Abstract
Transmission system operators are responsible for security and reliability of their grid. An important topic is the analysis of possible risks for the transmission system network.
The paper presents actual results about geomagnetically induced currents (GIC) in the Austrian transmission system. Because of problems with unexpected noise at some transformers, investigations were started, which gave an indication that DC could be the source of this noise. Due to the particular geological structure of the country, the influence of GIC in Austria is higher than for the most other countries in Central Europe. A simulation model to compute GIC was set up and compared to the measured DC transformer neutral current. The comparison of the simulated and measured currents shows a good correlation. High geomagnetic disturbances, which lead to high currents according the simulation model, can be confirmed by the measurement. Differences between measurement and simulation can be seen in the region of “fast” fluctuation within seconds. By detailed analysis of the times of occurrence it was shown, that currents from underground railway, which are operating with DC, flow through the transmission grid, too.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Albertson, V. D., Kappenman, J. G., Mohan, N., Skarbakka, G. A. (1981): Load-flow studies in the presence of geomagnetically-induced currents. IEEE Trans. Power Appar. Syst., 2, 594–607.
Pirjola, R. (1982): Electromagnetic induction in the Earth by a plane wave or by fields of line currents harmonic in time and space. In Geophysica (Vol. Vol. 20, Nos. 1–2, pp. 1–161).
NERC (2012): Effects of geomagnetic disturbances on the bulk power system – interim report, NERC. Atlanta: North American Electric Reliability Corporation.
Dong, X., Liu, Y., Kappenman, J. G. (2001): Comparative analysis of exciting current harmonics and reactive power consumption from GIC saturated transformers (Vol. 1 pp. 318–322).
Walling, R. A., Khan, A. N. (1991): Characteristics of transformer exciting-current during geomagnetic disturbances. IEEE Trans. Power Deliv., 6(4), 1707–1714.
Bachinger, F., et al. (2012): Direct current in transformers: effects and compensation. E&I, Elektrotech. Inf.tech., 1–5.
ETH Zürich and FEN Forschungsstelle Energienetze, Geomagnetically Induced currents in the Swiss transmission network, research centre for energy networks – ETH Zürich, Zurich.
Kappenman, J. G. (1996): Geomagnetic storms and their impact on power systems. IEEE Power Eng. Rev., 16(5), 5.
Albertson, V. D., Van Baelen, J. A. (1970): Electric and magnetic fields at the Earth’s surface due to auroral currents. IEEE Trans. Power Appar. Syst., 4, 578–584.
Marti, L., Rezaei-Zare, A., Boteler, D. (2014): Calculation of induced electric field during a geomagnetic storm using recursive convolution. IEEE Trans. Power Deliv., 29(2), 802–807.
Bailey, R. L., et al. (2017): Modelling geomagnetically induced currents in midlatitude Central Europe using a thin-sheet approach. Ann. Geophys., 35(3), 751–761.
Ádám, A., Prácser, E., Wesztergom, V. (2012): Estimation of the electric resistivity distribution (EURHOM) in the European lithosphere in the frame of the eurisgic WP2 project. Acta Geod. Geophys. Hung., 47(4), 377–387.
Ádám, A., Lemperger, I., Novák, A., Prácser, E., Szarka, L., Wesztergom, V. (2012): Geoelectric litosphere model of the continental Europe. MTA research centre for astronomy and Earth sciences
Boteler, D. H., Pirjola, R. J. (2014): Comparison of methods for modelling geomagnetically induced currents. Ann. Geophys., 32(9), 1177–1187.
Halbedl, T., Renner, H., Sakulin, M., Achleitner, G. (2014): Measurement and analysis of neutral point currents in a 400-kV-network. In 2014 electric power quality and supply reliability conference (\(PQ\)) (pp. 65–68).
Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences. Online. Available: http://www.gfz-potsdam.de/en/section/earths-magnetic-field/data-products-services/kp-index/explanation/. Accessed: 28-Jan-2016.
Pulkkinen, A., Bernabeu, E., Eichner, J., Beggan, C., Thomson, A. W. P. (2012): Generation of 100-year geomagnetically induced current scenarios: 100-YEAR SCENARIOS. Space Weather, 10(4), S04003.
Demiray, T., Beccuti, G., Andersson, G. (2013): Risk assessment of the impact of geomagnetic disturbances on the transmission grid in Switzerland ( pp. 1–5).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Paper submitted for the CIGRE Session 2018, SC C3, Paris, France, August 26–31, 2018.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Halbedl, T., Renner, H. & Achleitner, G. Geomagnetically induced currents modelling and monitoring transformer neutral currents in Austria. Elektrotech. Inftech. 135, 602–608 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00502-018-0665-9
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00502-018-0665-9