ZESCO LIMITED

TRANSMISSION DEVELOPMENT DIRECTORATE ELECTROTECHNICAL SERVICES DIVISION

PROTECTION DEPARTMENT

PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE LOSS OF POWER SUPPLY INTO COVENTRY STREET SUBSTATION ON 13TH JUNE, 2012.

Report - Loss of Power Supply into Coventry

Page 1

1. ABSTRACT

On Thursday 13th June 2012 at about 18:34hrs, the 132kV Leopards Hill Coventry Street line tripped on distance Protection zone 2. The cause of the tripping was due to a blown 33kV circuit breaker on 20MVA 33/11kV transformer T5A at Coventry street substation. As a consequence, the 132kV Lusaka West Coventry line, which supplies Coventry substation in parallel, also tripped on overload protection. This resulted in the total loss of Power supply to Coventry substation which affected the entire Lusaka Central Business District and most of the industrial area.

2. NETWORK STATUS PRIOR TO THE DISTURBANCE

The following was the status of the network prior to the disturbance:

i)

At Coventry substation, 20MVA 33/11kV transformer T5A, all 33kV and 11kV loads except for 11kV Nampundwe Road and Ginnery feeders, were in service. At Coventry substation, 63MVA 132/33kV transformers T1A and T2A and 25MVA 132/11kV transformer T1B were in service. 15MVA 88/11kV transformer T3A was on soak.

ii)

Report - Loss of Power Supply into Coventry

Page 2

iii)

At Leopards Hill substation, 132kV Leopards Hill Coventry line was feeding Coventry substation in parallel with 132kV Lusaka West Coventry line.

3. RESTORATION There was a delay in the restoration of the 132kV Leopards hill Coventry line due to the mechanical problem on the 132kV circuit breaker at Leopards Hill substation. However the problem was resolved by transmission personnel after working on the defective spring charging mechanism.

4. ANALYSIS

The failure of the 33kV CB on transformer T5A was essentially a 33kV busbar fault. The magnitude of the fault current would then depend on the nature or mode of failure of the CB.

The tripping of the 132kV Leopards Hill - Coventry line on zone 2 distance protection was as a result of the sustained 33kV busbar fault. Busbar protection is not employed on the 33kV busbar at Coventry substation. The time delay for zone 2 is 400 milliseconds, far shorter than inverse definite minimum time (IDMT) overcurrent protection employed as main and back-up protection on feeders and transformers, respectively. The total combined load at Coventry was 125MVA. The loss of 132kV Leopards Hill Coventry line, resulted in
Page 3

Report - Loss of Power Supply into Coventry

overloading of Lusaka West Coventry line which also tripped on overload protection.

Prior to the tripping incidence of 13th June 2012 the circuit configuration at Coventry substation where part of the 11kV load is drawn from the 33kV network made the system vulnerable to contingencies. In other words the entire Coventry load was until yesterday 13th June 2012 on the 132kV system with the 88kV system unutilized.

With the 15MVA 88/11kV transformer T3A now in circuit the system security has improved as the circuits are now staggered with the 88kV system now incorporated.

5. RECOMMENDATIONS The over-reaching zone 2 of the distance protection at Leopards Hill substation operated and tripped the 132kV line and isolated the faulty 33kV CB in the process. This was a correct operation because the fault was sustained beyond 400msec. Had the busbar protection been available on the 33kV busbar, the fault would have been cleared much faster than the distance protection and the tripping of the 132kV incomer lines would have been avoided.

Hence, it is recommended that Distribution must consider introducing burbar protection on the 33kV busbar at Coventry substation.

Report - Loss of Power Supply into Coventry

Page 4

6. CONCLUSION

The electrical failure of the 33kV CB for transformer T5A caused the operation of the 132kV line distance protection at Leopards Hill substation. The loss of the incoming 132kV line from leopards Hill resulted in all loads being fed from Lusaka West substation and caused the overload protection scheme on the 132kV line from Lusaka West to operate islanding Coventry street substation but saving Lusaka West substation in the process. The scheme at Lusaka West operated correctly.

Distribution protection should consider installing the 33kV Busbar protection at Coventry to avoid future recurrences of such unwanted trip outs.

Compiled by: Checked by: Approved by:

T. Tambatamba C. Nswana

Report - Loss of Power Supply into Coventry

Page 5