SUBSTATION OVERVIEW

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SUBSTATION OVERVIEW

 For the most part, electric power

substations are viewed as the integral part
of a power utilities’ electric system, with
electric systems being comprised of
power generation, transmission, and
distribution systems.
 Adds reliability to the network by
providing alternate paths for flow of
power to take care of any contingency

Transmission Level Voltages:

765kV, 400kV, 220kV, 132kV

Distribution Level Voltages:

66kV, 33kV, 11kV, 6.6kV, 440V

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SUBSTATION OVERVIEW
Types of Substations

Depending upon construction:

•Indoor
•Outdoor

Depending upon insulation:

•Air insulated
•Gas insulated
•Hybrid-Pass

Depending upon function:

•Switching station
•Transformation station
•Pooling station
•Distribution station
•Collector station
•Convertor station
SUBSTATION OVERVIEW
AIS and GIS Salient Points
SUBSTATION OVERVIEW
Hybrid Substation

 A hybrid switchgear is one that combines the components of traditional air-insulated switchgear (AIS) and SF6
gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) technologies. It is characterized by a compact and modular design, which
encompasses several different functions in one module.

 This modular approach to the construction of the substations is based on flexibility and customizability. The
hybrid module can be used for extension or substitution in any traditional substation which uses an air-insulated
busbar. This allows to configure the module with the components that are required by substation’s architecture
and scope of supply. Vice versa, it is also possible to install traditional air-insulated equipment in a hybrid
substation.

 This mixed-technology switchgear reduces substation footprint by up to 50 percent and offers a dependable and
cost-efficient solution for new installations and extensions as well as rehabilitation projects.
PLANNING FOR A NEW POWER SUBSTATION

 When a utility prepares to add a new power substation to their electric grid, it's usually because the electric load
growth in their area has increased by consumers – new growth in businesses, industries, residential, etc.

 Another reason for adding a new substation is to replace an outdated, aging substation that is obsolete and has
reached its end-of-life.

 The basic steps a utility may perform in planning and implementing a new substation are:
1. Conduct planning meetings for the new power substation.

2. Perform load flow power studies.

3. Determine the substation size and total footprint required (with equipment), including transmission right of
way (ROW).

4. Determine substation configuration (Single Bus, Main/Transfer Bus, Ring Bus, etc.).

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PLANNING FOR A NEW POWER SUBSTATION

5. Allocate required funds for real estate purchase, planning, engineering, construction, implementation,
etc..

6. Determine the location or area and acquire the real estate including ROW.

7. Create the substation project with scheduled milestones and in-service date.

8. Assign the project team resources with in-house staff, external staff/contractors, or contract entire
project as a turnkey solution, engineer-procure-construct (EPC) option, etc.

9. Begin engineering & design of substation drawing package and deliverables.

10. Perform a final design review meeting along with a pre-construction meeting.

11. Finally construct, test, and implement new substation.

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DESIGNING A NEW POWER SUBSTATION

 Once the substation planning has been completed with real estate acquired, and the project has kicked off; a
scaled site plan will be created to determine the right of way (ROW) access for roads, transmission lines,
distribution lines, and other utility access, such as: water, sewer, gas, and telecommunications.

 The site plan will also show the entire footprint with substation fencing and major substation equipment
location including the control house/cabinets – if equipped.

 The substation layout configuration will need to be determined before the site plan can be completed.

 This will show if the substation will be a single bus configuration, main & transfer bus, ring bus, breaker-and-
a-half scheme, etc.

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DESIGNING A NEW POWER SUBSTATION

 Basic Information required for Substation Design,

• Service Conditions:
 Location, Altitude
 High and Low Mean Temperatures
 Temperature Extremes
 Wind Loading and Ice Loading
 Seismic Qualifications
 Area Classification
 Contamination
• Primary System Characteristics?
 Local Utility
 Nominal Voltage
 Maximum Operating Voltage
 System Frequency
 System Grounding
 System Impedance Data
 Insulation Coordination

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DESIGNING A NEW POWER SUBSTATION

SWITCHING SCHEMES
Pros
• Each Circuit has Breaker
Single Breaker Single Bus Substation: • Only One Set of VTs Required
• Simple Design
• Basic Design
• One Circuit Breaker per Circuit
• One Common Bus Cons
• No Operating Flexibility • Circuit Breaker Maintenance Requires
• Widely Used at Distribution Level Circuit Outage
• Limited Use at High Voltage • Bus Fault Clears all Circuits
• Breaker Failure Clears all Circuits
• Single Points of Failure Between
Circuits are in Series
• Expansion requires complete station
outage

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DESIGNING A NEW POWER SUBSTATION

SWITCHING SCHEMES
Pros
• Breaker Maintenance w/o Circuit
Transfer Buses with Single Breaker: Interruption
• Only One Set of VTs Required
• Similar to Single Breaker Single Bus
• Add Transfer Bus
• Transfer Bus Switches Normally Open Cons
• Only 1 Circuit Operated From Transfer • More Costly with Addition of Transfer
Bus Bus
• Widely Used in Outdoor Distribution • Adaptable Protection is Necessary
Applications • If Not Adaptable, Protection
Compromise During Maintenance
• Normal Operation Is Single Breaker
Single Bus

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DESIGNING A NEW POWER SUBSTATION

SWITCHING SCHEMES
Pros
• High Flexibility with Minimum of Breakers
Ring Bus: • Dedicated Bus Protection not Required
• Highly Adaptable
• Popular at High Voltage • Failed Circuit Does Not Disrupt Other Circuits
• Circuits and Breakers Alternate in • Breaker Maintenance w/o Circuit Interruption
Position
• No Buses per se
Cons
• Failed Breaker May Result in Loss of Multiple
Circuits
• Physically Large With 6 or More Circuits

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DESIGNING A NEW POWER SUBSTATION

SWITCHING SCHEMES
Pros
• Robust
Breaker-And-A-Half: • Highly Expandable
• Failed Outer Breakers Result in Loss of One
• More Operating Flexibility than Ring Bus Circuit Only
• Requires 3 Breakers for Every Two • Breaker Maintenance w/o Circuit Interruption
Circuits
• Widely Used at High Voltage, Especially
Where Multiple Circuits Exist (e.g. Cons
Generating Plants) • Cost
• Physically Large
• Failed Center Breaker Results in Loss of Two
Circuits

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DESIGNING A NEW POWER SUBSTATION

SWITCHING SCHEMES
Pros
• Bus Faults Do Not Interrupt Any Circuit
Double Breaker Double Bus: • Circuit Faults Do Not Interrupt Any Buses
or Other Circuits
• Highly Flexible Arrangement • Failed Breaker Results in Loss of One
• Two Buses, Each Separated by Two Circuit Only
Circuit Breakers • Breaker Maintenance w/o Circuit
• Two Circuit Breakers per Circuit Interruption
• All Breakers Normally Closed • Highly Expandable
• Robust

Cons
• Cost – Two Breakers & Four Switches per
Circuit
• Physical Size

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DESIGNING A NEW POWER SUBSTATION

GENERAL ARRANGEMENT:

 A general arrangement plan is required to show the exact arrangement of the substation yard equipment
including connections to the transmission and distribution lines.

 This is a scaled drawing showing the exact orientation of the substation fencing with access gates, control
house, transformers, breakers, switches, electrical bus, foundations, cable trenching, etc.

 The general arrangement is broken up into multiple scaled equipment sections & detailed drawings, as required,
to illustrate all major yard equipment, structures, fencing, and control house. These sections & detailed
diagrams are needed for constructing, connecting, operating, and maintaining.

 Equipment mechanism drawings are generally provided by manufacturers or created from vendor
specifications. The mechanism drawings show the high voltage and low voltage enclosures, compartments
along with the internal and external connections. These drawings include various details, mounting
requirements, schematics, and wiring diagrams as required for installation and operation of the equipment.

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DESIGNING A NEW POWER SUBSTATION

Single Line Diagram with protection & metering

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 DESIGNING A NEW POWER SUBSTATION

Air insulated switchyard Plan

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 DESIGNING A NEW POWER SUBSTATION

Air insulated switchyard Section

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DESIGNING A NEW POWER SUBSTATION

 Next, an excavation plan may be required in order to show details for leveling out sloped soil in preparation for
foundations.

 The foundation plan will show the concrete foundations (drawn to scale) that are required for supporting all
major equipment, structures, cabinets, and control house.

 The grounding plan is required to show the underground, ground grid with grounding connections at all major
equipment, steel structures, control house, and at various sections of the substation fencing in order to protect
against electrical faults.

 A separate grounding analysis study will be required to ensure proper grounding connections, ground rods, and
copper conductor sizes are utilized.

 A separate shielding and lightning protection analysis will be required to ensure all equipment and lines are
properly shielded against possible direct lightning strikes. The analysis will help determine method for
protection by using overhead shield wire (OHSW), lightning rod masts, and/or both, etc.

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DESIGNING A NEW POWER SUBSTATION

 Cable Trench, Conduit and lighting plans are created to show all the necessary underground to above ground
conduits and to show the above ground lighting required to properly illuminate the yard equipment. Conduit
and cable lists are created in conjunction with the conduit plans to show all the outdoor and indoor cables with
labels including the conduit, along with cable/conduit types, sizes, and number of conductors in each cable, etc.

 The Main Control Room drawings are usually provided by the manufacturer or vendor selected based on the
utilities' substation size and house requirements. Control houses usually consist of concrete, masonry, or metal
buildings.

 Main Control Rooms today are becoming more popular with prefabbed metal buildings that are shipped to the
construction site with minimal assembly required on site. Depending on the utilities’ specifications, prefab
control houses can arrive equipped with electrical, lighting, HVAC, AC/DC distribution cabinets, control or
command modules, protection & controls (P&C) module, telecommunications module, battery room, bath
room, cable trays, relaying & controls panels, wiring terminal blocks, telecom racks, etc.

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DESIGNING A NEW POWER SUBSTATION

 The CRP equipment will be shown on protection & controls drawings - single line diagrams, AC & DC
schematics, front/rear views, wiring diagrams, bill of materials (BOM), etc.

 The SCADA equipment drawings will be created to show remote control functions for all substation and P&C
equipment. The SCADA equipment will either be shown on P&C drawings or Telecommunications drawings
depending on the utilities’ specifications. These drawings usually include single lines, schematics, front/rear
views, connection/wiring diagrams, cable lists, SCADA points lists, etc

 Test reports
• Type test reports for products, a design validation test
• Routine Factory acceptance tests for products once they are manufactured and at end of
production line
• Pre commissioning tests done at site after all equipment are installed at site as per design
requirements
• Commissioning tests done at site to check for performance in live condition

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SUBSTATION OVERVIEW
SUBSTATION EQUIPMENT

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DESIGNING A NEW POWER SUBSTATION

SUBSTATION EQUIPMENT:

 Bus bars: Where the electrical power is concentrated

 Surge arrestors: Protects the other equipment from voltage spikes / impulses
 Wave traps: Part of filtering arrangement for HF signals used in communication
 Current transformers: Used for measuring feeder current for use in metering and relaying
systems
 Voltage transformers: Used for measuring bus / line voltage for use in metering and relaying
systems
 Disconnectors: Used for isolation of live sections (off load operations)
 Circuit breakers: Used for switching in and out of feeders (on load operations)
 Earthing switches: Used for grounding operations
 Shunt Reactors: Used for limiting voltage rise in line or bus
 Shunt Capacitors: Used for limiting voltage drop in bus
 Power transformers: Used for change in voltage levels
 Protective relaying: Used for sensing fault conditions and isolate faulty sections

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DESIGNING A NEW POWER SUBSTATION

SUBSTATION EQUIPMENT:

 Control systems: Used for control and monitoring of different devices

 Communication system: Used for transmitting and receiving trip signals to / from other stations
and communicating data and signals to load dispatcher
 Auxiliary DC power: Comprises of battery banks and battery chargers; used for relaying,
control and communication systems
 Auxiliary AC power: Comprises of switchboards and back up generators to supply all
electrical loads of the station
 Illumination systems: For lighting of station to provide facilities of working
 HVAC systems: For providing a controlled environment for different devices located
indoor

….. And many other things. These are the main things provided.

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DESIGNING A NEW POWER SUBSTATION

EQUIPMENT RATINGS: Major Parameters

 Insulation Requirements
◦ BIL
◦ Insulator and Bushing Creep
◦ Minimum Clearances
◦ Phase Spacing
◦ Arrester Duty
 Current Requirements
◦ Rated Continuous Current
◦ Maximum 3-Phase Short-Circuit Current
◦ Maximum Phase-to-Ground Short-Circuit Current
 Contamination Levels
◦ Light Polluted
◦ Medium Polluted
◦ Heavy Polluted
◦ Extra Heavy Polluted

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DESIGNING A NEW POWER SUBSTATION

ELECTRICAL STUDIES:

 Power/Load Flow
 Short-Circuit / Device Evaluation
 Device Coordination
 Arc-Flash Hazard Assessment
 Steady State and Transient Stability
 Insulation Coordination
 Harmonic Analysis
 Reactive Power Compensation

Reliability Study
◦ Estimate Cost of Alternate Designs
◦ Determine Lost Revenue During Outages
◦ Calculate Probability of Outage Based on Design

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DESIGNING A NEW POWER SUBSTATION

OTHER STUDIES:

 Geo Investigation - Soil Boring Results – Foundation Design

 Soil Resistivity – Ground Grid Design
 Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plans - Contamination
 Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) - Runoff During Construction
 Stormwater Management – Detention Pond Requirements
 Hydrology Study
 Contour Survey

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DESIGNING A NEW POWER SUBSTATION

Structural Requirements: Sectional Clearance & Gantry/Equipment Structure Design

 Applied Forces
◦ Wind
◦ Ice
◦ Forces from Short-Circuit Faults
 Design Considerations
◦ Insulator strength to withstand forces from short-circuit faults
◦ Structural steel strength under short-circuit fault forces (moments)
◦ Foundation design under high moments
◦ Ice loading, bus bar strength, and bus spans
◦ Thermal expansion and use of expansion joints IEEE 605 –IEEE Guide for Design of
Substation Rigid-Bus Structures

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DESIGNING A NEW POWER SUBSTATION
Control and Protection Requirement – CEA Guidelines

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DESIGNING A NEW POWER SUBSTATION
Control and Protection Requirement – CEA Guidelines

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DESIGNING A NEW POWER SUBSTATION
Control and Protection Requirement – CEA Guidelines

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DESIGNING A NEW POWER SUBSTATION
Control and Protection Requirement – CEA Guidelines

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DESIGNING A NEW POWER SUBSTATION

Control and Protection Requirement – CEA Guidelines

These time synchronized measurements are important because if the grid’s supply and demand are not
perfectly matched, frequency imbalances can cause stress on the grid, which is a potential cause for
power outages.

PMUs can also be used to measure the frequency in the power grid. A typical commercial PMU can
report measurements with very high temporal resolution, up to 120 measurements per second. This
helps engineers in analyzing dynamic events in the grid which is not possible with traditional SCADA
measurements that generate one measurement every 2 or 4 seconds.
Therefore, PMUs equip utilities with enhanced monitoring and control capabilities and are considered
to be one of the most important measuring devices in the future of power systems.
A PMU can be a dedicated device, or the PMU function can be incorporated into a protective relay or
other device.

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Thank you!

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