1

Analysis of overexcitation relaying set up in

synchronous generators for hydro power plants
Erick Fernando Alves, Member, IEEE, and Marco Aurelio de Souza

AbstractThis paper seeks to revise the concepts related to

the overexcitation relaying in synchronous generators for hydro
power plants and its coordination with the V/Hz limiter of the
automatic voltage regulator (AVR). The methodology for the
ANSI 24 protection function set up in hydro power plants is
revisited. Finally, problems faced during the commissioning of a
power plant in Brazil is discussed.
Index TermsHydroelectric power generation, overexcitation
protection, protective relaying, AC generator excitation.

I. I NTRODUCTION
HE probability of defects occurrence in synchronous
generators is reduced. Nevertheless, when they happen,
serious damage and long out of service periods are the usual
consequences. Therefore, and by their relevance to the power
system, generators should be convenient protected, aiming to
guarantee the integrity of their various electrical and mechanical parts.
Excessive deviations on frequency and voltage cause thermal and dielectric stresses that would result in damage within
seconds on power plant equipments. The potential consequences of prolonged overexcitation tend to make protection
engineers to adopt conservative adjustments to ANSI 24 function on protection systems.
On the other hand, events in the power system that leads to
reactive load rejection, islanding, connection of big consumers,
reconnection to the interconnected system, among others require the extrapolation of these limits by a short period. In
these transient cases, the correct behavior of voltage regulators
and protection systems of generating units are essential to keep
the power system stable.
In this context, the set up of overexcitation relaying in a
synchronous generator and its coordination with the V/Hz
limiter of the AVR is a relevant subject. At the same time,
the operational limits of the related equipments should be
respected and the contribution to mitigate transients in the
power system maximized. Usually, these are conflicting targets, specially in hydro power plants, where the high inertia
of the unit and the low bandwidth of the speed governor imply
additional limitations.
Section II presents a brief review of the overexcitation issues
on generators and transformers and the standards requirements
for power plant equipments. Section III describes the typical
implementations of V/Hz limiters on AVRs and section IV,
the usual requirements when setting overexcitation protection
for hydro power plants. Finally, on section V some practical
aspects of the coordination between overexcitation protection

E. F. Alves and M. A. Souza are with Voith Hydro, Sao Paulo, Brazil
(e-mail: erick.alves@voith.com, marco.aurelio@voith.com)

and V/Hz limiter together with problems faced during the commissioning of two hydro power plants in Brazil are presented.
II. C ONCEPTS
The overexcitation condition is associated with the basic
principle of operation from generators and transformers, both
based on Faradays law of induction. The voltage induced in
the output of generators and transformers is a function of
the flux rate of change. Basically, current induces magnetic
flux, and magnetic flux variation induces voltage in the output
terminals. The varying flux is created by either alternating
current flowing through the primary winding of a transformer
or the direct current in the field winding of a generator rotor.
d
dt
E = 4.44 f n BM AX A
E = N

(1)
(2)

Transformers and generators cores are constructed of iron

and have the function to couple the magnetic flux of the
windings. They are designed to lead the flux for full load
operation without saturation and within the heating limits.
Heating in magnetic material is caused by hysteresis losses
and Eddy current, and its properties as well as the core area
define the maximum flux density limits for the equipment.
That is, generators and transformers designers have the task
of developing equipments to operate in the nominal conditions
within the employed material limits, considering the applicable
economic and technical restraints. And with the advance of the
designing tools, more and more equipments are closer to their
real rated limit.
During normal operation conditions, all magnetic flux is
restricted to the core, as its permeability is much higher
than of the adjacent structures. When the core saturates, the
excess of flux spills into the surrounding air space and into
non laminated metallic structures around the core. Conversely,
these structures are not designed to lead the magnetic flux, and
this condition quickly increases the losses and heating which
may cause equipment damage.
In generators, induced currents can occur in the end of
stator core, leading to induced voltage gradient between the
laminations that can break down the core insulation. If this
occurs, the stator core will be permanently damaged. In
transformers, the over-flux spills into the insulating space
around the core, which causes induced currents and heating in
leads, structural members and windings. An extensive review
of this concepts are done in [8] and [7].
Overexcitation limits for generators are not specified by
standards. The ANSI/IEEE standards C50.12 [1] and C37.106

Fig. 1. Generator limits according ANSI/IEEE C37.106 (apud IEC 6000343:1996)

[3] determine that generators shall be thermally capable of

continuous operation within their capability curves for a variation of +/- 5% in the voltage and +/- 2% in frequency, as
shown in Fig. 1.
For transformers, the ANSI/IEEE standards C57.12.00 [2]
and C37.106 [3] specify the operational limits in no-load
condition within 110% of voltage or volts per hertz. At full
load conditions and power factor of 0.8, the transformer shall
be capable of continuous operation with 105% voltage or volts
per hertz at secondary terminal and frequency of at least 95%.
III. E XCITATION S YSTEM V/H Z L IMITER
The V/Hz limiter of an AVR is used to avoid the operation of
the electrical equipments in a power plant (generator, step-up
transformer, auxiliary transformers and systems) in an excessive flux condition [5] [10] [7]. This is achieved by changing
the maximum allowed generator voltage setpoint according
to the actual frequency. Usually, at rated frequency the V/Hz
limiter has no influence. But when frequency decreases, hence
the voltage setpoint. As an example, for a system with rated
frequency of 60Hz and maximum tolerated V/Hz ratio of 1.1,
a linear type limiter acts as follows:
At 60 Hz, the maximum allowed generator voltage is
110%;
At 57 Hz, the maximum allowed generator voltage is
104.5%;
At 54 Hz, the maximum allowed generator voltage is
99%.
Different structures of control are possible for V/Hz limiters. The most usual are presented at Fig. 2, although some
variations exists. The use of proportional or proportionalintegral controllers are possible in both structures. Typically,
just proportional is used in the structure of Fig. 2a, while

proportional-integral are the usual choice for Fig. 2b. The way
the limiter influences the main AVR loop also varies from the
following types:
Take-over control: a minimum selector is used between
voltage setpoint and the limiter output;
Summing point: the limiter output is connected to an
adder, subtracting its value from the voltage setpoint;
The choice of the structure and the controller type usually
is related to the AVR manufacturer standards and the utility
philosophies. An extensive review of limiters characteristics
is done in [6]. Despite the kind of implementation, the
main idea is to reduce the generator output voltage until the
voltage to frequency ratio goes below the threshold, allowing
overexcitation in transients for a specific time and avoiding
tripping of the overexcitation protection from the generator,
step-up transformer or auxiliary services.
Some excitation systems also present an optional protection:
to turn the system off if the frequency drops below a specified
value by a certain amount of time and if the generator is
not synchronized. This peculiarity brings in an additional
protection to the unit, as it does not allow the generator
to remain excited offline with a major failure in the speed
governor or in the protection system of the power plant.
Even though being widely available in the commercial excitation systems, the V/Hz limiter is just a limit function of the
AVR setpoint and could not be considered an overexcitation
protection. Furthermore the V/Hz limiter will have no effect
on the generator frequency. Consequently, proper protection is
desirable and recommended [10] [11].
Moreover, even considering that most overexcitation events
occur offline, the limiter should be kept in service permanently,
so far as instances of overexcitation are possible when the
generator is synchronized to the power system [7] [9]. As
an example described by Benmouyal [11], in an islanding
situation or during light load with high level of charging
current, the generator could be driven into an under-excited
state. In this situation, the AVR underexcitation limiter (UEL)
will increase the generator output voltage until the generator
moves out of the forbidden under-excited zone. In doing so,
the voltage could go to a level high enough that the Volts/Hertz
threshold will be exceeded.
Another example is the situation where an important intertie line was switched off and the islanded system has now an
imbalance between generation and load. As result, frequency
and voltage could drop to the extent that the AVR would
immediately boost the generator terminal voltage. However,
the frequency deviation would take some minutes to settle
down [3], specially in hydro power plants where the high
inertia of the unit and the low bandwidth of the speed governor
imply additional limitations. In doing so, not just the voltage
could go to a level high enough but also the frequency to
a level low enough that the Volts/Hertz threshold will be
exceeded.
IV. OVEREXCITATION P ROTECTION
First of all, it must be stated that a protection relay is the last
resource level, as it ensures equipment safety even when other

(a)
Fig. 2.

(b)

V/Hz limiter structures

elements fail. In the specific case of overexcitation, in the first

level there are speed governor and AVR ensuring operation
inside the nominal limits for voltage and frequency. In the
second level there is the AVR V/Hz limiter, which seeks to
keep the electrical equipments operating within its excitation
limits even in abnormal conditions. And in the last level, the
V/Hz relaying, ensuring that equipments will be turned off in a
safe condition whether all the other levels fail. Seeing that, as
tripping philosophy, the field and the main unit circuit-breakers
should be opened if the unit is synchronized [9] [4].
Secondly, it must be remembered that the application of
a protection element is associated to a specific phenomenon
and a measured magnitude related to this. By contrast, the
flux magnitude in a stator or a transformer core is difficult to
measure and, therefore, overexcitation relaying needs another
operation principle. By inspecting the equation 2 is possible
to realize that the magnetic flux is inverse proportional to
the frequency and direct proportional to the voltage. Thereby
the amount of flux could be measured indirectly by the ratio
between voltage and frequency, considering per unit values.
Last but not least, it is important that protection relay
operates for any condition that exceeds equipment limits.
On the contrary, this is not possible for overexcitation. The
overexcitation protection cannot actuate when the equipments
are operating at the maximum limits. Instead, the setting must
be below the applicable limit with a security margin to allow
relay and voltage transformer errors [7]. Consequently, to set
the relay near the ideal operation condition is necessary to
know the equipment limits. Usually there are other equipments
associated with the generator, as the step up transformer,
auxiliary and excitation transformers, so the settings must be
based on the most restrictive equipment. And the right choice
for the rated voltage of these equipments and the relay model
represent an important step to avoid operative restriction.
Another important issue related to overexcitation is its effect
on the transformer differential relaying [14]: the differential
relay must be able to identify an overexcitation condition
through the harmonic content of the excitation current and
to avoid improper tripping.
Finally, distinct protection relays are available in the market and to know previously their settings characteristics and
curve types helps a lot in choosing the best equipment for
application. Some relays offer the combination of definite-time
and inverse-time (IEEE curves) characteristic, other relays

Fig. 3.

Santa Catarina HPP unit single line diagram

offer user-defined curve (Tailor-made). Table I presents a

synthesis of the philosophies from three distinct IEDs. For
more information about them, see [15], [16] and [17].
V. P RACTICAL A SPECTS :

THE

S ANTA C ATARINA HPP

The Santa Catarina Hydro Power Plant1 (HPP) is equipped

with 2 x 101.3 MVA 13.8kV +/- 5% generators, each one
connected directly to a step-up transformer of 101.3MVA
13.8/138kV +/- 5% in -Y connection and impedance of 0.12
pu. The single line diagram of this unit is shown in Fig. 3.
The connection to the Brazilian Interconnected System is
done by four transmission lines around 50 km. Even with a
relatively short transmission line, the bus voltage at the HPP
substation is high, as its is placed in a power exporter region.
Synchronism is generally done at a voltage of 1.035 pu. During
the design and the commissioning phases, no coordination
between AVR and Protection settings where done related to
overexcitation issues.
As result, an improper trip due overexcitation of the Unit
1 happened during the assisted operation period of this HPP,
causing load rejection at full load. When analyzing the registers available, firstly the commissioning team checked that
an alarm from the protection system was signalized in the
SCADA system. However, as no message was generated from
the AVR and the system was apparently operating in normal
conditions, the operator in charge took no action, considering
it could be a malfunction from the recently commissioned
protection system. After 14.5 hours in this situation, the unit
was finally tripped.
1 Fictional name for a power plant in the Santa Catarina State, Brazil. All
the characteristics and data provided is from real operating equipments.

Relay

Curve characteristic type

Frequency
operation
range

Voltage reference
for V/Hz relaying

Curve example

Thermal Constant

Dual-level define-time composite

with thermal characteristic (userdefined)

10 - 70 Hz

Maximum
voltage
of
three phase-phase
voltage

Dropout time to
emulate the cooling time

Four options:
Dual-level define-time
Composite
inverse-time
and definite-time
Simple inverse-time
User-defined inverse-time

15 - 70 Hz

Highest value of
the three phase
voltage

Emulation
heating
effect
through percenttravel operating
characteristic

Two options:
Inverse time
Customer defined

42 - 75 Hz

Phase-phase or
positive sequence
(Depends on the
relay connection)

Exponential cooling process

TABLE I
C OMPARISON OF ANSI 24 RELAYING PHILOSOPHIES FROM THREE IED S

Secondly, when comparing the registers from the AVR and

the protection relay, these discrepancies were confirmed: while
in the AVR the threshold for the V/Hz limiter was not reached,
in the protection system the pick up for the ANSI 24 protection
was. The main reason was the difference in the read voltages
from AVR and the protection relays, which occurred due:
Measurements took from odd voltage transformers each
one with a different accuracy class;
Different measurements principles. While the AVR uses
the mean value between the phases in the voltage measurement circuit, the protection relays uses the max value
of the phases.
Last but not least, AVR and Protection teams formed a
task force to avoid this situation to happen again, coordinating
properly the equipments. In the Santa Catarina HPP the V/Hz
limiter structure is the one shown in Fig. 2a using the take-over
control approach with K equals 1.05, the maximum continuous
generator voltage in pu. The original settings for ANSI 24
function could be seen in Table II in the column Before
and were based on the relay manufacturer recommendations
and on the protection system study. In these, the definite time
pickup 24-1 was being used for alarming and the inverse time
curve as well as the definite time pickup 24-2, for tripping.
To avoid a new trip possibility, the temporary remedial

Parameter
24-1 V/f Pickup
24-1 V/f Time Delay
24-2 V/f Pickup
24-2 V/f Time Delay
24 V/f = 1.05 Time Delay
24 V/f = 1.10 Time Delay
24 V/f = 1.15 Time Delay
24 V/f = 1.20 Time Delay
24 V/f = 1.25 Time Delay
24 V/f = 1.30 Time Delay
24 V/f = 1.35 Time Delay

Before
1.05
60.00 s
1.40
1.00 s
20000 s
450 s
60 s
50 s
3s
3s
3s

After
1.07
240 s
1.25
1.00 s
450 s
240 s
60 s
50 s
3s
3s
3s

TABLE II
S ETTINGS FROM ANSI 24 FUNCTION IN S ANTA C ATARINA HPP
ON RELAY A FROM TABLE I

BASED

action was to decrease AVR maximum setpoint to 1.04 pu,

what brought dispatch restrictions to the unit. In this meantime,
for proper coordination, the equipments capability with the
settings of the limiter and the protection function were plotted
in a V/Hz x time curve, which is presented in Fig. 4a. The auxiliary services equipments and the excitation transformer were
designed to operate continuously with frequency deviations
of +/-5% and voltages of +/-10%, in this way they were not
considered in the study. Additionally, it was a customer request

(a)
Fig. 4.

(b)

Santa Catarina HPP overexcitation coordination curves

that the protection system must generate an alarm when the

V/Hz threshold of 1.05 be trespassed.
Finally, new settings for the ANSI 24 relaying were proposed, considering the related equipments capability, possible relay settings and the customer requirements. They are
presented in the column After of Table II, where now the
inverse time curve is used for alarming and the definite time
pickups 24-1 and 24-2 for tripping. The new coordination
curve could be seen in Fig. 4b. To avoid the problems
presented before and considering the experience from CEMIG
described in [13], a minimum distance of 2% was adopted
from V/Hz limiter adjustment to ANSI 24 relaying settings
and from this to the most restricting equipment limit.
VI. C ONCLUSIONS
The proper application of protective relaying requires
knowledge of the operating range of each component and
an understanding of the interactions of the generating unit
and the power system [7]. When a perturbation occurs in
the power system, it is expected that generators help the
system to return to a stable condition. To this be possible, they
must remain synchronized whenever their operating limits are
being respected. However, when the integrity of any electrical
equipment is violated, it is time for fast and selective action
from protection systems. The validity of these underlying
assumptions represents availability and reliability of the power
system.
The proper setting of overexcitation protective devices and
AVR V/Hz limiter is a relevant subject in this context. Considering this and the concepts emphasized in the previous
sections, some conclusion would be summarized:
1) Coordination between AVR V/Hz limiter and the overexcitation protection function is necessary to avoid both
damage to electrical equipments and improper tripping
[7] [10] [3] [11]. In order to do this, equipments capability curves should be available and must be putted on
a common base together with the proposed limits of the
AVR V/Hz limiter and the relay characteristic curve.

2) The AVR V/Hz limiter settings should allow the generator voltage to reach its rated maximum value. Nevertheless, a security margin from the overexcitation protection
limit should be adopted to avoid improper tripping of the
unit. A recommended value is to keep at least 2% less
than the first ANSI 24 relay pick up;
3) While setting up an overexcitation protection, the limit
of the most restrictive equipment must be adopted. A
security factor it is also desired to allow measurements
errors and practical value is to keep at least 2% from
the most restrictive limit;
4) The flexibility in the unit operation and the customer or
system operator requests would also influence the adjustments. In this case, the relay choice could determine
more or less options in the setting possibilities.
R EFERENCES
[1] IEEE Std C50.12-2005. IEEE Standard for Salient-Pole 50 Hz and 60 Hz
Synchronous Generators and Generator/Motors for Hydraulic Turbine
Applications rated 5 MVA and Above. New York: IEEE, 2006.
[2] IEEE Std C57.12.00-2000. IEEE Standard General Requirements For
Liquid-Immersed Distribution, Power, and Regulating Transformers.
New York: IEEE, 2000.
[3] IEEE Std C37.106-2003. IEEE Guide for Abnormal Frequency Protection of Power Generating Plants. New York: IEEE, 2004.
[4] IEEE Std C37.102-2006. IEEE Guide for AC Generator Protection. New
York: IEEE, 2007.
[5] IEEE Std 421.4-2004. IEEE Guide for the Preparation of Excitation
System Specifications. New York: IEEE, 2004.
[6] IEEE Task Force on Excitation Limiters. Recommended models for
Overexcitation Limiting Devices. IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, v. 10, n. 4, p. 706-713, Dec 1995.
[7] REIMERT, D. Protective Relaying for Power Generation Systems. Boca
Raton: CRC Press, 2006.
[8] HARLOW, J. H. Electric Power Transformer Engineering. Boca Raton:
CRC Press, 2007.
[9] MOZINA, C. (ed.) et al. IEEE Tutorial on the Protection of Synchronous
Generators. Piscataway: IEEE Service Center, 1995. Catalog Number:
95 TP 102.
[10] MOZINA, C. (ed.) et al. Coordination of Generator Protection with
Generator Excitation Control and Generator Capability. In: IEEE Power
Engineering Society General Meeting, 2007, Tampa.
[11] BENMOUYAL, G. The Impact of Synchronous Generators Excitation
Supply on Protection and Relays. In: Western Protective Relay Conference, 34, 2007, Spokane.

[12] SCHARLACH, R. C.; YOUNG, J.Lessons Learned From Generator

Event Reports. In: Annual Conference for Protective Relay Engineers,
63, 2010, College Station.
[13] ALVES, C. E. et al. Coordenaca o dinamica Entre a Proteca o Eletrica e
o Controle de Geradores Hidraulicos - Experiencia CEMIG. In: CIGRE
Technical Seminar on Protection and Control, 9, 2008, Belo Horizonte.
[14] GUZMAN, A.; DAQING HOU; ZOCHOLL, S.E. Transformer Modeling
As Applied to Differential Protection. In: Canadian Conference on
Electrical and Computer Engineering, 1996, Calgary.
[15] Siemens. Siprotec Multifunction Machine Protection 7UM62 Manual.
Version 4.6, 2009.
[16] SEL Inc. Generator and Intertie Protection Relays SEL-700G Instruction
Manual. Date code 20100521, 2010.
[17] ABB. Generator protection IED REG 670 Technical reference manual.
Version 1.1, 2007.
Erick Fernando Alves (S05, M07) was born in
Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1981. He received the E.E.
bachelor with emphasis in Energy and Automation
in 2007 from University of Sao Paulo. He joined
the Systems Engineering Department of Voith Hydro
Sao Paulo in 2005 as trainee. Since then, he worked
in the control design of hydro power plants, specially with Excitation Systems and Speed Governors.
Nowadays he is Lead Engineer of Excitation and
Protection Systems at Voith Hydro Sao Paulo.

Marco Aurelio de Souza graduated in E.E. with emphasis in Power Systems in 2000 and post-graduated
in Protection Systems in 2004 both from Federal
University of Itajuba. Since his graduation he has
been working in generation and transmission areas,
mainly with control and protection design of hydro
power plants and high voltage substations. Presently
he is Proposal Engineer at Voith Hydro Sao Paulo.

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