Evaluation of a Centralized Substation Protection and Control System for HV/MV Substation

Abstract: Today, conventional substation protection and control systems are of a widely distributed character. One substation can easily have as many as 50 data processing points that all perform similar algorithms on voltage and current data. There is also only limited communication between protection devices, and each device is only aware of the bay in which it is installed. With the intent of implementing a substation protection system that is simpler, more efficient and better suited for future challenges, Ellevio AB implemented a centralized system in a primary substation in 2015. It is comprised of five components that each handle one type of duty: Data processing, communication, voltage measurements, current measurements and breaker control. Since its implementation, the centralized system has been in parallel operation with the conventional, meaning that it performs station wide data acquisition, processing and communication, but is unable to trip the station breakers. The only active functionality of the centralized system is the voltage regulation. This work is an evaluation of the centralized system and studies its protection functionality, voltage regulation, fault response and output signal correlation with the conventional system. It was found that the centralized system required the implementation of a differential protection function and protection of the capacitor banks and busbar coupling to provide protection equivalent to that of the conventional system. The voltage regulation showed unsatisfactory long regulation time lengths, which could have been a result of low time resolution. The fault response and signal correlation were deemed satisfactory.