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AND PROTECTION
CHAPTER 5: POWER SYSTEM EARTHING
AND LIGHTNING PROTECTION
Samundra Gurung, PhD
Assistant Professor

Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Kathmandu University
 • Objectives
✓To study about system and equipment earthing

✓Learn about design of “Substation Grid Earthing”

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 ▪ Objectives of Earthing (Grounding)
1. To provide the discharge path for lightning rods, arresters, gaps, and
similar devices and also a path for leakage current

2. To ensure safety to operating personnel by limiting potential

differences that can exist in a substation

3. To limit over-voltages during ground faults

4. To allow sufficient fault current to flow safely for proper operation of

protective relays during ground faults

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 Earthing/ Grounding

System Earthing/ Neutral Earthing Equipment or Safety

Ungrounded High
Solid
Resistance
Low
Reactance
Grounded
Resonant
Voltage Transformer
Grounding Transformer
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SYSTEM EARTHING
• Grounding of the system neutral to ensure
system security and protection.
 1) Ungrounded System
• No intentional connection to ground.
• Reality: Ground connection through the natural shunt capacitance of
the system to ground.

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 • Capacitive current >4A---”Arcing Ground”
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 • Features of Ungrounded system:

1) Arcing ground

2) Phase voltage at the healthy phases reach line voltage

Coefficient of earthing (CE) = Voltage at healthy phase/Line to Line voltage (VL-L)

CE =100% for ungrounded system

3) Fault current is low

4) Interference with communication lines is reduced because of the

absence of zero sequence currents

Disadvantages > Advantages

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 2) Effective grounding (solid grounding)

• Neutral is directly connected to ground

• COE < 80%

• Fault current is exclusively inductive and much larger than

capacitive current---- “Partial/Full cancellation” of capacitive
current

• Generally used on systems (1) 600V and below and (2) over 15kV

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 3) Resistance grounding (Non-Effectively grounded system)
• System is connected to ground through a resistor
• 80%<COE<100%

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 ❑Features:

✓Two kinds:

• Low-resistance grounding---Fault current---100-500A---Typically 400A

• High resistance grounding----Fault current--- less than 10A

✓Ground fault current is lower than in effectively grounded system

✓Neutral displacement → Higher insulation

✓Costlier than effectively grounded systems

✓Low resistance grounding (2.4- 15kV, rotating machines), High resistance

(600V and below)

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 Neutral Grounding Resistor

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 4) Reactance Grounding
• Neutral is grounded through impedance
• For reactance grounded system, X0/X1> 3.0

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 ❑Features:
• Used where high charging currents are involved such as
transmission lines, underground cables, synchronous motors,
synchronous capacitors etc

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 5) Resonant grounding (arc suppressing coil grounding)

• Special case of a reactance grounding.

• Tunable reactor to resonate with the capacitance of the system when a

line-to-ground (L-G) fault occurs

L: Arc Suppression coil or Peterson coil

or Ground Fault Neutralizer

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 ❑Features:

• Low fault current

• Relatively common in electric utility distribution practice in the

UK and Europe.

• Key requirement: Resonant circuit must be retuned if the

distributed parameters of the associated circuit are changed

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 6) Voltage transformer grounding

• Neutral is grounded through

primary of a single phase voltage
transformer

• Low-impedance in secondary….
High impedance in primary

• Typically 15-25KVA

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 Neutral Grounding Transformer

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 7) Zig-zag transformer

• Where the transformer or generator

is delta connected, an artificial
neutral grounding point is created
by using a zig-zag transformer
called ‘grounding transformer’.

• For earth fault protection in delta-

windings

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 • Let us look at a simulation of ungrounded, solidly grounded and
resistance grounded system

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 Readings

No. Book Details

1 Power System Analysis and Design by B.R. Gupta Chapter 18
2 Power System Protection and Chapter 4
Switchgear by Badri Ram and D N Vishwakarma (Optional)
Page 198-295
3 IEEE Std 142 -2007 (IEEE Recommended Practice for Chapter 1
Grounding of Industrial and Commercial Power Systems) (Optional)

Note: I have uploaded the necessary pdf for this chapter for students
who don’t have the concerned books. So, Make sure you obtain that pdf
and read for exams

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 EQUIPMENT GROUNDING
( SUBSTATION GROUNDING)

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 • Equipment grounding means electrically connecting non-current
carrying metallic parts (i.e., metallic frame, metallic enclosure, etc.)
of the equipment to ground.

• Chief purpose: “HUMAN SAFETY”

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 ▪ Definitions:

1. Earth electrode

A rode, pipe, plate or an array of conductors, embedded in earth horizontally or

vertically

2. Earth current

The current dissipated by earth electrode into ground

3 Resistance of earth electrode

The resistance offered by the earth electrode to the flow of current into the ground.
This resistance is not the ohmic resistance of the electrode but represents the
resistance of the mass of earth surrounding the earth electrode.

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[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

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 ▪ Earth Potential Gradient

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 4. Ground potential rise (GPR)

• The maximum electrical potential that a substation grounding grid may

have relative to a distant grounding point assumed to be at the
potential of remote earth.

GPR= Maximum ground fault current * Ground resistance

5. Step potential

The potential difference shunted by a human body between two

accessible points on the ground separated by the distance of one meter

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 6. Touch potential

The potential difference between a point on the ground and a point on a

object likely to carry a fault current (e.g, frame of equipment) and which
can be touched by a person

7. Mesh potential

The maximum touch potential within a mesh of the grid

8. Transferred potential

A special case of touch potential where a potential is transferred into or

out of the substation

8. Switchgear and Protection

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 [Link]

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 ▪ Tolerable limits of body currents

1. Effect of magnitude of current Formulae for Tolerable current

2. Effect of duration of current

3. Effect of frequency

• 1-6 mA are often defined as the secondary shock currents (let-go currents)

• Note that, it is virtually impossible to produce primary shock currents

with less than 25 V owing to normal body resistance (Around 1000 Ω).

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 ▪ Soil resistivity
1. Soil type
2. Moisture content
3. Temperature
4. Salt content
5. Magnitude of current

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 •For most standard industrial and
commercial earthing systems, it is ideal to aim
for a soil resistivity of less than 100 Ω·m to
ensure a low impedance path for fault
current and reduce the risk of electrical
hazards.
•Soil resistivity of 10–50 Ω·m is considered
optimal for many applications like
substations and high-voltage installations.

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 ▪ Earth resistance
1. Driven rod

l: Length of rod
d: Diameter of rod
B: Equivalent hemisphere
R: Earthing resistance
ρ: Resistivity of soil (Ωm)

• Material: Copper or Steel

• Use: House earthing

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 d = 3cms, ρ = 60Ωm

[Link] L(m) R(Ω) B(m)

1 1 25 0.4
2 5 8 1
3 10 5 2
4 20 1 3.6

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 2. Multiple rod electrodes

Use: Pole mounted substation

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 3. Buried Horizontal wire l: Length of wire
a: Radius of wire
h: Depth of burial
ρ: Resistivity of soil (Ωm)

Use: Power/Grid Substation

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 ▪ Earthing Grid in Substation
✓Also known as Earthing Mat

✓Material: Mostly copper

✓Number of bare interconnected conductors buried horizontally

at a depth of 0.5m

✓Vertical ground rods of 3m at added at some joints

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 ✓Two major functions:

• Provide low resistance of the earth

• Provide substation at equipotential as far as possible.

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EARTHING GRID DESIGN
FOR SUBSTATION
 ▪ Tolerable Step voltage

Tolerable step voltage

t: Time duration (s)

ρ: Resistivity of soil (Ωm)

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 ▪ Tolerable Touch voltage

Tolerable touch voltage

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 ▪ Actual Touch and Step voltage

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 ▪ Actual Step voltage

▪ Actual Touch/Mesh and Step Voltage should be less than

tolerable touch and step voltage respectively

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 ▪ Design of Earthing Grid

1. Data needed for design

a) Substation ground area

b) Soil resistivity at the site

c) Fault clearing time

d) Maximum grid current

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 2. Designing of earthing system

a) Selection of electrode material

b) Determination of conductor size

c) Preliminary design

d) Determination of conductor length required for control of

voltage gradient

e) Calculation of resistance and ground potential rise

f) Checking of step potential and revision of design if necessary

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 ▪ Determination of maximum grid fault current

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 ▪ Determination of Conductor Size

I: Maximum grid current (A)

t: Fault clearing time (s)

▪ Minimum Conductor required for Safe mesh voltage

Km and Ki depends on length of earthing grid and space between them

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 Table. Summary of Results for Earthing Grid Design

GPR Tolerable Step Actual Step Tolerable Actual Length of No. of Resistance
(V) Voltage(V) voltage (V) Touch Touch earthing ground (Ω)
Voltage (V) Voltage conductor (m) rods
(V)

3515 3117 437.95 902 864 648 10 0.703

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 • Design the Earthing Grid for Sunkoshi Hydro-Power Station

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▪ Software such as
Finite Element
Method (FEM) can
be used for
substation design
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 [Link]

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 Readings

No. Book Details

1 Power System Analysis and Design by B.R. Chapter 18
Gupta
2 IEEE Guide for Safety in AC Substation Optional
Grounding (IEEE Std 80)
3 Modern Power System Analysis by T. Gonen Chapter 4 (Optional)

Note: I have uploaded the necessary pdf for this chapter for students
who don’t have the concerned books. So, Make sure you obtain that pdf
and read for exams

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 References

1. [Link]
2. [Link]
3. [Link]
4. [Link]
5. Guidelines for the design, installation, testing and maintenance of main earthing systems in
Substations by Energy Network Associations
6. Suresh, K., and S. Paranthaman. "Transferred potential—A hidden killer of many linemen." IEEE
Transactions on Industry Applications 51, no. 3 (2014): 2691-2699.
7. [Link]
8. Mujezinović A. (2017) Software Tool for Grounding System Design. In: Hadžikadić M.,
Avdaković S. (eds) Advanced Technologies, Systems, and Applications. Lecture Notes in
Networks and Systems, vol 3. Springer, Cham. [Link]
9. Brilinskii, Andrei, Georgiy Evdokunin, Anna Petrova, and Irina Ryndina. "Mathematical
Modeling of Arc Faults in Networks with Low Single Phase-to-Ground Fault Currents." In E3S
Web of Conferences, vol. 140, p. 05001. EDP Sciences, 2019.
10. Grounding and Bonding for Electrical Systems by ERICO