Editorial
That is why we dedicate this issue of the PACWorld magazine to generator protection and to the many different issues that the specialists in our field need to consider in order to make sure that the protection systems that we design, install, commission and maintain will operate as required in the field.
The multiple misoperations of generation protection during the August 14, 2003 blackout ... More
Letters
Don't hesitate. Share your thoughts and experiences. More
News
Industry News
Advantech Presents
4 - port Isolated RS-232/422/485 I/O card with IRIG B
Advantech's UNOP-1624D I/O card provides four isolated RS-232/422/485 serial ports, fiber, TTL, and RS-485 IRIG-B demodulated time code inputs as well as TTL and RS-485 IRIG-B demodulated time code inputs. It is IEC 61850-3 and IEE 1613 compliant.
If four ports are not enough, there is an eight port version as well, t... MoreAlstom Grid - Touch-screen technology into the substation
Launch of the P60 Agile protection and control One Box Solution
Alstom Grid’s new one box solution brings touch - screen technology into the substation. The Switchgear control and single-line diagram presentation is achieved thanks to the full - color, graphical HMI.
The series comprises the P16x series of feeder management devices and the P961 voltage and frequency IED.&nb... MoreCOPA-DATA Smooth communication in line with IEC 61850
With the zenon Energy Edition, COPA-DATA offers an industry-specific SCADA solution for power plant automation & substation automation, grid control technology and wind park management. The drivers developed by COPA-DATA guarantee adherence to international standards such as IEC 61850, IEC 61400-25, IEC 60870 and DNP3. The IEC 61850 client is natively integrated in the SCADA system. This i... MoreERLPhase Announces IEC 61850 Certification for TESLA 4000
ERLPhase is pleased to announce that it has received IEC certification for the TESLA 4000 Power System Recorder.
TESLA 4000 has received excellent industry adoption due to its easy to use interface and state-of-the-art features which meet industry and regulatory standards.
TESLA 4000 is an easy-to-use and cost effective, multi-time frame (simultaneous) power system mo... MoreNew modular arc protection unit from Schneider Electric
Schneider Electric extends their product range
Schneider Electric has extended their Vamp product range with a new arc flash protection IED, featuring a modular design that allows user-defined arc protection solutions both in new and existing systems.
The Vamp 321 is based on the proven technology of Vamp protection relays and arc flash protection systems. Direct connection of senso... MoreNew BitronicsĀ® 878 DIOD
High Density, Distributed I/O, supports DNP3 and IEC 61850
NovaTech, LLC announces the Bitronics 878 Digital Input/Output Device (DIOD). The 878 offers self-powered, distributed I/O for substation equipment monitoring and fast automation and control applications in conjunction with the OrionLX.
It provides combinations of digital inputs and outputs, and transducer input... MoreOMICRON's new CMControl P App
Omicron offers a new CMControl P App to control CMC test sets
The new CMControl P App developed by OMICRON enables users to control CMC test sets with Android-based tablet PCs, using a wireless connection.
The App offers all functionalities of the CMControl P, the front panel control for CMC test sets for testing protection and measurement devices. All physical operational el... MoreRevised Generator Protection Application Guide Now Available
A newly revised Generator Protection Application Guide is now available for download from the Basler Electric web site.
Basler Electric developed this guide to simplify the process of selecting relays and relay systems to protect generators. Starting with minimum protection as a baseline, additional protection is added for critical and complex applications. Each protective element is des... MoreSiemens - Solution for High Impedance Protection
Based on decades of experience in high impedance protection, Siemens have developed the 7SR23 DAD relay which provides comprehensive, configurable high impedance protection with enhanced functionality and performance.
High impedance protection is proven, straight forward, high performance protection which provides a unit protection that can be applied for restricted earth fault, busbar and ... MoreSmart Grid Information Clearinghouse
The Smart Grid Information Clearinghouse (SGIC) portal is managed by and run from the Virginia Tech Advanced Research Institute in Arlington, VA with assistance from the IEEE Power & Energy Society and EnerNex Corporation. Contents in the SGIC portal includes demonstration projects, use cases, standards, legislation, policy and regulation, lessons learned and best practices, and advance... MoreToshiba Launches GRX200 for DC railway protection and control
Toshiba announces the launch of GRX200 for DC railway feeder protection and control. GRX200 is based on the next generation GR-200 Series IED platform.
GRX200 combines a main unit with a large mimic display that can be mounted separately in order to ease integration and operation as a component of DC MV switchgear.
Toshiba’s unique protection scheme technology has been implemen... More
Technology News
Digital Grid - subdivided grids into "digital grid cells"
To support a high penetration of intermittent solar and wind power generation, a recently published paper (Digital Grid: Communicative Electrical Grids of the Future, Rikiya Abe, Hisao Taoka, David McQuilkin, IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, Vol. 2, No. 2, June 2011) introduces the concept of the “digital grid,” where a wide-area synchronized power system is subdivided (&... MoreMagVac - Magnetic Latching Breakers
Magnetic Latching Medium-Voltage Breakers pair vacuum interrupter technology with linear magnetic latching actuators to remove more than 100 mechanical points of failure from traditional medium-voltage breaker designs, offering guaranteed operation for five years or 30,000 operations.
Designed to help solve medium-voltage breaker maintenance issues, MagVac uses three compact monostable m... More
Cover Story
Generator Protection Coordination
The record of generator trips (290 units totaling 52,743.9 MW) during the 2003 blackout included 13 types of generator protection relay functions that operated to initiate generator tripping. A list of the protection elements that tripped are summarized in Figure 1 and include: generator system backup protection, undervoltage, loss-of-field, overvoltage and inadvertent generator energi... More
IEC 61850 Update
Next steps in IEC 61850
It was at DistribuTECH in San Diego, when I went through the Power Grid International magazine and the title "IEC 61850 – Why all the hype?" triggered my attention. I had just finished giving an IEC 61850 seminar as part of the DistribuTECH Utility University. Compared to previous years, the attendance had increased – a sign of the growing interest for IEC 61850 in the United Sta... More
Lessons Learned
Generator Protection
Generator protection systems are very complex systems with many different protective functions. The configuration of these systems depends on the rated power of the generator as well as on the power system structure, i.e. whether the generator is in busbar connection or connected to a unit transformer, as shown in Figure 4. This article will describe solutions for testing selected pr... More
Blackout Analysis
India Grid Disturbances July2012
There was a major grid disturbance in the Northern Region at 02:30 on 30-07-2012. The Northern regional grid load was about 36,000MW at the time of disturbance. Subsequently, there was another grid disturbance at 13:00 on 31-07-2012 resulting in collapse of the Northern, Eastern and North-Eastern regional grids. The total load of about 48,000MW was affected in this blackout. On both... More
Partial Discharge
Partial Discharge Activity for Motors and Generators
On-line monitoring of partial discharge results is preferred as it provides an indication of the activity while the machine is operating under normal thermal, electrical, ambient and mechanical stresses.
As the insulation degrades, the number and magnitude of PD pulses will increase. Although the magnitude of the PD pulses cannot be directly related to the remaining life of the winding, the ... More
Software Solutions
EGIP Requirements for IDS
This wide-ranging review of the protection requirements at the interface between embedded generators and the distribution system included the following:
Background on the Growth of EG on the Irish Distribution System (IDS) Analysis of Behavior of EG under Fault Conditions Modeling of EG for Protection Analysis International Review of EGIP Practices Recommendations for Changes to St... More
Legal Issue
Workers Compensation
It should be well understood that to recover under Workers Compensation, certain requirements must be met. Among these the law mandates that the injuries be work related and that they satisfy certain elements. Thus, the injuries have to:
Arise out of the employment environment, place, etc... AND Occur within the course of employment
The above mentioned requireme... More
New Protection Relay for Variable Speed
New Protection Relay for Variable Speed
Pumped storage is still the most efficient and flexible form of storing electricity on a large scale. Pump storage has now evolved to Variable speed pump turbine technology that offers greater efficiency and dynamic power adjustment. This article describes the development of a new innovative protection system for protecting large variable speed Double Fed Induction (DFI) machines for... More
The Guru
Interview with PAC World guru Arun Phadke
PAC World: When and where were you born? A.P.: I was born in Gwalior, India on August 27, 1937. There was some confusion about this date when I was enrolled in school: the date of birth entered was August 27, 1938! So, officially I am one year younger than my actual age! And the bureaucracy of changing this was such that I decided to live with this wrong date for ... More
History
Protection History - Generations of Protection
The electron tube was invented by the American engineers Lee de Forest and the Austrian physician Robert von Lieben in 1906. The early designs for electronic relays were vacuum tube devices, which were introduced in the 1930s. The use of tubes developed for high frequency applications also in the power industry started in the US very early. Georges Lewis (Crosley Manufacturing Co.) proposed t... More
I Think
Do we need super powers to build the grid of the future?
However, as the date came closer I must admit that I did think for a moment what if…? What if these are our last days, what should I be doing during these days?
Now as we all know the world did not end and yes we did survive. Maybe I should have printed thousands of T-shirts with the text “I survived 21-12-2012”. Would probably have been a good business idea.
Even thou... More
Industry Reports
IEEE Tutorial PSRC - Protection of Synchronous Generators, Second Edition, 2011
In 1995, the Power System Relaying Committee (PSRC) published 95 TP 102 Tutorial on the Protection of Synchronous Generators to familiarize practicing relay engineers with the principles and practices for protecting synchronous generators. In 1995, I was a relative newcomer to relay engineering and found myself very uncomfortable when confronted with protection problems relating to large syn... More
PAC conferences around the world
19th Conference of the Electric Power Supply Industry
The theme of the conference was “Enhancing and Securing Clean Technology Investment for Sustainable Electric Power Industry Development.” The five day event was held at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center (BNDCC).
The conference was attended by delegates of the members of the Association of the Electricity Supply Industry of East Asia and the Western Pacific (AES... More2012 Southern African Power System Protection Conference - SAPSPC
Eskom, the South African electricity utility was once again the conference host utility.
The conference venue was the OR Tambo Centre, Birchwood’s Hotel, Viewpoint road, Boksburg. After many years of having the conference at the Eskom Training Center, the change of venue was driven by the need to accommodate more participants in the conference.
The registered delegates included ... More2013 DistribuTech Conference & Exhibition, San Diego, USA
DistribuTECH 2013 was held at the San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, California, USA 29-31 January 2013. Combining a conference and exhibition allows the visitors from more than fifty countries to learn by listening and discussing issues of importance to our industry, and then observing how the latest technology functions and can be applied in the field.
The conference was pre... MorePACWorld Conference Latin America, 2012
The inaugural Protection, Automation & Control PACWorld Conference - Latin America was held 21-24 November, 2012 in Florianopolis, Brazil.
It was organized with thecooperation of CIGRE-Brazil and Electrosul at the beautiful Costão do Santinho Resort. The idea to have local editions of the PAC World conference at different regions around the world is in line with our goals to help pr... MoreWestern Protective Relay Conference, Spokane, USA
It is an educational forum organized by Washington State University for the presentation and detailed technical discussion of a wide range of topics covering different aspects of the protection and control of electric power systems and related subjects.
Most of the attendees are from the United States, but there were also some international participants. This forum allows participants to ... MoreXI PCTS - Technical Seminar on Protection and Control 2012- Florianopolis, Brazil, 18-21 November, 2012
The objective of the seminar is to provide a forum for the exchange of knowledge, technical and management experiences between companies and entities that are in the field of protection and control of electric power systems that will increase the productivity and quality of the Brazilian electrical sector, assisting in the growth and development of the country.
The seminar was organized by... More
Book Review
Variable Speed Generators
The Electric Generators Handbook
Presented by Alexander Apostolov, USA
The author of the book - Ion G. Boldea, is a Full Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University Politechnica of Timisoara, Romania. He has also been Visiting Professor at several universities in the UK and USA. He is a full member of the Romanian Academy of Technical Sciences and the European Academy of... More
Hobby
Mount Everest 2012!
by Naim Logic, Salt River Project, AZ, USA
Moreover, if that monster-mountain with no mercy, that blows you away from its ledges by hurricane-strength winds and sends you off home with more than 3 feet of snow - than, that challenge is even much bigger. It took me a long time to accept that such powerful forces exist - and then, that unapproachable wilderness with mystic lifeless space be... More
Final Thoughts
Where are we going?
If we think about it, the world of PAC engineers was quite simple (when you are good at it) – we had large power plants with big machines, transmission lines to bring the power to the load centers and distribution systems to deliver it to the consumers.
We know how to model these machines; we know their behavior during faults and disturbances, and how to protect th... More