Developing Verification Models for Corona Discharge Suppression in High Voltage Capacitor Banks

Abstract: Due to the universal considerable population and economic growth rate, demands for energy have risen significantly over the past decade. This means that the integration of renewable energies in the power grid has escalated as well as requests for reactive power compensation, voltage stability, and mitigation of harmonic filters. Capacitor banks are widely used in the modern electrical transmission system in order to improve power quality and efficiency. In other words, this device aims to be involved in harmonic disturbance elimination, improve the power factor (PF), provide voltage control and stability which leads into more sustainable energy systems. Utilizing high voltage components, such as shunt capacitors in the power grid can introduce new challenges. One of these challenges is known as corona discharge. The aim of the presented master thesis is to study and develop corona discharge suppression models on high voltage capacitor banks which is implemented in collaboration with ABB power grids, Sweden. The main concerns are, effective factors on corona emergence, corona inception voltage levels, and corona suppression methods. Also, this study evaluates the verification of existing suppression. Two various approaches were applied and compared. The aim of the first approach is to evaluate corona discharge by electric field calculations on three various capacitor banks with different voltage levels. The simulation was implemented based on Maxwell’s equations and finite element method (FEM) by utilizing COMSOL Multiphysics software. The second approach is based on streamer inception and propagation. The calculation on this method is fulfilled with the help of MATLAB software. The results of both approaches were found reasonably compatible. It is discovered that corona discharge can appear in different voltage levels on capacitor banks based on various factors, such as the geometry of the bank. Consequently, the suppression method may vary case by case and different proposals were suggested in order to optimize the corona suppression rings.