1

Back-to-Back Energization of a 60kV Cable

Network - Inrush Currents Phenomenon
F. Faria da Silva, Claus L. Bak, M. Lind Hansen

underground cable [3][4]. This cable will be connected to a

Abstract—On November 2008 the Danish government decided busbar at which are already connected several long cables, as
that all Danish transmission lines with a rated voltage equal to it is shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, so it is advisable to study the
and below 150kV must be put underground, in order to reduce system and verify the amplitude and frequency of the inrush
the visual pollution caused by Overhead Lines.
currents during the cable's energization.
This decision will lead to a massive use of underground cables
in the Danish Network, and force a change in the approach used
until now when planning, analyzing and operating electrical
power systems.
One problem that might arise is the energization of cables in
parallel, as this operation may originate high inrush currents,
which represent a risk to the circuit breakers connected to the
cables.
The Danish utility ENV plans to install a new cable on its 60kV
network, which will be installed in parallel with other cables
already installed in the network.
This paper summarizes the study made to calculate the inrush
currents during the cable's energization, and its importance to
the purchase of a new circuit breaker for the cable. A theoretical
background of this phenomenon is also presented

I. INTRODUCTION

T HE increasing use of underground cables in electrical

power systems, is making more relevant some problems
that were uncommon before. One of these problems is the
Fig. 1. ENV 60kV Network map

appearing of inrush currents during the energization of cables

in parallel. If not attended this situation can lead to the
deterioration of the cable and endangerment of the circuit
breaker.
Electrically, cables are mainly capacitive elements, so the
energization of a cable, when connected to an already
energized one, can be seen as being similar to the energization
of capacitor banks in parallel. When energizing a capacitor
bank that is in parallel with an already energized capacitor Fig. 2. Single Line Diagram of the analyzed area
bank there will be an inrush current whose amplitude depends
of the voltage in the connection moment, and can go up to The knowledge of this data is required to choose the
100pu [1] or even 200pu [2]. adequate circuit breaker, as the IEC standard for AC Circuit
ENV (Elforsyningen Nordvendsyssel), utility company in Breakers defines limits for the maximum frequency and
charge of electrical distribution in the north part of Denmark, maximum peak value of an inrush current [5][6].
plans to install a new 9.33km long, 72.5kV line on its
network. Due to political decisions this line has to be an II. CIRCUIT BREAKERS IN CABLE NETWORKS
According to IEC 62271-100 “High Voltage alternating
This work was supported by ENV: Elforsyningen Nordvendsyssel current circuit breakers” 2nd edition [5] circuit breakers have
F. F. da Silva is a PhD student at the Institute of Energy Technology, to fulfill requirements regarding back-to-back capacitor inrush
Aalborg University, 9220 Aalborg, Denmark (e-mail: ffs@[Link]).
C. L. Bak is with the Institute of Energy Technology, Aalborg University,
making currents. As the switching on of cables in an already
9220 Aalborg, Demark (e-mail: clb@[Link]). energized cable network can be considered similar to back-to-
M. Lind Hansen is with ENV, 9800 Hjørring, Demark (e-mail: back capacitor inrush making phenomena, further analysis of
mlh@[Link]).

978-1-4244-6551-4/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE

 2

inrush phenomena under such conditions is justified. shortening of arcing contact lifetime if the making conditions
Circuit breakers have rated values for back-to-back are more severe than stated in the IEC 62271-100 standard,
capacitor bank inrush making current. For all voltage levels paragraph 4.107.6 regarding rated back-to-back capacitor
these values are Ibi=20kA peak and fbi=4250Hz, where Ibi bank inrush making current.
designates maximum peak value and fbi maximum frequency
of the inrush current transient. III. CABLE ENERGIZATION
According to the IEC standard 1st edition [6], the product of
Ibi and fbi for certain conditions were not to exceed the product A. Single Cable Energization
of Ibi,N and fbi,N (20kA*4250Hz=85*106A/s). This paragraph The energization of a cable can origin a transitory
has been removed from the IEC standard 2nd edition [5]. But overvoltage, which amplitude depends of the moment in
regarding the making in cable networks, it seems justified to which the cable is connected. If the circuit breaker is closed
do the judging of circuit breaker suitability using this concept. when the voltage at its terminals is zero the overvoltage is
minimum, ideally zero, but if the connection is made for a
For the purchase of the circuit breaker there were arranged peak voltage, the overvoltage is maximum.
meetings with Siemens Schaltwerk, Berlin. During one of the The reason for this difference is the charging of the cable's
meetings, experts have provided the following explanation to capacitance and the energy oscillation between the cable's
the fact that making of back-to-back capacitor alike networks capacitance and inductance. To better understand this
can be a problem for circuit breakers. Most circuit breakers phenomenon it will be explained using a simple LC series
for lower HV levels (as in this case 72,5 kV) are of the circuit, as the one shown in Fig. 4, whose simulation's plot is
selfblast type utilizing internal arc heating to provide the shown in Fig. 5.
energy to blast short circuit currents, as can be verified in Fig.
3.

Fig. 4. LC circuit

300

200

Fig. 3. Selfblast type Circuit Breaker 100

Voltage [kV]

0
During closing a prestrike will emerge between arcing
contacts before they make mechanical contact. When -100
switching back-to-back capacitor banks this prestrike is -200
followed by the inrush current transient, both with a high peak
value and frequency. This will give rise to a degradation of the -300
0.105 0.11 0.115 0.12 0.125 0.13 0.135
arcing contacts reducing their lifetime and increasing the need Time [s]
Fig. 5. Voltages and current (current not at scale) for Fig. 4 circuit when
of more often monitoring and maintenance. This degradation connected at peak voltage. (Blue: Vin, Green: Vc, Red: I_CB)
also exists during normal makings, but under such normal
conditions inrush current peak value and frequency are less In this system, initially both capacitor and inductor have no
severe, and therefore the arcing contacts are subjected to a energy, but as the voltage in the capacitor (Vc) has to be
lower stress. continuous, when the circuit breaker closes for a voltage value
The high frequency of the inrush current displaces the that is not zero, the capacitor has to be charged through the
current in the stationary arcing contact towards the surface inductor, initiating a transient with the system natural
(skin effect) in such a way that the wear of the contact is more frequency. After a very short moment the voltage in the
concentrated to the surface region of the contact than for 50 capacitor is equal to the source voltage, but when this moment
Hz currents, which gives a more even wear of the stationary is reached the current in the inductor is at a peak value (see
arcing contact. So due to the inrush currents the stationary Fig. 5) and by energy conservation it can not become zero
arcing contact is worn to a cone-like shape by the back-to- immediately. Thus the voltage in the capacitor continues to
back capacitor switching, whereas in normal condition increase becoming larger than the source voltage while the
switching it merely is worn to a hemispherical shape. The current decreases to zero, when the current makes to zero Vc
cone like wear will in time give rise to prestrikes between reaches a peak value and the capacitor starts to discharge [7].
main contacts instead of the arcing contacts. This will damage As the system has no resistance this transient is not damped,
the main contacts and lead to the circuit breaker malfunction. and the oscillatory behaviour continues with one difference.
It can be concluded that, when in presence of inrush Due to the fact that source is sinusoidal, for each transient
currents circuit breakers can be expected to suffer from cycle at system natural frequency, Vc will match the source
 3

voltage at different points, and thus the amplitude of Vc is the cables modeled by a frequency dependent phase model,
different for each cycle, as the zero voltage for the capacitor which is at the present the most accurate method of simulating
terminals, is constantly changing. a cable [9].
A cable can be seen as an infinite group of RLC circuits in
series, so a cable energization is similar to the energization of
an LC circuit, with the difference of damping due to resistance
and that the waves are not perfectly sinusoidal because of the
distortion originated by the series of RLC circuits.
B. Cables in parallel
When a cable is connected in parallel with an already
energized cable, there is an energy transfer from the energized
cable to the cable that is being connected, which results in an Fig. 7. Energization of a cable in parallel with an already energized cable
inrush current whose amplitude depends of the voltage at the (t2>>t1)
connection instant, the larger the voltage the larger the inrush
current's peak value. The simulation results are presented in Fig. 8 and Fig. 9.
A cable can be modeled as series of RLC circuits like is Fig. 8 shows the current on the sending end for the
shown in Fig. 6. As the cable's inductance and resistance are energization of cable A at t1, with cable B not connected to the
very small the series of "capacitors" on the two cables will be busbar. This situation is similar to the one explained in the
almost in parallel. When in parallel, capacitors should have previous sub-section, and as can be noticed the current
the same voltage, so part of the charge on the "capacitors" of maximum value is around 700A.
the energized cable will transfer almost immediately for the At t2, after cable A have reached steady-state conditions,
"capacitors" of the cable being connected, originating an cable B is energized. The currents in both cables during the
inrush current. energization of cable B are shown in Fig. 9.
This shift of the "capacitor's" charge from one cable to the As can be noticed during the first 0.3ms the currents are
other is shown in Fig. 6. When the circuit breaker is closed the almost symmetrical, meaning that the current being injected in
energy stored in the cable already energized is transferred to cable B is coming from cable A. It should be observed that
the cable being energized, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 6. when energizing a cable in parallel with an already energized
The inrush currents will not be as high as the ones obtained cable, the frequency and the currents reach higher peak values
when energizing capacitor banks in parallel, due to the cables' that for the energization of a single cable, the current's
resistance and inductance, which limits the transient and amplitude is 1kA when for energization of a single cable it did
damps it faster. not pass the 700A, an increase of 43%.
L/n L/n L/n
800
R/n R/n R/n
600

400
Current [A]

C/n C/n C/n C/n C/n

200
Eq. Grid
0

-200
L/n L/n
R/n
L/n
R/n R/n
-400

-600
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1
Time [s]
Fig. 8. Current on Cable A sending end during the energization its
C/n C/n C/n C/n C/n
energization

1500
Fig. 6. Cable's energization equivalent circuit
1000

To demonstrate this phenomenon the energization of two 500

Current [A]

equal 40km, 72.5kV cables will be simulated, the cables'

0
datasheet can be consulted in [8]. The cables are connected in
parallel, and in order to reduce the grid influence its short- -500
circuit power is low (a 0.4367Ω resistance and a 31.416Ω -1000
reactance), this way there is a larger interaction between the
-1500
two cables and a smaller one with the grid (system's single 0.5 0.505 0.51 0.515 0.52 0.525 0.53
Time [s]
line diagram on Fig. 5). Fig. 9. Currents on the sending ends of Cable A and Cable B during the
To perform the simulation is used PSCAD/EMTDC being energization of Cable B (Blue: Cable A; Red: Cable B)
 4

IV. ENV 60kV NETWORK CHARACTERIZATION for a transient inrush current frequency of 5kHz.
The system under analysis (presented in Fig. 1) is
150
compounded by 9 different cables, whose information is
provided in Table 1, the cables' datasheet can be found in [8]. 100
The single line diagram of the system is shown on Fig. 10,

Voltage [kV]
the cable to be connected is B41, which will be energized with 50

the rest of the network already in steady-state conditions.

0
The circuit breaker closes the three phases at the same time
and there is no synchronization of the closing instant. Thus, -50
the transients will not be equal in all the phases, and it is not
possible to choose a connection moment that reduces the -100
0.104 0.106 0.108 0.11 0.112 0.114
overvoltage and inrush currents, i.e. there is no synchronized Time [s]
Fig. 11. Voltage in cable B41 open end during its energization using an ideal
switching. voltage source (Blue: Phase A, Green: Phase B, Red: Phase C)

TABLE 1 - CABLES ON THE NETWORK 4000

Cable Length 3000
Type
code [km] 2000
B18 400mm2 PEX-M-AL-LT 72kV 13.360

Current [A]
1000
B14 400mm2 PEX-M-AL-LT 72kV 11.940
0
B16 400mm2 PEX-M-AL-LT 72kV 18.934
B15 400mm2 PEX-M-AL-LT 72kV 18.511 -1000

B45/46 240mm2 PEX-M-AL-LT 72kV 16.000 -2000

B44 240mm2 PEX-M-AL-LT 72kV 4.600 -3000

0.104 0.105 0.106 0.107 0.108 0.109 0.11
B37 150mm2 PEX-CU 3.150 Time [s]
Fig. 12. Current into cable B41 during its energization using an ideal voltage
B55 400mm2 PEX-M-AL-LT 72kV 2.209 source (Blue: Phase A, Green: Phase B, Red: Phase C)
B41 800mm2 PEX-M-AL-LT 72kV 9.330
B. Cable connected to an Equivalent Grid
The use of an ideal voltage source is useful to understand
how the cable would behave in ideal conditions or when
connected to a very strong node, but it does not provide
accurate results for the network under analysis.
The grid short-circuit power is 765MVA, for the X/R ratio
is considered a typical value of 13 [10]. Using these values for
Fig. 10. Single line diagram of the simulated network a 66kV network is obtained a resistance of 0.4376Ω and a
reactance of 5.565Ω, for the capacitance it is used a standard
V. SIMULATIONS
value of 2nF [11].
To ease the understanding of this phenomenon it will be The simulation were made for the worst case scenario,
simulated for two different situations: Busbar connected to an connection with peak voltage in one of the phases (phase A),
ideal voltage source or connected to an equivalent network and the plots are shown in Fig. 13 and Fig. 14.
with a 765MVA short-circuit power.
In all the simulations the cables are modeled using a 100
frequency-dependable phase model, being the software used
PSCAD/EMTDC. 50
Voltage [kV]

A. Cable connected to an Ideal Voltage Source

0
The connection of the busbar to an ideal voltage source
makes it easier to understand the energization of cable B41.
-50
On this situation there are no differences between having and
not having the remaining cables connected, as the voltage on
-100
the cable's sending end will always be the one of the voltage 0.104 0.106 0.108 0.11 0.112 0.114
Time [s]
source, i.e. sinusoidal. Fig. 13. Voltage in the open end of cable B41 during its energization using an
The worse case scenario, connection at peak voltage in one equivalent network (Blue: Phase A, Green: Phase B, Red: Phase C)
of the phases (phase A), was simulated. The simulation results
are presented in Fig. 11 and Fig. 12, and it was obtained a
peak voltage around 114kV, a peak current of around 3100A
 5

2000 VI. CONCLUSION

1500 To the purchase of the circuit breaker necessary for the new
1000 cable, ENV consulted the IEC standard regarding AC Circuit
Current [A]

500 Breakers [6]. According to this standard a capacitor bank

0
making performance is covered when the product of the
required peak inrush current times the required frequency of
-500
the inrush current (imax peak x finrsuh) is equal or lower to
-1000
[Link].
-1500
0.104 0.105 0.106 0.107 0.108 0.109 0.11 For the simulation using an ideal voltage source, the peak
Time [s]
Fig. 14. Current in cable B41 during its energization using an equivalent inrush current is 3100A and its frequency is 5kHz.
network (Blue: Phase A, Green: Phase B, Red: Phase C) Multiplying the two values is obtained [Link], a value
5.5 times inferior to the allowed maximum.
Analyzing Fig. 13 and Fig. 14 it is noticed, as expected, that When using the equivalent network, the value of the peak
because of the interaction between the cables and the inrush current is 1750A and the inrush current frequency is
equivalent grid inductance, both voltage and currents are more 5kHz. Multiplying both values is obtained [Link],
distorted when the cable is connected to an equivalent grid value about 10 times inferior to the allowed maximum.
than when the cable was energized from an ideal voltage Therefore it can be concluded than for the present system
source, compare respectively Fig. 13 and Fig. 14 with Fig. 11 the connection of cable B41 do not present any hazards for the
and Fig. 12. circuit breaker, even when it is connected in parallel with
In Fig. 14 the current's transient inrush frequency continues already energized cables.
to be 5kHz, but its amplitude reaches a peak value of only The simulations were all made considering the worst case
1750A, a value inferior to the one obtained when the cable scenario, connection of the cable with maximum voltage in
was energized from an ideal voltage source. one of the phases. The use of synchronized switching is
Apparently this result goes against the theory presented enough to completely eliminate this phenomenon, as all the
before, as it was expected an increase of the current peak phases are connected for zero voltage and no overvoltage and
value. The reason for this discrepancy is the use of the overcurrents would occur.
equivalent grid, which reduces the current's peak value during
the transient. VII. FUTURE WORK
In Fig. 15 are presented the currents during the energization The authors are finishing a paper with a more
of cable B41 when connected to the equivalent grid described comprehensive theoretical background of this phenomenon, as
before, but being the other cables disconnected from the well as a more detailed explanation of when the energization
network. On these conditions the current peak value is around of cables in parallel may represent a hazard to the network.
700A, a value inferior to the 1750A obtained when energizing
the cable in parallel with other cables, what proves the theory VIII. ACKNOWLEDGE
explained before.
The authors gratefully acknowledge ENV for all the
Another difference that can be noticed between the
support and data.
energization of cables in parallel and the one of a single cable,
is a reduction of the transient's frequency. As there is no
IX. REFERENCES
longer an inrush current from one cable to the other the
[1] IEEE Guide for the Protection of Shunt Capacitor Banks, IEEE Standard
frequency decreases from 5kHz to approximately 720Hz, as C37.99-2000, 2000
can be verified comparing Fig. 15 with Fig. 14. [2] C. D. Tsirekis, N. D. Hatziargyriou, "Control of Shunt Capacitors and
Shunt Reactors Energization Transients", IPST 2003
1000 [3] [Link], "Kabelhandlingsplan 132-150kV", 2009 (in Danish)
[4] ELINFRASTRUKTURUDVALGET, "Technical Report on the future
expansion and undergrounding of the electricity transmission grid",
500 2008
[5] IEC 62271-100 (2009) "High-Voltage switchgear and control gear - Part
Current [A]

0
100: Alternating-current circuit-breakers"
[6] IEC 62271-100 (2001) "High-Voltage switchgear and control gear - Part
100: Alternating-current circuit-breakers"
-500 [7] Alan Greenwood, "Electric Transients in Power Systems", John Wiley &
Sons, 1st Edition, 1971
[8] 60-500kV High voltage Underground Power Cables: XLPE Insulated
-1000 Cables, Nexans
0.104 0.105 0.106 0.107 0.108 0.109 0.11
Time [s] [9] B. Gustavsen, A. Morched, M. Tartibi, "A universal model for accurate
Fig. 15. Current in cable B41 during its energization when connected to an calculation of electromagnetic transients on overhead lines and
equivalent network, but with the other network cables disconnected (Blue: underground cables," IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, 14(3),
Phase A, Green: Phase B, Red: Phase C) p.1032–1038, July 1999
[10] Richard Roeper, "Short-circuit current in Three-phases Systems", John
Wiley & Sons, 2nd edition, 1985
 6

[11] ABB, "Zinc oxide surge arrester - Application guidelines for station
protection", 2nd edition, 1995

X. BIOGRAPHIES
Filipe Faria da Silva was born in Portugal in 1985 and received is M.S.E. in
Electrical and Computers Engineering in 2008 from Instituto Superior Técnico
(IST), Portugal.
He is currently working for the Danish TSO ([Link]) and doing a PhD
in the Institute of Energy Technology of Aalborg University, where he studies
High-Voltage Transmissions Systems with Underground Cables.

Claus Leth Bak was born in Århus in Denmark, on April 13, 1965. He
graduated from High School in Århus and studied at the Engineering College
in Århus, where he received the [Link]. with honors in Electrical Power
Engineering in 1992. He pursued the [Link]. in Electrical Power Engineering
with specialization in High Voltage Engineering at the Institute of Energy
Technology (IET) at Aalborg University (AAU), which he received in 1994.
After his studies he worked with Electric power transmission and substations
with specializations within the area of power system protection at the NV Net
transmission company. In 1999 he got employed as an assistant professor at
IET-AAU, where he is holding an associate professor position today. His main
research areas include corona phenomena on overhead lines, power system
transient simulations and power system protection. He is the author/coauthor
of app. 30 publications and IEEE Senior Member.

Magnus Lind Hansen Was born in Odense in Denmark in 1971. He

graduated from Technical High School in Odense. After being educated as an
electrician he studied at the University of Southern Denmark, where he
received the B. Sc. with honours in Electrical Engineering in 2000. He worked
with process control systems in the Danish offshore sector for the company
ABB. In the year 2002 he was employed at the power plant
Nordjyllandsværket where he worked with project management and operation
and maintenance for the company Elsam and later Vattenfall. Currently he is
employed at ENV Net A/S, working with project management and operation
and maintenance of the 60kV grid in the northern part of Denmark.