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Ultra-high-voltage switchgear to power China
Walter Holaus, Fredi Stucki
China is in urgent need of electrical power. Huge power plants are built all over the
country and the enormous flow of electrical power to the large megacities has to
cross several thousand kilometers from the source to the end user.
At those dimensions, losses of the power lines can be significant. The State Grid
Corporation of China (SGCC) is thus aiming for 1,100 kV as the voltage level for
AC transmission to keep losses as low as possible, a step into a new area of
electrical grids.
ABB, together with its partners and suppliers, has developed the heart of such a
system – a gas-insulated switchgear design – that could pass all the tests with this
groundbreaking technology.
Product innovations
Product innovations
3.8 m
influence on the insulation
AC demonstration Linkage performance. ABB studies
project consists of Overall weight:
7 tons
CO
switch
Closing resistor concluded that a rather small
SF6 gas pressure is best
almost 600 km of suited for UHV GIS compo-
high-voltage lines 550 kV with
closing resistor 2 interrupters + closing resistor nents.
and three substa- Robustness of the design and
550 kV
tions – Jingmen, 2 interrupters
operational availability are
Nanjang and Jing 300 kV 1 interrupter
also key points. Therefore,
the following design rules
Don Nan. were applied to the UHV
GIS design:
ELK-5 UHV GIS development project team with up to 20 specialists and Single phase encapsulation for
To design and install this 1,100 kV provided priority access to other interrupters
GIS, ABB and Xian Shiky, the biggest experts and test facilities. Separate compartment for closing
Chinese supplier of GIS, established resistors
a joint development project called Doubling the voltage level Safe margins for all electrical
“ELK-5” (ELK is the name of ABB’s The insulation performance of GIS parameters
GIS systems; 5 indicates the new per- depends on many parameters – the
formance level). The focus for ABB in gas pressure, the electrode geometry, The enormous dimensions of the
this joint effort was on the overall the voltage-pulse form applied and 1,100 kV switchgear require extensive
design of the hybrid GIS and on the the polarity or the purity of the SF6 mechanical calculations. Scaling of
production and shipping of core com- gas, to mention a few. Even though mechanical parameters, eg, drive
ponents, while Shiky focused on pro- many of these parameters have been energy, speed of contacts or bursting
duction of all other components, type studied as a function of the electrical pressure capacity are also very non-
testing – under supervision of SGCC field strength, phenomena can change linear. In fact, such a development
and KEMA experts – and the assembly significantly in different field configu- project requires at least as many
and installation of the switchgear at rations. The crucial factor in the GIS mechanical engineers as electrical
Jingmen. A very demanding schedule design for a new voltage level there- engineers.
was set by SGCC – after its start in fore is the understanding of the vari-
November 2006 the first installation ous voltage-dependent physical phe- All mechanical and electrical design
at Jingmen was to be energized by nomena of electrical insulation. Spe- was carried out with true 3-D calcula-
the end of 2008. Accomplishing this cific scaling rules have to be applied tion tools and, whenever possible,
in two years would be a world record for every individual component and proven manufacturing processes were
for upgrading a GIS to a new, de- finally to the whole system. Of special chosen.
manding voltage level, during which interest are the effects that gain im-
time the development, verification, portance at high voltage levels, eg, Circuit breaker – the core component
type testing, production and installa- the so-called very fast transients The circuit breaker is a switchgear
tion would also occur. To meet this (VFT) that occur when operating a component capable of safely turning
challenge, ABB assembled a project disconnector. on and off under all switching condi-
tions, such as normal operation or
fault clearance. Its operation is accom-
3 The ABB GIS circuit breaker with the drive unit during assembly in the factory
plished within 50 milliseconds after
triggering.
Product innovations
by ABB for this application [5, 6, 7]. Extensive space requirements for nector is designed in a 90-degree
A comparison of ABB’s circuit break- the laboratory: The combined volt- setup with a visible gap of the inner
ers for different voltage levels is given age tests needed two bushings at a conductor of less than 300 mm. This
in 2 . The rated values of 1,100 kV, distance of more than 13 m, with gap can withstand more than 3,400 kV
4,000 A correspond to a rated power each of them a distance of more
of 7,600 MW for the three phases. This than 10 m to the laboratory walls.
Factbox Ratings specified for the 1,100 kV
is more than the average electric pow- The power-switching tests were
GIS demonstration project
er consumption of Switzerland.1) With mostly performed on one-half of the
this rating the circuit breaker would circuit breaker only, as no suffi-
be capable of turning on and off the ciently high voltage was available to Rated voltage 1,100 kV
electrical power of Switzerland. stress the full-size breaker. This so- Rated lightning
called half-pole testing requires a impulse voltage 2,400 kV
The total weight of this modern UHV specific enclosure and voltage grad- Rated equipment current 4,000 A
circuit breaker is only 7.5 tons due to ing calculations. Rated busbar current 8,000 A
the optimized number of interrupters Rated short-circuit curren 50 kA
and the aluminum enclosures 3 . As a result of the careful design and
manufacturing, the circuit breaker
Since it was the world’s first equip- could be successfully tested during
ment rated at 1,100 kV, it had to be the first test series. 5 Cross-section of the UHV disconnector
tested according to international and
Chinese standards; the equipment The UHV GIS disconnector
suppliers and especially the test labo- The basic function of a disconnector
ratories thus faced big challenges. is to disconnect parts of the GIS to
Type testing for the circuit breaker safely do maintenance work on the c
a b
was accomplished at Xihari test labo- disconnected and earthed parts.
ratories in Xian and at ABB in Switzer-
land 4 .
The focus for ABB in d
a Drive
the power tests in Xihari at the the overall design of the b Moving contact
1,100 kV level. The most demanding
topics were: hybrid GIS and on the c
d
Fixed contact
Insulator
Manufacturing and testing required production and shipping e Insulator
4 Development team and test pole for the 1,100 kV circuit breaker at Baden Power Lab
a b
(Switzerland) after T100s test
d
c
e
f g
a Bushing
b Bushing
c High-voltage AC test transformer
d High-voltage DC test transformer
e Circuit breaker
f UHV GIS busbar
g Disconnector under test
Product innovations