HEMP Testing of Substation Yard Circuit Breaker Control and Protective Relay Circuits
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Pullman, WA (United States)
There are concerns about the effects of High-Altitude Electromagnetic Pulses (HEMP) on the electric power grid. Activities to date tested and analyzed vulnerability of digital protective relays (DPRs) used in power substations, but the effect of HEMP on the greater substation environment is not well known. This work establishes a method of testing the vulnerability of circuit breaker control and protective relay circuits to the radiated E1 pulse associated with HEMP based on coupling to the cables in a substation yard. Two DPRs from Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc. were independently tested. The test setup also included a typical cable in a substation yard with return plane to emulate the ground grid and other ground conductors near the yard cable, cabinetry housing the installed DPRs, station battery and battery charger, terminal block elements, and a breaker simulator to emulate a substation yard configuration. The DPRs were powered from the station battery and the transformer inputs energized with a three-phase source to maintain typical operating conditions during the tests. Vulnerability testing consisted of a conducted E1 pulse injected into the center of the yard cable of the DPR circuits. Current measurements on the yard cable and DPR inputs indicated significant attenuation of the conducted pulse arriving at the control house equipment from the emulated substation yard. This reduction was quantified with respect to the equivalent open-circuit voltage on the yard cable. No equipment damage or undesired operation occurred on the tested circuits for values below 180 kV, which is significantly higher than the anticipated coupling to a substation yard cable.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000; NA0003525
- OSTI ID:
- 1669208
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-2020-9872; 690970
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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