EEE 305

Substation Layout

A. Hasib Chowdhury, PhD

Professor
Dept. of EEE, BUET

July 2022
Transmission Substation Switchyard
Elements of Transmission Switchyard

Earth wire

String insulator
Bus

CT DS CB
PT
 Substation Equipment

• Power transformer • Insulator

• Instrument transformer (CT, VT) • Switchyard
• Bus bar • Batteries
• Conductor • Relay
• Lightning arrester • Capacitor bank
• Circuit breaker • Wave-trapper
• Isolator (Disconnector switch) • Carrier current apparatus
• Earth switch • Metering and indication
instruments
 Substation Equipment

Isolator

Circuit breaker

Lightning arrester
 Substation Equipment

Lightning arrester
Isolator
 Typical Substation Layout

A: Primary power lines’ side B: Secondary power lines’ side

1. Primary power lines 7. Current transformer

2. Ground wire 8. Lightning arrester
3. Overhead lines 9. Main transformer
4. Voltage transformer 10. Control building
5. Disconnect switch 11. Security fence
6. Circuit breaker 12. Secondary power lines
 Substation Layout

Land area requirements for a conventional open terminal 132 kV double switchyard
arrangement and replacement indoor GIS housing to the top right-hand corner
 Bus Configurations

• Single bus bar

• Single bus bar arrangement with bus sectionalization

• Main and Transfer Bus Arrangement

• Double Bus Double Breaker Arrangement

• Sectionalized Double Bus Arrangement

• One-and-a-Half Breaker Arrangement

• Ring Main Arrangement

• Mesh Arrangement
 Bus Configurations

Isolator allows
circuit breaker
maintenance
facilities
without loss

(a) Bypass isolator for circuit breaker (b) Bypass isolator facilities between
maintenance two adjacent line bays
 Bus Configurations

Single bus bar

• Simplest arrangement
• Drawback - Least flexibility and
immunity from total shutdown
– In case of fault on bus-bars, all
healthy feeders are disconnected
– When maintenance is to be
carried out on any of the feeder
sections or on a part of bus-bar
whole supply is to be disrupted
• Employed for switchboards, small
and medium sized substations,
small power stations and dc
stations
 Bus Configurations

Single bus bar arrangement with bus sectionalization

• A fault on one part does not
cause a complete shutdown
• Number of sections 2 to 3 in
a substation
– actually it is limited by short-
circuit current to be handled

• Only one additional circuit

breaker is required which
does not cost much in
comparison to total cost of
bus-bar system
 Bus Configurations

Single bus with bus sectionalization

 Bus Configurations
Main and Transfer Bus Arrangement
• Three main advantages over simple single bus-bar arrangement:
– Faulty section can be isolated without affecting supply of other section or
sections
– One section can be completely shut-down for maintenance and repairs
without affecting supply of other section (s)
– Adding a current limiting reactor between sections can reduce fault level
(MVA) → circuit breakers of lower capacity can be used
• Air-break isolators can be used in place of circuit breakers as bus-
sectionalizer
• Preferable to use circuit breaker as a sectionalizing switch → uncoupling
of bus-bar may be carried out safely during load transfer
• Double isolation necessary with sectionalizing CB so that maintenance
work can be carried out on circuit breaker while bus-bars are alive
 Bus Configurations
Main and Transfer Bus Arrangement
• Transfer bus-bar used as an
auxiliary bus-bar
• Provides additional flexibility,
continuity of supply and allows
periodic maintenance without
total shutdown
• Suitable for highly
interconnected power network
in which flexibility is very
important
• Each generator and feeder may
be connected to either bus-bar
with help of bus coupler
 Bus Configurations

Main and transfer bus

 Bus Configurations

Main and Transfer Bus Arrangement

• A bus coupler is usually used so that change-over from one bus-bar to
other can be carried out under load conditions

• Steps for transferring load to reserve bus

i. Close bus-coupler

ii. Close isolators on reserve bus

iii. Open isolators on main bus

 Bus Configurations
Main and Transfer Bus Arrangement
Advantages
• Ensures continuity of supply in case of bus fault → entire load can be transferred
to other bus in case of a bus fault
• Maintenance can be carried out on main bus without interrupting supply
• Each load can be supplied from either bus
• In-feed and load circuit may be divided into two separate groups if required from
operational considerations
• Testing and maintenance of feeder CBs can be done by putting them on spare bus,
thus keeping main bus undisturbed
Disadvantages
• Additional costs
• Bus maintained or expanded by transferring all circuits to auxiliary bus depending
upon remote backup relays and breakers for removing faults -- During this
condition a line fault on any circuits of the bus would shut-down entire station
 Bus Configurations
Double Bus Double Breaker Arrangement
• Employed in important power
stations
• Permits switch-over from one bus to
other whenever desired, without
interruption
• Provides maximum flexibility and
reliability --> faults and maintenance
interrupt supply to minimum
• A circuit breaker can be opened for
repairs and usual checks and load can
be shifted on other circuit breaker
easily
• Very costly, maintenance cost also
high
 Bus Configurations

Sectionalized Double Bus Arrangement

• Duplicate bus-bars used

with main bus-bar in
sections connected through
a bus-coupler
• Any section of bus-bar can
be isolated for
maintenance, while any
section may be
synchronised with any
other through auxiliary bus-
bar
• Sectionalization of auxiliary
bus-bar not required
 Bus Configurations

Duplicate bus
(double bus single breaker)

Duplicate bus bar wrap around

arrangement
 Bus Configurations
One-and-a-Half Breaker Arrangement
• Improvement over double
bus double breaker
arrangement → 3 CBs for 2
circuits
• Preferred in large stations
where power handled per
circuit is large
• High security against loss of
supply → fault in a bus or
breaker will not interrupt
supply

Drawback
• Complications in relaying system → two CBs to be opened at time of fault
• For maintenance of CBs without load shedding : two CBs to be opened, second circuit will be
operating with one CB from one bus only
 Bus Configurations

Breaker and a half

(1½ circuit breaker)
 Bus Configurations

Ring Main Arrangement

• Extension of
sectionalized bus-bar
arrangement
• Flexibility → failure of a
section does not cause
any interruption of
supply
• Effect of fault in one
section localised to that
section alone
• CB can be maintained Drawbacks
without interrupting • Difficulties in addition of new circuit
supply • Possibility of overloading of circuits on opening of any section
• Necessity of supplying potential to relays separately to each circuit
 Bus Configurations

Ring bus
 Bus Configurations
Mesh Arrangement
• Eight circuits controlled by four
CBs
• For fault on any section, two CBs
have to open, resulting in
opening of mesh
• Security against bus-bar faults
but lacks switching facility
• Needs fewer CBs than that by
one-and-a-half breaker
arrangement
• Preferred for substations having
large number of circuits