courtesy of IET
courtesy of Siemens courtesy of IET
courtesy of IET
National Electricity Transmission System
An Overview
06 August, 2012
Agenda
Section 1 Overview of Electricity Transmission System
Overview of the Power System
Balancing & Settlement System
Section 2 Plants and Equipment
Protection & Control
Switchgear
Transformers
Transmission Lines – Overhead Lines and Cables
Reactive Compensation and Quadrature Boosters
Section 3 Summary and Future Development
National Grid Transmission Assets and Investment
Smart Grid and Investments
Section 1
Operational Overview
of Electricity
Transmission System
(courtesy of Siemens)
Overview of the Power System
Electricity Generation (2011) Generation (courtesy of Siemens)
(Power Stations)
Transmission
(National Grid)
Consumer
Distribution
(DNOs)
Medium High Medium Low
Voltage Voltage Voltage Voltage
Data Source: DECC
2020 Target
15% Renewable
Energy
Source: EU
Operation of the Power System
Voltage levels and reactive power flow must be carefully controlled to
allow a power system to be operated within acceptable limits as define in
the British Standards 50106 (2010)
Balancing Supply & Demands
Summer & Winter Daily Demand Profiles in Electricity Demand by Sector 2011
2010/11
Source: National Electricity Transmission System Seven Year Statement, May Data Source: Electricity statistics, 2011, Department of Energy and
2001(National Grid)
Climate Change
Electricity is traded between Generators and Transmission Losses and
Suppliers Every ½ and Hour by predicting the
demand of the user. Very often this prediction is currently accounts for about
wrong. 2% of the electricity
National Grid compensate for any difference in transmitted.
buying and selling. Balances the difference
under the Balance and Settlement Code.
Balancing & Settlement System
The Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC) is a legal document which defines
the rules and governance for the balancing mechanism and imbalance
settlement processes of electricity in Great Britain.
ELEXON - The Balancing and Settlement Code Company. They administer the
Balancing and Settlement Code’
The Balancing Mechanism provides a way for National Grid to buy or sell
additional energy close to real-time to maintain energy balance, and also to
deal with other operational constraints of the Transmission System.
Types of Balance and Mechanism Unit
Directly Connected
Embedded
Interconnector (France and Ireland)
Supplier Legal Document
845 Pages
Miscellaneous Section (A) to Section (S)
Section 2
Plants and
Equipment
Voltage Levels – Power plant to the Consumer
Distribution
entry point
Transmission lines transformer Heavy industry
400kV, 275Kv and 132 kV
132kV (Scotland)
Light industry, towns
and villages
132 kV 11 kV
Homes, schools, shops
22 kV and businesses
230 V
AC Frequency
50Hz
safety reliability
efficiency
Overhead Lines
Overhead lines are conductors. They are medium for transmitting
electricity from one point to the other. e.g. Generating station to a
substation.
Types
Overhead Line (OHL)
HVDC
Design Considerations
Load (Current & Voltage Rating)
Distance from the Generating station
Power Loss =
Sag and Stress (Temperature and Weather)
Environmental & Health factors (Sighting and EMC)
Cables
The Cable performs the same function as the Overhead line. The major
difference being the environment where it is being used. They normally
used where OHL is not a practical choice.
Types
Underground Cables
Gas Insulated Line (GIL)
Design Considerations
Load (Current & Voltage Rating)
courtesy of National Grid
Cost
Insulation (Oil based Polythene)
Capacitance
Transformer
There are 3 major types of transformer
Generator Step-up Transformer (33KV – 400KV/275KV/132KV)
Transmission Step-down Transformer (400KV/275KV/132KV – 33KV)
Instrument Transformers
Voltage Transformer
Current Transformer
HVDC Transformer
Designing Considerations
Load (Power Rating)
Maximum Load Allowance
Transformer loss (Temperature)
Measuring Instrument – e.g. for Balancing and Settlement System
Quadrature Boosters
A Quadrature Booster are transformers are used to for
smooth control of the transmission network.
They are use to balance load on complex networks using
phase shifting mechanism. That is based on the required
power factor.
Switchgear
Switch gear are used for protection of electrical transmission system.
They are either used as Isolating switches (disconnectors), Load-break
switches, Earthing switches.
These are necessary when a fault is detected in the system and isolation is
required. Also useful during got isolating circuit during routine maintenance.
Types
Air Insulated Substation Switch Gear
Gas Insulated Substation Switch Gear
Designing Considerations
Loading(Current and Voltage Rating)
Space
Cost
Environment
Reactive Compensation
Reactive compensation comes under FACTS. FACTS are useful in
improving performance of transmission system using power
electronics.
Types
Parallel Compensation
Mechanical Switch Capacitor/Reactors
Static VAR Compensator
Series Compensation
Fixed Series Capacitor
Thyristor-valve control system
Thyristor-Valve protected system
Design consideration is based on requirements and cost
Protection & Control
Protection and Control systems are SCADA systems with Relays used for
planning, controlling, monitoring and Auditing the equipment on the
transmission networks. Depending on requirements, the task they
perform includes:
Safety Management
Asset Management
Energy Management
Health Management
Design Consideration
Based what is being protected, appropriate sensor, instrumentation device
and communication system are needed to implement protection and control
strategies.
Power source and Backup
Location (on-site/remote)
Overview of the Substation Plants & Equipments
1. Primary power lines 6. Circuit breaker
2. Earthing wire 7. Current transformer
8. Lightning arrester
3. Overhead lines
9. Main transformer
4. Transformer for measurement
of electric voltage 10. Control building
11. Security fence
5. Disconnect switch
12. Secondary power lines
Transmission Assets and Investment
72,000 km
Overhead Lines 690 km
underground cable
325
substations
400kv
275kv
1,454 TWh
average energy usage
Source: National Grid plc, (Annual Report and Accounts 2011/2012)
Thank you
Question and Answer
