Pumped Storage Protection - Application Considerations
Pumped Storage Protection - Application Considerations
Application Considerations
T. Foxcroft
Snowy Hydro Limited
Presented at the
14th International Conference on Developments in Power System Protection
Belfast, United Kingdom
March 12–15, 2018
Pumped storage hydro protection – application considerations
N. Fischer*, D. Finney*, R. Chowdhury*, D. Taylor*, M. Donolo*, T. Foxcroft †
*Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc., 2350 NE Hopkins Court, Pullman, WA 99163 USA,
normann_fischer@selinc.com
†
Snowy Hydro Limited, Murray 2 Power Station Road, Khancoban, NSW 2642 Australia
Keywords: reversible pumped storage hydro units, phase historically been the only practical method to store and manage
reversal, frequency tracking, digital protection. large amounts of grid energy. Therefore, they play a vital role
in the operation of power systems with a large ingression of
Abstract: renewable energy sources. PSH units can be categorized by
prime mover type and by electric machine type. Three basic
Currently the U.S. has about 20 GW of pumped storage hydro types of prime mover designs have been employed:
with an additional 30 GW of new capacity being proposed for
support of renewable sources. Switching a reversible pumped • Units are configured as either dedicated generator/
storage hydro unit from generator to pumping mode can impact turbine units or dedicated motor/pump units within the
the differential element and elements that use sequence same installation.
components. Furthermore, protecting units that start as • Units are configured with a turbine, pump, and
induction motors requires protection of the damper winding generator/motor mounted on the same shaft. These are
during the starting and acceleration period. Stopping or braking known as ternary units. They can quickly switch from
the unit before reversing its rotation also requires special generator to motor operation without stopping the unit.
protection considerations. This paper discusses the advantages
that digital protective relays have over traditional protective • Units are configured as reversible generator/pump units.
relays when protecting pumped storage hydro units. These units operate in either generating or pumping
mode. Switching from generating to pumping mode
1 Introduction requires the units to be stopped.
In this paper, we focus on fixed-speed reversible
During the last two decades, renewable energy projects have generator/pump units. Additional information on protecting
gained momentum, and at present a large installed base of wind pumped storage hydro installations can be found in [2].
and solar energy sources exists worldwide. These sources are
intermittent, and maintaining grid stability requires bulk Fig. 2 shows a typical PSH protection scheme for a reversible
energy storage. generator/motor configuration using electromechanical (E/M)
relays.
Pumped storage hydro (PSH) units are hydro units that can
operate in generating or pumping mode, moving water either
from the upper reservoir to the lower reservoir or vice versa, as
shown in Fig. 1.
Surge Tank
Upper
Reservoir 87T
87U
Flow Direction 78
Generating Mode G M
Flow Direction
Pumping Mode 46
G
Gen/Motor M 40
G
Lower M
Reservoir 32
21
Turbine/Pump
G M
Fig. 1. Pumped storage hydro scheme.
Machine Neutral
The current round-trip energy efficiency of PSH exceeds 80
percent [1], and primarily for this reason, PSH units have Fig. 2. E/M relays and CT/PT secondary switching.
The primary circuit contains a set of parallel, interlocked (also shown by a T). Since both Breakers G and M employ
switches between the generator breaker and the generator. On dedicated CTs, no CT switch (external or internal) is required.
the blade-side of the switch (that part of the switch facing the The generator relay protection elements (excluding the 87G)
machine) the phasing is swapped. Depending on which switch are denoted by an asterisk (*). The generator relay needs to
is closed, G (generating) or M (motoring), the downstream dynamically change its phase rotation (denoted by a P) based
phasing changes from ABC to ACB. For the remainder of the on a status indication of Breakers G and M in order for the
paper, we call this pair of switches the reversing switch. Note differential element to remain stable and correctly calculate the
that the reversing switch introduces the possibility of a phase- voltage and current sequence quantities.
to-phase fault at the machine terminals for the case that both
Switches G and M close simultaneously.
Note that the reversing switch is included in the overall unit
differential zone (87U). A set of auxiliary contacts in the 87U 87T
secondary wiring replicates the position of the reversing
switch. These switches transpose the secondary wiring in the
same manner as the reversing switch to maintain the correct T
phase relationship for the 87U. A similar situation exists for
the protection elements fed from the machine neutral CT. Some G M
of these elements, for example the machine unbalance element
(ANSI 46), respond to a negative-sequence current component.
Therefore, a second set of auxiliary contacts are required to
T
ensure that the phase sequence of the currents is correct. A third
set of auxiliary contacts ensures the correct phase relationships
between the secondary voltages and currents. 87G
Using the following examples, we show how using digital • The terminal current and voltage inputs to be transposed.
protective relays addresses the above problems and concerns The current and voltage terminals that require transposi-
without switching the secondary wiring of the CTs and PTs. tion are downstream from the reversing switch.
• The phase pair to be transposed AB, BC, or CA. This
A typical digital relay has the following capabilities: setting transposes the corresponding voltage and current
1. The differential zone can be dynamically phase pair in software. The software phase transposition
reconfigured to add and remove an input (terminal) occurs early in the data acquisition sequence so that the
to the zone. transposition is transparent to the differential element and
2. The phase-rotation setting of the relay can be sequence calculations. This setting obsoletes the dynamic
changed dynamically from ABC to ACB. (This phase-rotation setting.
setting determines how sequence quantities are • When to transpose the current and voltage inputs. This
calculated internally.) setting is driven from a digital input, which in turn is
driven from the reversing switch.
The example shown in Fig. 3 uses separate breakers to operate
the machine as a generator or a motor (see [2] for other Both the E/M and digital schemes make use of the reversing
configurations). The primary phasing downstream of Breaker switch status to adapt the protection for each mode of
G is transposed, as denoted with a T. The transformer operation. Therefore, the security of the entire protection
differential element (87T) is secure since transposition occurs scheme depends on the integrity of the status indication.
outside of its zone; however, transposition of the secondary Consequently, we recommend, at a minimum, that dual status
wiring of the generator differential element (87G) is required indications be used to derive the operating mode. Since the
operating mode cannot change when the unit is online, machine − Allow the differential and other sequence elements
current can be used to further secure the element. to trip the machine in the event that the incorrect
operating mode is selected and the machine begins
Generator Relay
to draw current.
− Block the differential and other sequence element.
Pumped Once the phase current increases above 0.05 pu of
Storage
Logic the rated machine current, calculate the positive- (I1)
87T
and negative- (I2) sequence current magnitudes. If
|I1| >> |I2|, then the selected or present mode of
87G operation is correct and the differential and other
sequence elements can be re-enabled. If |I2| >> |I1|,
M
G
then the selected mode of operation is incorrect. In
this situation, the protective relay can select the
correct operating mode and re-enable the differential
T and sequence elements, or the differential elements
and sequence elements can remain blocked until the
T * discrepancy is corrected by maintenance personnel.
In the absence of thermal parameters for the machine, the The ratio of 𝑅𝑅1 𝑠𝑠[𝑘𝑘] + 𝑅𝑅0 (1 − 𝑠𝑠[𝑘𝑘]) to 𝑅𝑅1 is 1 when s = 1, and
settings from the existing overcurrent element can be translated 𝑅𝑅
0 < 0 ≤ 1 when s = 0. The result now includes the
into settings for the thermal model. Should the machine’s 𝑅𝑅1
locked rotor current (LRA) and locked rotor time (LRT) be dependence of Rr on s. This allows for a longer starting time
available, we can use these parameters. In this case, the thermal than (3), which does not account for the dependence of Rr on
limit can be described by (1). s. In Fig. 6, we use data from a 20 MW synchronous motor.
Note that while the I2t model would trip the motor at about
7 seconds, the slip-dependent TCU only reaches a value of
� 𝐼𝐼 2 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 = 𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿2 ∙ 𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿 (1)
85 percent.
120
3.1 Rotor thermal model
100
The rotor thermal model integrates the motor starting current
over time to estimate the thermal capacity used (TCU). For
80
Percentage (%)
Note, if the current remains at the LRA magnitude for a 4 Dynamic braking
duration of LRT, TCU will reach 100 percent after a time equal
to LRT. Multiplying and dividing (2) by the rotor resistance Dynamic braking is installed to enable rapid deceleration and
(Rr), we obtain (3), the slip-independent thermal model, which stopping of hydro units that are of the generator and motor
we refer to as the I2t model. combination type (reversible unit). A slow deceleration and
stopping of these units results in poor to no lubrication of the
∆𝑡𝑡 ∙ 𝐼𝐼2 [𝑘𝑘] ∙ 𝑅𝑅𝑟𝑟 bearings for a significant time while the unit decelerates. The
∆𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇[𝑘𝑘] = 100 ∙ (3)
𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿2 ∙ 𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿 ∙ 𝑅𝑅𝑟𝑟 rapid deceleration provided by dynamic braking increases
where: bearing longevity. Furthermore, dynamic braking reduces the
wobble time of the unit during deceleration. The advantages of
𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿2 ∙ 𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿 ∙ 𝑅𝑅𝑟𝑟 = the maximum energy that the rotor dynamic braking over friction braking are as follows:
can absorb before experiencing thermal damage.
• Faster decelerating and shorter stopping time,
∆𝑡𝑡 ∙ 𝐼𝐼 2 [𝑘𝑘] ∙ 𝑅𝑅𝑟𝑟 = the amount of incremental energy
• No generation of brake dust that will settle in the stator
accumulated in the rotor during the processing
winding and possibly lead to stator winding short circuits.
interval.
The slip-dependent thermal model takes into account that Rr is Dynamic braking is accomplished by short-circuiting the stator
a function of s. To include the dependence of Rr on s, we windings of the machine once the machine has been isolated
rewrite (3) as follows: from the power grid. The stator windings are shorted via a
normal isolator switch [6]. The rotor circuit is then transferred 10. Rotor current increases according to the L/R time
to a separate dc power supply and excitation maintained until constant of the rotor circuit.
the machine is at a standstill. During dynamic braking, kinetic 11. Stator current begins to flow through the stator winding,
energy is taken from the rotor of the machine and dissipated as generating heat due to the winding resistance. As a
heat in the stator winding, and because the prime mover does result, the mechanical kinetic energy stored in the rotor
not supply energy to the rotor, the rotor begins to slow down. dissipates, and the rotor begins to slow down.
The braking transformer and rectifier are rated to provide
4.2 Protection implications
nominal stator current (1 pu) during the braking or shorting
period. Excitation is maintained until the machine is at a The stator shorting switch creates a three-phase fault within the
standstill. At standstill, there is still flux in the stator winding, generator differential zone. This results in the operation of the
and because the machine is stationary, the stator current begins generator differential protection. Two options generally exist
to decay at a rate determined by the stator L/R ratio. The to avoid the operation of the generator differential under
decaying stator flux generates a voltage that begins to reduce dynamic braking.
the rotor current since there is an opposing voltage to the
applied field voltage. This opposing voltage reduces the 4.2.1 Turn off the generator differential
effective field voltage across the rotor, which in turn reduces With this option, the generator differential protection is turned
the field current until the stator flux has completely decayed. off during dynamic braking. The advantage of this method is
At this time, the field current increases again. Fig. 7 shows a that it is simple. However, it is not wise to turn off the main
typical dynamic braking configuration for a reversible unit. generator protection with rated stator current circulating in the
stator. This is not the preferred option.
GSU a) Electromechanical schemes
In traditional E/M generator differential schemes, the current
inputs short-circuit. In a high-impedance differential scheme,
Generator Stator the bus wires short-circuit; whereas for a low-impedance
Breaker
(open)
Shorting differential generator neutral, the CTs short-circuit.
Switch
b) Digital schemes
Aux
XFMR AVR In a digital generator differential scheme, the operation of
dynamic braking will assert a digital input that will disable the
generator differential protection.
Main Field
Switch
Braking 4.2.2 Add the shorting switch to the differential
XFMR protection
Braking Field Another solution is to add the current in the stator shorting
Braking
Switch
Rectifier
switch to the differential circuit, as shown in Fig. 8