Optimal Placement of GIC Blocking Devices for Geomagnetic Disturbance Mitigation

This paper presents an optimization approach for the placement of geomagnetically induced current (GIC) blocking devices (BDs) on power system transformers to mitigate the adverse effects of a geomagnetic disturbance (GMD). Solar storms lead to GMDs which, in turn, drive GICs along transmission line...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on power systems 2014-11, Vol.29 (6), p.2753-2762
Main Authors: Etemadi, Amir H., Rezaei-Zare, Afshin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Circuit faults
Electric utilities
Electricity distribution
Geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs)
geomagnetically induced current (GIC)
Geomagnetism
GIC blocking device
Optimization
Power system stability
Power transformers
Power transmission lines
Reactive power
Substations
transformer saturation
voltage stability
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Summary:This paper presents an optimization approach for the placement of geomagnetically induced current (GIC) blocking devices (BDs) on power system transformers to mitigate the adverse effects of a geomagnetic disturbance (GMD). Solar storms lead to GMDs which, in turn, drive GICs along transmission lines and through transformer windings. GICs cause half-cycle saturation in power transformers, increase their shunt reactive power loss, lead to a significant lack of power system reactive power support, and, as a result, create voltage instability and, potentially, large-scale voltage collapse. To mitigate these detrimental effects, a long-term remedy is to install GIC BDs at the neutral point of transformers. Since these devices are fairly costly, their placement should be performed in an optimal manner. The optimization problem proposed in this paper minimizes the cost of BD placement while satisfying power system voltage and generator maximum reactive power limits. The numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in maintaining an acceptable voltage profile for the power system in case of GMDs with any degree of severity.
ISSN:0885-8950
1558-0679
DOI:10.1109/TPWRS.2014.2309004