setting or use of faster breakers may sometimes allow use of
arresters based on MCOV when TOV would otherwise have been decisive. Note
that TOV considerations govern the arrester selections of ungrounded sub-
transmission systems. The most common source of TOV is voltage rise on
unfaulted phases during a line-to-ground fault. This voltage rise becomes more
severe when the system is more ungrounded. The extreme case is a pure delta or
ungrounded wye system, which has 1.73 p.u. overvoltages on unfaulted phases
during a line-to-ground fault (referring to Fig. 4). In AEP sub-transmission systems
(23~46 kV voltage classes), there are a number of circuits which are not solidly
grounded (between 1.0 and 1.73 p.u.), which are required to be analyzed using
ASPEN. Fig. 7 shows an example that the 34.5 kV 23rd Street bus is connected to a
delta tertiary highlighted in the red circle. The overvoltage on phase C of this bus
during a line-to-ground fault on phase A is 22.965/19.94=1.15 p.u. based on the
ASPEN output in Fig. 8. If the line between 23rd and 24th Street buses is out of
service as a contingency, the previous overvoltage is increased to
25.151/19.94=1.26 p.u. based on the ASPEN output in Fig. 9. Both of these
overvoltages should be considered as well as the backup clearing time with the
selected surge arrester’s TOV curve.

Fig. 7:
ASPEN model with line-to-ground fault on 23 ST bus rd

connected to delta tertiary.

Fig. 8: ASPEN TTY output window.

Fig. 9: ASPEN TTY output window when line 23rd to 24th
ST is out of service.
Another source of TOV is a backfeed from a delta-connected transformer winding
when it is disconnected from a grounded system. Consider for example, a 138/34.5
kV transformer connected delta and wye-grounded on the 138 kV and 34.5 kV,
respectively. The 138 kV side is connected to a 138 kV wye-grounded system.
However, the 138 kV transformer winding will be disconnected from the 138 kV
grounded system for 138 kV line-to-ground faults, thus leaving the 138 kV
winding ungrounded and energized from the 34.5 kV source until that source is
disconnected. In this case, the TOV on the unfaulted phases will rise to 145 kV
(1.73 × maximum line-ground voltage).

Fig. 10: Example of back-fed TOV.

Pressure Relief/Short-Circuit Current Discharge
Capability
The arrester class determines the energy discharge capability of the arrester blocks
and the pressure relief capability, expressed in kA RMS, of the arrester housing.
The pressure relief capability of the arrester housing is necessary to be equal to or
higher than the maximum line-to-ground symmetrical fault current at the arrester
location. If the pressure relief capability is insufficient to handle the expected fault
current at that location, then an additional arrester may need to be connected in
parallel.

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Locate Surge Arresters

Surge arresters are recommended to be installed as close as possible to the
equipment to be protected. The protective margin provided by the arrester to the
equipment it protects decreases as the separation distance between the arrester and
the equipment increases. The reason for the reduced protection is that the
remaining surge after being clamped by an arrester travels and hits a shunt
equipment, such as a transformer winding, and then is reflected, which can result
in voltage doubling if the separation distance is long enough. In most cases, the
reflected voltage only adds a few percent to the incoming surge. It is this traveling
wave phenomenon and its associated reflection that create the separate distance
issue.

Fig. 11: Separation distance calculator.

The calculator discussed in Fig. 11, developed by consultant Jonathan Woodworth,
is based on the formula found in Annex C of IEEE Std. C62.22. It also
incorporates tables from typical arrester characteristics. Once all relevant
parameters are entered in the green boxes, the maximum separation distance is
calculated and shown in the yellow area with 23 feet or 7.0 m for this specific
example. This calculator is used to calculate the separation distances for various
sub-transmission system voltages.

Selected Surge Arrester Parameters

After considering all the steps discussed above, Table 1 shows the selected surge
arrester parameters for various AEP sub-transmission systems according to AEP
system BIL values and worst-case TOV behaviors. Note that AEP is able to ensure
that all line-to-ground faults are cleared within 10 seconds when at least one
grounding transformer is connected to the corresponding network. Note also that
the separation distance is calculated using the Separation Distance Calculator using
the associated system BIL and selected arrester MCOV values from Table 1.

Table 1: AEP Surge Arrester Ratings for Ungrounded Sub-

Transmission Systems with Grounding Transformers
Summary
Sub-transmission systems are often sourced from ungrounded delta
autotransformer tertiaries. Typically, grounding transformers are used to provide a
grounding reference for these ungrounded sources. However, these systems are not
solidly grounded even with grounding transformers, which can be shown by the
system X0/X1 ratio. This also indicates that the unfaulted phases during a single-
line-to-ground fault will have overvoltage between 1.0 to 1.73 p.u. over the fault
clearing time. This TOV evaluation governs selection of surge arresters for the
sub-transmission system. Note that if it is possible to isolate the grounding
transformer from the surge arrester while still energized, the elevated MCOV
rating is necessary. Finally, separation distance needs to be considered based on
the selected surge arrester protective and the equipment insulation levels.
References
[1] IEEE Std. C62.92.1, IEEE Guide for the Application of Neutral Grounding in
Electrical Utility Systems—Part I: Introduction, 2016 Edition.
[2] IEEE Std. C62.22, IEEE Guide for the Application of Metal-Oxide Surge Arresters
for Alternating-Current Systems, 2009 Edition.
[3] ASPEN OneLiner Software, Advanced Systems for Power Engineering, Inc.
(ASPEN), San Mateo, CA 94401 U.S.A., 2018.
[4] Jonathan Woodworth, Separation Distance Calculator, ArresterWorks, 2014.