COLUMN

In the past, the equipment was

designed to operate under well-
known conditions assuming a
‘clean’ sine wave of 50 or 60 Hz

52 TRANSFORMERS MAGAZINE | Volume 7, Issue 2 | 2020

 Brian SPARLING

Managing existing
transformers in the
grid transition
A brief history of line and It worked well in the past when the sys- The application of intelligent electronic
equipment ratings tem was designed to generate energy in devices (IEDs) on power transformers
larger centrally located power plants and has been ongoing for the past 25 years.
In the past eight or more decades, the when they delivered that energy in one An example can be found in dissolved
electric power industry used a rating direction, from the source to the load gas analysis (DGA) monitors, from ba-
system based on conservative assump- centers. The equipment was designed to sic key-gas units advancing to multi-gas
tions to determine the capacity available operate under well-known conditions monitors with inherent ability to alarm
which lines and substations could use to assuming a ‘clean’ sine wave of 50 or when gassing patterns begin to change
safely carry the load. These are known 60 Hz. and provide diagnostics about the na-
as static lines ratings (SLR) systems, and ture, and sometimes, about the severity
substation capacity has had similar de- The changing nature of the of a developing fault. The systems have
terminations made based on static or evolved to today’s point, where virtually
power system: Digital versus
nameplate data of the equipment. It re- anything can be measured, computed
mains in use but is a very conservative static locally, and communicated to centers
method. Two newer methods evolved There has been a lot of technical changes where this actionable information is
over time. One is the seasonally adjusted in our industry, beginning with the shift available for decision making.
rating (SAR) system and the ambient ad- from analog simulation systems, to first
justed rating (AAR), but they still rely on electronic and then quickly into the micro- With these “Smart Grid” IEDs, digital
weather-related assumptions rather than processor-based devices that are common communication and data collecting/
real-time information. today. archiving systems throughout the grid,

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Today, AC current is often ‘polluted’ with • This study and work done by IEC
lead to the creation and publication
harmonics, as the inverters in many appli- in September 2018 of a new Dual
cations typically do not produce the clean Logo Standard IEC/IEEE 60076-16
Part 16, Transformers for Wind Tur-
sine wave that equipment, such as trans- bine Application [3]. This addition
formers, expect to see to the Loading Guides of both IEC
and IEEE should be referenced when
specifying transformers connected to
Wind Turbines and PV farms.
the opportunity to make use of the in- backup or reserve of energy available to
formation and enable the move from the make up for the loss of generation; Variable loading by DERs
“Static” to a “Dynamic” understanding
of the capacity available in the system is • This involves “Solar Droughts” which The wind and PV farm concepts are
achievable. occur when clouds accumulate to the simple. When the wind blows within a
point of reduced or no energy being certain band of wind speed, they pro-
A tug-of-war is happening produced by the solar panels. duce power. Likewise, for PV installa-
tions, they produce power when the
At the same time, a tug-of-war is ongo- • This issue is a little more controllable sun shines. When there is a ‘wind or sun
ing during this change and providing a when dealing with the sunrise and drought,’ they do not. Therefore, tim-
technological challenge to all stakehold- sunset time periods (nighttime) when
ers. There is a growing need to provide there is no power produced.
more capacity on the existing grid due
to the addition of renewable generation • The same issue can occur with Wind
on both sides of the meter. Recent events DER. There may be times of the day
involving voluntary (or at times) forced or year when there will be “wind
power shutdowns, of either distributed droughts.” Or more critically, when
energy resources (DERs) or lines in ar- the wind velocity is too great for the
eas of severe climatic stress, customers wind turbines to operate safely.
are moving to install their own sources
of DER and/or storage. SECOND: A problem is lurking in the
system regardless of which PV or Wind
This intervention of PV DER systems DER is deployed. That is the harmonics
installed on the customer rooftop, or produced by the inverters. These har-
in large PV solar parks, has introduced monics are imposed on the 50 or 60 Hz
some unique characteristics which car- sine wave and will affect the perfor-
ry over to the existing grid. PV systems mance of the transformers connected
produce energy locally when there is into the system. One of the effects is the
sunlight. The energy produced passes overheating of the conductors in the
through an inverter changing the DC windings of the transformer.
current to a usable AC current. A lo-
cal utility may purchase excess energy • The impact can, at times, affect the
that may be available from the home or core in 5-limb shell-type distribution
business owner. This has the impact of transformers, when connected direct-
imposing a reverse power flow into the ly to the output of a wind turbine ma-
network. In addition, the AC current chine. Work by the IEEE Transform-
may be ‘polluted’ with harmonics, as the ers Committee produced a Tutorial
inverters typically do not produce the on the early problems of distribution
clean sine wave that equipment such as transformers [1] (many failed in the
transformers expect to see. early days in North America).

The issue is exacerbated with large PV • The Tutorial presented at the IEEE
parks - some of them are of significant Transformers Committee Fall meet-
size and go into the double or triple digits ing of 2013, “Wind Power Transform-
of MW capability. The issue is two-fold: er Design”, by Philip J Hopkinson et
al., covered not only the issues related
FIRST: The introduction of non-dis- to transformers but also included cir-
patchable PV DER, which at times can- cuit breakers, grounding switches and
not be controlled as larger power plants. the MV cables connecting these units
The issue is how to handle this from a grid to the main output or step-up trans-
point of view, as there needs to be some former [2].

54 TRANSFORMERS MAGAZINE | Volume 7, Issue 2 | 2020

ing becomes a critical issue. When cus­ Wind and PV sources often cause the over-
tomers’ demand is the greatest, either of
these sources may not be available. loads and variability of the load as well as
higher harmonics generation, which is not
So how does this type of loading affect
the performance of the transformer optimal from the insulation aging point of
connected to the output of these DERs?
Conventional distribution or GSU
view
transformers are typically designed to a
more constant load factor, loading that
is close to their theoretical maximum turn causes accelerated aging of the solid wind blows, or the sun reappears. This
rating. Under the aforementioned con- insulation, as well as electrical connec- is, however, not the way the aging pro-
ditions, they are subjected to frequent tions, both internal and external. cess works. Once a transformer has been
thermal cycling, at times loaded beyond overloaded, the solid insulation ages at
the rating plate. This occurs as a function Some consider that transformers are an exponential rate. For every 6 or 7°C
of the varying loads, as well as “start and allowed to deliver energy that exceeds of winding hotspot temperature increase
stop” sometimes initiated by either wind their basic rating if there is a possibility above the rated 98°C or 110°C, the ag-
or solar droughts. This causes repeated for them to “rest” when there is no wind, ing rate doubles. The aging of the solid
thermal stresses on the windings, clamp- or when it is cloudy or night time, which insulation is a chemical process and is
ing structure, seals, and gaskets, which in allows them to “recover” until either the non-reversible.

Figure 1. 2.5 MVA transformer/inverter package with MV switchgear [1]

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Higher harmonic content can cause over- laboratory had reported an increased
amount of 2FAL over the time period,
heating of the insulation which can cause however, the owner was not convinced
major reduction of its tensile strength that anything was wrong, as the tem-
perature gauges had never reached the
thus significantly reducing the insulation alarm setpoints.
lifetime The failure occurred without a fire;
during the autopsy, this section of the
conductor was removed, and the DP test
Harmonics and a monitoring system for the transformer was applied to the remaining paper.
non-sinusoidal loads with other key parameters.
As one can see, this paper had reached
Existing transformers in service were These damaging harmonics will increase the “end of life” stage with little to no ten-
designed based on the principle of the eddy and stray losses in the unit. sile strength remaining. The weakened
working with a uniform sinusoidal AC Eddy and circulating currents in a wind- paper had allowed the conductor to sep-
waveform. A purely uniform sinusoidal ing conductor cause additional heating, arate, due to the short circuit forces.
waveform is, in theory, possible. In the which must be addressed with addition-
real world, the waveforms get distorted al cooling. In the investigation for the root cause
from the ideal to a THD (Total Harmon- that followed, it was discovered that the
ic Distortion), of 1 to 2 % at the point of The degree to which these harmonics in- OEM of the transformer and the OEM
generation. crease the heating in the conductors, and of the rectifier did not consult each other
thereby the insulation system, cannot with respect to the expected THD that
Wind and PV generators will produce the be measured by existing WTI’s, either would be generated from the rectifier.
THD by the solid-state controls, and in- legacy or electronic. Fiber optic sensors The transformer’s life (and its 19 siblings’
verters will have a cumulative effect. They and systems that measure the conductor lives) was greatly diminished due to this
add peaks on the voltage and current temperature in-site should be consid- error, and all had to be replaced.
waveforms and occur at other than the ered for new or refurbished transform-
fundamental frequency of 50 or 60 Hz. ers for this application. Example of a unit affected
The harmonics creating these distor-
by harmonics from a PV farm
tions are multiples of the fundamental Example of damaging
frequency and are referred to by their The case of an 8 / 10 MVA, 44 kV ONAN/
harmonics
multiple, i.e., 3rd, 5th, 7th, etc. These in- ONAF, without OLTC. This unit is con-
verters are tested at their respective man- The section of wrapped conductor in nected to a solar farm, with a total output
ufacturers, however once installed and Figure 2 was removed from a rectifi- of 14 MW. Total harmonic distortion has
operating for several years, how well are er transformer that failed after a small been measured at 12 %, mostly around
they functioning as originally specified short circuit the unit should have been the 5th and 7th harmonic. Installed in
becomes the question? It would be then able to sustain. Only 8 or 9 years old, 2011, it has had regular DGA sampling
logical to monitor continuously the har- the oil testing regime included testing performed from the beginning, with
monic content as one of the functions of of the oil for Furanic Compounds. The rather high dissolved gas. A partial record
of the DGA results is shown in Table 1.

Interpretation of these results using

Duval triangle 4 and Duval pentagon 1
both indicate a stray gassing of mineral
oil fault with a temperature of <200°C,
trending towards the PD area on the
Pentagon.

Details of the construction of the trans-

former reveal a 5-limb wound core shell-
form design. A common design applied
to standard distribution transformers
of type voltage class and MVA size in
North America. This is quite typical of
any transformers first installed in these
applications and remains one of the rea-
sons for many failures.

As pointed out in the IEEE Tutorial [2]

Figure 2. Example of a total loss of tensile strength in paper due to excessive harmonics referenced before, with this type of con-

56 TRANSFORMERS MAGAZINE | Volume 7, Issue 2 | 2020

Table 1. DGA results of 8 / 10 MVA 44 kV transformer

Date CO CO2 H2 CH4 C 2H 4 C 2H 6 C 2H 2

Apr 20, 2018 219 3235 4157 587 8 176 ND

Feb 26, 2018 188 3586 3379 517 7 156 ND

Nov 22, 2017 214 3242 3516 587 9 223 ND

Oct 19, 2017 235 2734 3469 569 12 206 ND

Aug 23, 2017 197 2600 2589 536 10 224 ND

Jul 10, 2017 165 4624 2754 531 9 197 ND

May 29, 2017 171 3457 3407 531 9 179 ND

struction, core grounding seems to need Managing existing units will require an in-
more attention with the following rec-
ommendations: creased level of condition monitoring of all
the aspects of the insulation aging rate as
1. For 5 leg wound cores
a. Ground the inside of the core or well as the accumulation of the harmonic
b. Shielding of the core content
2. Use 3-leg stacked cores (generally im-
mune to the situation)
tions. The OEM selected certainly needs Bibliography
3. Use 4 and 5-leg stacked cores which to be aware of these conditions.
may need some shielding [1] Courtesy of Elecnor Australia Pty.
The other aspect is to utilize the knowl- Ltd.
It would also be prudent for new trans- edge gained from continuous monitor-
formers required for these specific ap- ing of these harmonics as to the degree [2] IEEE Tutorial Fall Meeting 2013,
plications, that the purchaser insists that of how the damaging harmonics can Wind Power Transformer Design, Philip
the designs meet the criteria of the new be mitigated, with the use of improved J. Hopkinson, PE
IEC/IEEE Dual Logo Standard [3]. rectifiers or inverters and filters, ap-
plied to the existing site, to minimize [3] IEC/IEEE Standard, Power trans-
Managing existing units in these appli- the harm they are producing on these formers – Part 16: Transformers for
cations will require an increased level of existing assets. wind turbine applications
condition monitoring, from the point
of view of the rate of insulation aging,
and accumulation of the harmonic con-
tent which is now available with some
online monitoring systems. Testing of Author
the oil includes DGA (if not monitored Brian D. Sparling, a Senior Member of IEEE, is a Senior
online), as well as oil quality, and Fu­ Technical Advisor with Dynamic Ratings Inc. Brian has
ranic compound analysis. This will pro-
over twenty years of experience in the field of power
vide information as to when a unit may
be a suitable candidate for replacement and distribution transformers. For the last 28 years, he
(built under new knowledge) before an has been involved in all aspects of on-line monitoring
unexpected failure occurs. and diagnostics and condition assessment of power
transformers. He has authored and co-authored more
Loading practices should be reviewed than 33 technical papers on several topics dealing with the monitoring and
and altered for future projects, such that diagnostics of transformers. He has worked on many guides and standards
units will be applied properly, given the with the Canadian Electricity Association, IEEE Transformers Committee,
possibility of planned overloading be-
and the CIGRÉ A2 Transformer committee.
yond nameplate for even short dura-

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