Journal of International Council on Electrical Engineering Vol. 1, No. 2, pp.

241~246, 2011 241

Protection Scheme for the HK Electric's

New 132kV and 22kV Busbar Configurations

C.W. Chiu † and K.W. Yeung *

Abstract – New 132kV and 22kV GIS / Insulated busbar configurations will be adopted for HK
Electric’s MRS Substation. Unit busbar protection is used to ensure prompt and discriminative
isolation of the faulty busbar and to minimize the supply interruption to customers. Traditional
high impedance differential protection is applied as main protection for the busbars of the new
132kV and 22kV busbar configurations because it is simple, reliable and well-proven in HK
Electric
This paper describes a non-conventional design of the busbar protection system for the new 132kV
busbar configuration with an aim to enhancing the protection availability while maintaining
adequate selectivity and discrimination. For the new 22kV busbar configuration, special features
like feeder common overcurrent and earth fault (OCEF) protection, rough balanced back-up OCEF
protection and cross-tripping of bus-interconnector circuits are introduced to minimize the impact
of abnormal conditions such as protection / circuit breaker failure during fault in the 22kV system.

Keywords: Unit busbar protection, High impedance differential protection, Feeder common
OCEF protection, Rough balanced feeder / Busbar backup OCEF protection, Cross-tripping of
bus-inerconnector

1. INTRODUCTION

The Hongkong Electric Co., Ltd. (HEC) generates

electricity at Lamma Power Station on Lamma Island and
transmits the electricity from Lamma Island to various parts
of Ap Lei Chau Island and Hong Kong Island where the
load centres reside. The voltage levels of the transmission
networks are 275kV and 132kV. At primary zone
substations, i.e. the load centres, the transmission voltage is
stepped down to 11kV or 22kV for feeding the distribution
networks nearby.
Electricity is then distributed from the primary zone sub
stations to over 3,600 distribution substations on Hong
Kong Island, Ap Lei Chau Island and Lamma Island
through the 11 k V a n d 2 2 k V distribution networks. To cope with the load growth in the Central and Wan
Although the majority of HEC’s distribution system is Chai areas, following the commissioning of the new MRS
supplied at 11kV level, it has been HEC’s intention to 275kV Switching Station in 2008, a new 132kV switching
migrate some load from 11kV system to the 22kV system station and a new 275/22kV zone substation are required to
progressively [5], [6]. In this connection, new zone be put into service in the Wan Chai area in 2010. Due to
substations are designed to distribute electricity at 22kV scarcity of land, the two new substations are housed
level. together with the MRS 275kV Switching Station in a multi-
† Corresponding Author: Technical Services Department, Transmiss storey building.
ion & DistributionDivision, The Hongkong Electric Co., Ltd
To further enhance HEC’s supply reliability, new GIS /
([email protected])
* Technical Services Department, Transmission & Distribution Insulated busbar configurations with fault tolerant
Division, The Hongkong Electric Co., Ltd. capability [1] are adopted at the new 132kV switching
Received: Jannary 12, 2011; Accepted: March 23, 2011 station and 275/22kV zone substation. The following
242 Protection Scheme for the HK Electric's New 132kV and 22kV Busbar Configurations

sections describe the protection schemes to be used at these The reliability of the busbar isolator has always been a
two new substations with new busbar configurations. concern for GIS with double-busbar configuration because
a single busbar isolator fault may lead to the loss of two
busbars, or half of the substation load for a 4-busbar GIS.
It was decided in the design stage to take a prudent
2. MRS 132KV SWITCHING STATION
approach in adopting a 6-busbar design for MRS 132kV
The new MRS 132kV Switching Station injects power to Switching Station. Any busbar isolator fault in this new GIS
the existing 132kV transmission network in Wan Chai area configuration will at most affect 1/3 of the substation.
so as to relieve the load congestion in adjacent areas. Due
to the crucial role and special location of this switching 2.2 BUSBAR PROTECTION FOR MRS 132KV GIS
station, it was decided to adopt a design with higher fault
tolerant capability for the 132kV busbar configuration and In HEC system, fully duplicated busbar protection
the associated busbar protection. systems of different operating principles with fault
clearance time within 0.14s are employed as a standard
arrangement in transmission substations to clear a busbar
2.1 MRS 132KV GIS BUSBAR CONFIGURATION fault. The burn through time of 0.5s is stipulated for the
GIS because of the following considerations:
MRS 132kV Switching Station comprises a 6-busbar GIS
with 20 bays (viz. 12 outgoing circuits, 2 275/132kV
i. For the best dependability, a 132kV GIS is usually
interbus transformer circuits, 4 bus-sections and 2 bus-
protected by two independent busbar protection systems
couplers) in double-busbar configuration as shown in Fig. 1.
(namely the 1st and 2nd Busbar Protection), each
Mai n 1 Main 2 Main 3
comprising check zone and discrimination zone
protections. Tripping of a busbar will be initiated by a
R eserve 1 Rese rve 2 Reserve 3 busbar protection system if both its check zone and
discrimination zone protections detect a busbar fault.

ii. In case there is a mismatch in status between the main

I/B Tx 1 I/ B Tx 2 and auxiliary contacts of a busbar isolator, the
discrimination zone protections of the two busbar
Fig. 1. MRS 132kV Busbar Configuration.
protection systems for the respective busbar may be
In HEC’s existing 132kV switching stations, GIS with disabled by the CT supervision scheme and as a result
separate isolators and earth switches have been adopted both busbar protection systems will become inoperative.
with proven reliability and performance. During the
market search inquiry for the supply of MRS 132kV GIS, it iii. Under such circumstances, the busbar fault has to be
was found that most GIS manufacturers only offered 3- cleared by Distance Zone 2 Backup Protection with
position switches (Fig. 2), which integrate an isolator with operating time of around 0.4s at the remote ends. As a
an earth switch, as their standard products in the 145kV result, the faulty GIS may be burnt through by the fault
class GIS. energy even though the busbar fault is successfully
cleared by the backup protection.
ISOL
The burn through time requirement of HEC’s existing
ISOL 132kV GIS and related specification in IEC62271-203
“High-voltage switchgear and controlgear – Part 203: Gas-
insulated metal-enclosed switchgear for rated voltages
Fig. 2. 3-position Switch Adopted in MRS 132kV Switching above 52kV” are summarized below:
Station.
.
 C.W. Chiu and K.W. Yeung 243

HEC
Requirement for IEC Requirement
22kV distribution network in Wan Chai area. Similar to
Existing GIS MRS 132kV Switching Station, most manufacturers only
Standard requirement extracted from IEC62271-203:
offer 3-position switches as their standard products in 22kV
Rated short
Protection Duration
circuit
stage of current
Performance criteria class GIS. Therefore, the reliability of the busbar isolator is
current
The enclosure s
hould be able t No external effect other than
also a concern to 22kV GIS since a busbar isolator fault
o withstand, wi
thout burning t < 40kA
1 0.2s the operation of suitable
pressure relief device.
will lead to tripping of the respective busbar causing
r.m.s.
hrough, an inte
rnal arc fault o 2 0.5s
No fragmentation (burn- significant supply interruption to the customers.
through is acceptable)
f 40kA r.m.s. o
f not less than No external effect other than
In order to achieve world class electricity supply [2],
0.5s.
40kA
1 0.1s the operation of suitable
pressure relief device.
typical 22kV closed-ring network [3], [4] similar to other
r.m.s.
No fragmentation (burn- 22kV zone substations in HEC is adopted in principle with
2 0.3s
through is acceptable)
enhancement on the 22kV busbar configuration to allow
better fault tolerant capability. Details of the protection
However, most European suppliers can only provide GIS schemes for the new busbar configuration are described in
in accordance with the IEC requirements. In order to the following sections.
ensure that at least one of the busbar protection systems can
operate within 0.14s under all circumstances so that the
3.1 MRS 22KV BUSBAR CONFIGURATION
standard IEC requirement of 0.3s can be adopted in the new
system, the following design of the 2nd Busbar Protection
system using high impedance differential principle is MRS Zone Substation is equipped with 4 x 50MVA
adopted: - 275/22kV zone transformers. To improve the fault
tolerant capability of the zone substation, the 22kV winding
i. Installing additional check zone protections so that each of each zone transformer is connected to two 22kV busbars
pair of main and reserve busbars will have its own check
via separate incomer cables. As a result, in total there will
zone protection, instead of one check zone for the whole
GIS. This will require additional check zone CTs on the be eight 22kV busbars which are connected in ring
bus-section circuits but the overall size and capacity of configuration via bus-interconnector cables. The rating of
the 132kV GIS are not affected. the 22kV busbars, incomer cables and bus-interconnector
cables is 1250A. Fig. 3 shows the simplified 22kV busbar
ii. Modifying the trip logic so that the check zone configuration of MRS Zone Substation.
protection alone can initiate the busbar tripping to clear
the busbar fault if the discrimination zone protection is Tx 1 Tx 2

locked out, say due to a mismatch between the status of

the main and auxiliary contacts of a busbar isolator.
Busbar 1 Busbar 2 Busbar 3 Busbar 4
iii. Modifying the trip logic so that the discrimination zone B/I 1-2 B/I 2-3 B/I 3-4

protection alone can initiate the busbar tripping to clear B/I 8-1 B/I 4-5

the busbar fault if the check zone protection is locked B/I 7-8 B/I 6-7 B/I 5-6
Busbar 8 Busbar 7 Busbar 6
out, say due to open circuit of check zone CT wiring.
Busbar 5

Under the new design, the availability of the 2nd Busbar

Protection system will be improved although its security Tx 4 Tx 3

may not be as good as the conventional design. However,

it will be acceptable from system viewpoints because with Fig. 3. MRS 22kV Busbar Configuration.
the adoption of the 6-busbar design, at most one pair of
main and reserve busbars (i.e. about one third of the Normal-open (N/O) points will be arranged on
circuits) will be tripped should the check zone protection appropriate bus-interconnectors so that two zone
operate under the above-mentioned scenario; on the other transformers are normally operated in parallel. When one
hand, four busbars will still remain in service. zone transformer is switched out, the remaining three will
be connected in parallel by rearranging the N/O points so
that no zone transformer will be left operating alone.
3. MRS 275/22KV ZONE SUBSTATION With the new busbar configuration, should a 22kV
busbar (say Busbar 1) trip upon busbar / switchgear fault,
The new MRS 275/22kV Zone Substation which is the zone transformer (say Tx 1) connecting to the faulty
directly fed from MRS 275kV Switching Station steps busbar can still output power through another busbar (say
down the system voltage from 275kV to 22kV to supply the Busbar 2) seamlessly. Supply interruption to customers
244 Protection Scheme for the HK Electric's New 132kV and 22kV Busbar Configurations

due to 22kV busbar fault can be avoided, if the two source intentionally delayed by some tens of milliseconds. For
ends of a closed-ring feeder pair are connected to the two calculation of the appropriate CB opening time, please refer
busbars being fed by the same zone transformer. to IEC62271-100 (previously IEC60056) “High-voltage
It should be noted that connecting the two ends of the switchgear and controlgear – Part 100: Alternating-current
closed-ring feeders to different transformers should be circuit-breakers”.
avoided because unwanted load transfer current from one
busbar to another may flow in the closed-ring feeders under
3.2.2 22kV Single-Phase-To-Earth Fault
certain busbar configurations with possible overload of the
feeder cables. In addition, extreme care should be exercised As the 22kV windings of the zone transformer are delta-
during busbar reconfiguration and / or parallel switching of connected, a zig-zag connection earthing transformer
22kV feeders to avoid parallel operation of multiple Z/Tx’s connecting in series with a neutral earth resistor is installed
through the additional interconnections amongst busbars / on the 22kV side of each zone transformer to allow single-
substations in order to contain the 22kV fault level to the phase fault current to flow; otherwise, the earth fault
fault rating of primary equipment. protection may not be able to detect an earth fault in the
22kV system effectively. The combined impedance value
of the earthing transformer and neutral earth resistor is so
3.2 22KV FAULT LEVEL selected that the earth fault current should be kept below
3.2.1 22kV 3-Phase Fault the full load current of the zone transformer while it should
be sufficiently large to drive the protection systems to
22kV 3-phase fault level largely depends on the zone
operate firmly. In addition, this earthing design ensures
transformer impedance and the number of zone
that any 22kV single-phase-to-earth fault in the system
transformers operating in parallel. Besides, the 22kV fault
shall not cause a voltage dip in the LV supply to customers
level will also be affected by the system voltage, zone
exceeding 10% (i.e. voltage retained 90%).
transformer tap position and cable length to the fault point.
It is worth mentioning that most of the 22kV primary live
For safety reason, the 22kV system fault level must not
conductors (except those in the gas tank of GIS) are
exceed the 22kV switchgear’s short-time withstand
screened by earthed layer. Should they be interfered with
capability and fault breaking capacity (i.e. 25kA).
or the insulation break down, a 22kV single-phase-to-earth
To meet the system operation requirement, the
instead of phase fault is most likely to occur. With such
impedance of the 275/22kV zone transformer at MRS Zone
design, voltage dip caused by most 22kV fault, i.e. single-
Substation is carefully selected in the design stage so that
phase-to-earth faults, will have little impact (i.e. 10%
the maximum 22kV fault level will not exceed the 22kV
switchgear’s fault rating even when three zone transformers voltage dip) to the LV customers.
are connected in parallel. In addition, the advanced
Distribution Management System (DMS) in HEC’s System 3.3 PROTECTION ARRANGEMENT
Control Centre will continuously monitor the fault level of
the distribution network. Protection arrangement for MRS 275/22kV Zone
On the other hand, the minimum 22kV fault level may Substation is illustrated in Fig. 4 and detailed design is
occur if a zone transformer is in single operation which is described in the following sections.
very unlikely during normal operation mode. Protection
systems shall be designed to cater for all possible busbar
Transformer 1

configurations at the whole range of system fault levels Busbar / Feeder

Backup OCEF

from the minimum up to the maximum value of 25kA. Busbar High

Impedance

Due to the high X/R ratio of the zone transformer

Diff . B/I H igh
Im p. D if f
Busbar 1 Busbar 2
impedance, the 22kV circuit breakers (CB) may need to
Pilot
break large 3-phase fault current with strong DC Pilot
W ire Feeder
OCEF
Feeder
OCEF
W ire

component, if high speed protection is employed to protect Common

OCEF

22kV switchgear fault which is close to the zone

Pilot Pilot
W ire W ire
To Customer

transformer. To ensure that the 22kV CB will not be P ilot DIR PF I / E F I Pilot
W ire W ir e

damaged during breaking of the maximum fault current of

Closed Ring Feeder
25kA with high DC level, high speed unit protection (e.g.
high impedance differential busbar unit protection) is Fig. 4. Protection Arrangement at MRS Zone Substation.
 C.W. Chiu and K.W. Yeung 245

3.3.1 22kV Busbar Protection 3.3.2 22kV Bus-Interconnector Circuit

In HEC’s traditional zone substations, an 11kV or 22kV Like other 22kV zone substations in HEC, it may be
busbar is protected by rough balanced OCEF protection (i.e. required to connect the eight 22kV busbars in closed-ring
detecting the summation of all in-feed currents of a busbar) configuration during contingency conditions. Proper time
and backed up by respective OCEF protection on bus- grading may not be achievable should a fault occur in the
interconnector and transformer incomer circuits. Fault 22kV interconnector cable during busbar closed-ring
discrimination is achieved by time grading with upstream operation as the current distribution in the ring may be
and downstream protections. Such protection arrangement uneven. Similar to other 22kV zone substations, unit
is simple and effective for single 11kV busbar with open- protection is adopted for 22kV bus-interconnector circuit to
ring feeders or 22kV busbar with closed-ring feeders ensure that only the faulty bus-interconnector will be
connecting to the same busbar. isolated while other healthy circuits should remain stable
For the new busbar arrangement at MRS Zone Substation, under busbar closed-ring operation. Bus-interconnector
fault current may be contributed not only from the OCEF protection is still used as a backup protection.
transformer incomer and bus-interconnector circuits, but In the event of CB failure during bus-interconnector fault,
also from the feeder circuits. Therefore, rough balanced the fault will be cleared by backup OCEF protection on
busbar OCEF protection may not be able to provide outer bus-interconnectors and zone transformer incomer
satisfactory fault discrimination due to the additional circuit with longer fault clearance time.
interconnections between busbars through the feeder
circuits. To ensure that only the faulty busbar is isolated
3.3.3 22kV Transformer Incomer Circuit
upon a 22kV busbar fault with other healthy circuits
remaining stable, high impedance differential unit busbar Similar to other HEC’s zone substations, standard
protection is added as main protection while the rough transformer main protection and backup protection are
balanced busbar OCEF protection is still used as a backup employed to protect the zone transformer. In the event of
protection. incomer cable fault, transformer unit protection should see
As mentioned in Section 3.2.1, the high impedance the fault and trip the 275kV source CB and both 22kV
differential unit busbar protection should be properly incomer CB’s.
In the event of incomer CB failure during transformer
delayed so that the DC component in the fault current will
not exceed the maximum allowable level at the time of CB fault, the fault may still be fed from other zone
opening. Duplicated delay timer relays are employed to transformer(s) via the 22kV busbar after tripping of the
improve the protection reliability. 275kV CB. The fault will then be cleared by backup OCEF
To mitigate the impact of bus-interconnector CB failure protection on outer bus-interconnectors and zone
during busbar fault or blind spot fault on interconnector transformer incomer circuit with longer fault clearance time.
circuit, both ends of the associated bus-interconnectors will In the event of incomer CB failure during 22kV busbar
be tripped at the same time upon busbar protection fault, the fault may still be fed from the zone transformer
operation. In addition, for rough balanced busbar protection, after tripping of the 22kV busbar. The uncleared fault will
to mitigate the impact of possible grading problems with then be cleared by the transformer backup OCEF protection
zone transformers 22kV OCEF protection due to prolonged with longer fault clearance time.
busbar fault clearance caused by feeder CB failure or
abnormal fault current distribution in the interconnectors 3.3.4 22kV Closed-Ring Feeder Circuit
and feeders, cross-tripping of outer bus-interconnectors (e.g. It is HEC’s current practice to arrange the 22kV feeders
B/I 2-3 and B/I 8-1 for Busbar 1 or Busbar 2 in Fig. 3) is in closed-ring configuration and install unit cable protection
required such that the zone transformer connecting to the on all 22kV cable sections along the feeder route.
faulty busbar will be separated from other healthy Therefore, in the event of 22kV cable fault in the outgoing
transformers immediately after operation of the rough feeder, only the faulty cable section will be isolated by the
balanced busbar protection. With such cross-tripping unit cable protection at the two ends of the cable section.
arrangement, should any grading problem exist, only the All other parts of the feeder shall remain stable during the
zone transformer connecting to the faulty busbar will be fault. Therefore, supply to customers will not be affected.
lost without affecting other transformer(s) in parallel. On the other hand, 22kV switchgear fault at distribution
substation is protected by OCEF protection relays installed
at zone substation feeder circuits. In addition, directional
246 Protection Scheme for the HK Electric's New 132kV and 22kV Busbar Configurations

fault indicators are installed at each distribution substation this paper.

to pin-point the fault location after tripping of zone
substation feeders. Therefore, supply to customers can be
restored within a few minutes with the assistance of remote 6. REFERENCE
indications and switching.
It is worth mentioning that depending on the fault [1] L. Chan, S. Chan - "New GIS / Insulated Busbar
location, the fault current in a closed-ring feeder may not be Configurations for 132kV and 22kV System with Fault
evenly distributed from the two source ends. In the extreme Tolerant Capability", ICEE 2010
case, over 90% of the fault current may initially be fed from [2] S.T. Ip, K.T. Yeung - "Achieving World Class
one end and less than 10% from the other. After tripping of Electricity Supply – The Hongkong Electric
the strong source end CB at zone substation, the fault Experience", HKIE Symposium 2004
current will continue to flow from the other source end CB [3] T.C. Yee, K.T. Yeung – “The New 22kV Distribution
until it is also tripped by OCEF protection. The sequential System for the Hongkong Electric Co. Ltd. – Design
tripping action will prolong the fault clearance time and Considerations and Operational Aspects”, HKIE
thus may lead to grading problem with upstream protection. Symposium 2002
To solve the possible grading problem, a common OCEF [4] Y.F. Leung, S.C. Chan, T.F. Chan - "The Challenges,
protection relay is installed for the two source end CB’s of Constraints and Solutions for Electricity Distribution in
each pair of closed-ring feeder at the zone substation. It Hong Kong Island", HKIE Symposium 2001
detects the summation current of the two source end CB’s [5] L. Chan – “The pursuit of excellence in the operation
while tripping of the respective CB is guarded by an and management of distribution network in a world
instantaneous OCEF relay on it. class city”, CICED 2008
[6] S.C. Chan – “A model of dual distribution voltage in a
developed cosmopolitan city”, CICED 2008
4. CONCLUSION

New 132kV and 22kV busbar configurations with C.W. Chiu is a Corporate Member of
higher fault tolerant capability are adopted at MRS 132kV the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers.
Switching Station and MRS Zone Substation respectively to He joined the Hongkong Electric Co.,
render a better supply security. The paper briefly introduces Ltd. in 1979 and has been working with
the protection schemes which are designed to suit the new the Protection Section of the Technical
busbar configurations as well as to cope with the withstand Services Department under the T&D
capability of the switchgear to IEC62271-203 for 132kV Division as a Protection Engineer since 1995.
and IEC62271-100 for 22kV. MRS 132kV Switching
Station was energized successfully in early March 2010
while the commissioning of MRS 275/22kV Zone K.W. Yeung received his B.Eng.
Substation is scheduled for August 2010 tentatively. As the degree and M.Sc. degree in electrical
protection schemes at MRS 132kV Switching Station and engineering from The University of
275/22kV Zone Substation employ proven protection Hong Kong. He joined the Hongkong
principles but with some improvements, it is expected that Electric Co., Ltd. in 1995 as a graduate
the reliability of the protection schemes will increase when trainee. He is currently a Protection
compared with the conventional design at other existing Engineer in the T&D Division of the
substations; however, the actual protection performance Company and a Corporate Member of the Hong Kong
will be reviewed after gaining more operating experience in Institution of Engineers.
the coming years.

5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors are grateful to the senior management of

The Hongkong Electric Co., Ltd. for permission to publish