EEE 306
Experiment 5
Study of BUET Power Plant and Sub-stations
Objective
The objective of this study is to get an exposure to a realistic small power plant and 11 kV
substations.
Introduction
BUET has a 5.8 MW power plant and its own distribution network and sub-stations to meet its
electrical energy demand. The power plant is located at West Palashi campus of BUET and uses
natural gas and diesel as its primary source of energy. The power plant supplies electricity to four
sub-stations through underground cables at 400V. The sub-stations are used to distribute electrical
energy to main campus of BUET, residential halls, residential quarters, and Palashi Bazar to meet
the full electrical demand.
The peak demand of BUET campus at present is approximately 2.5 MW during the summer season.
The electrical energy is received from the power plant from early morning till mid-night. From mid-
night till early morning, electrical energy is taken from the Dhaka Power Distribution Company
Limited (DPDCL). The changeover is done automatically by Automatic Transfer Switches (ATS)
located at each sub-station.
Generation Specifications
Currently (June, 2021), the BUET powerplant consists of the following 4 synchronous generators.
1. Mitsubishi MGS1000B: Installation-2003, Capacity-800 KW, Fuel-Diesel
2. Caterpillar G-3516: Installation-2003, Capacity-1030 KW, Fuel-Natural gas
3. Caterpillar G-3520: Installation-2008, Capacity-1950 KW, Fuel-Natural gas
4. Caterpillar G-3520C: Installation-2017, Capacity-1972 KW, Fuel-Natural gas
Under normal conditions, the natural gas-powered generators are used to generate electricity. The
diesel generator is kept on standby to be used under emergency conditions. All the generators when
operated supply power at 400V to a common bus system.
Figure 1 shows a layout of BUET powerplant along with its adjacent substations.
The generators of the powerplant are equipped with the following control and protection systems:
1. Over speed
2. Low lubricating oil pressure
3. High coolant temperature
4. Fail to start
5. Over voltage
6. Under voltage
7. Under frequency
8. EMCP diagnostic fault
9. Reverse power trip
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Figure 1: BUET Power Plant
Sub-stations
There are four substations in BUET power distribution system. The four sub-stations are:
1. Sub-Station located in the BUET Main campus
2. Sub-Station located near Kazi Nazrul Islam Hall
3. Sub-Station located near Dr. M. A. Rashid Hall
4. Sub-Station located behind the BUET power plant at West Palashi
All the substations consist of mainly the following components:
1. Metering unit maintained by DPDC
2. HT switchgear containing vacuum circuit breaker at the HT side of each transformer
3. 11/0.415 kV step-down transformer
4. Automatic transfer switch (ATS)
5. LT switchgear having incoming and outgoing circuit breakers.
6. PFI plant
7. Incoming and outgoing feeders
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8. HT and LT panel
9. Protective relays
10. Metering instruments (CT, PT)
11. Ring main unit (RMU): Substation located at BUET power plant have only one connection
from DPDC, and hence does not have RMU.
Connections from DPDCL and Locations of RMUs
Usually, from mid-night till early morning electrical energy is taken from the Dhaka Power
Distribution Company (DPDC) Limited. The changeover is done automatically by Automatic
Transfer Switches (ATS) located at each sub-station. Two 11-kV underground cables from DPDC
deliver power to BUET at two different locations. One from the Azimpur Substation (DPDC) to
Dr. M. A. Rashid Hall Substation, and another from the Dhanmondi Substation (DPDC) via Dhaka
University to BUET Main Substation.
Figure 2: 11-kV connections from Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) Limited
Power from DPDC is drawn from any one of the lines at a time. As seen from Figure 2, both of the
lines pass through Dr. M.A. Rashid Hall Substation, Kazi Nazrul Islam Hall Substation, and BUET
Main Campus Substation, hence necessitating Ring Main Unit (RMU) to be installed at these places.
Ring main unit (RMU) locations:
• Dr. M.A. Rashid Hall Substation
• Kazi Nazrul Islam Hall Substation
• BUET Main Campus Substation
Gas Supply
Three generators at the power plant receives natural gas supply from Titas Gas Transmission and
Distribution Company Limited (TGTDCL) as its primary source of energy.
Figure 3: Gas supply from from Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited (TGTDCL)
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Collection of field data
1. Record all incoming and outgoing feeder data at the main substation in a table as shown below.
Table for feeder data record
Feeder Current, Power,
Date/Time Incoming/ Outgoing Voltage, V pf
name A kW
2. Record the ratings of transformer, ATS, LT panel, PFI, circuit breaker at the power plant and at
the main sub-station.
Report
1) Provide a complete report of the BUET power system describing each component with
necessary sketches and photos.
2) From the daily log sheet provided to you, plot the curve of daily generation by the BUET
power plant generators at two different dates (01 March 2020 and 0 1march 2021) and
compare the curves. Do you see any effect of Covid-19 from the curves? Explain.
3) Draw a complete single-line-diagram of the BUET power system.
4) What is Ring Main Unit? Describe its purpose with necessary diagrams.
Laboratory manual for this experiment is prepared by -
Satyaki Banik, Md. Sadman Sakib
Adjunct Lecturer, Dept. of EEE, BUET
Supervised by
Dr. Md. Nasim Ahmed Dewan
Professor, Dept. of EEE, BUET
June 6, 2021.
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