1200 kV transmission system and status of development of substation equipment/transmission line material in India

Nayak R.N., Bhatnagar M.C., Bhowmick B.N. De, Tyagi R.K.

Power Grid Corporation of India Limited, India.

Synopsis
The Indian Power Sector is growing at an accelerated pace. Peak demand is expected to be more than 157,000 MW by 2012 which necessitates installed capacity of about 210,000 MW. Further, to meet the growth rate of Indian economy, installed capacity of power generation shall be about 600,000 MW by 2025. To keep pace with generation, transmission system needs to be strengthened for power transfer from generating stations to the load centres. Considering the serious difficulty of availability of Right of Way (ROW), it is considered prudent to adopt 1200 kV AC as next transmission voltage level in the country for transfer of bulk power. To develop 1200 kV AC technology indigenously, a 1200kV test station is being established at Bina, Madhya Pradesh in central part of India in association with 25 Indian manufacturers. In this project, POWERGRID shall provide the platform such as AC network connection, transmission lines, testing facilities and other infrastructures at Bina substations and Equipment Manufactures shall install their 1200 kV Equipments for field testing and trial. Based on the field testing and experience gained on the performance of 1200 kV equipments, technical parameters shall be fine tuned for 1200 kV AC transmission system. The test station shall consist of 2 nos. bays of 1200 kV, 2 sets of 1200 kV transformers (1000 MVA each Bank) and one single circuit & one double circuit 1200 kV Transmission Lines (about 1 km each). In this paper, the details of establishment of test station are discussed and various studies conducted for optimization of air clearances, corona, etc. are also described. Insulation Co-ordination was the most critical for designing the 1200 kV System from the point of view of lightning impulse withstand voltage and switching impulse withstand voltage levels. The necessary protective margins as per IEC-60071-1&2 have been maintained by special design of four (4) column surge arrester for meeting high discharge capability of 55MJ. The rated voltage of surge arrester is 850 kV and Lightning Impulse Protective Level (LIPL) and Switching Impulse Protective Level (SIPL) as 1700 kV (at 20 kA) and 1500 kV (at 2 kA) respectively. The specifications and current status of development of various major 1200 kV equipments like Transformers, Circuit Breakers, Surge arresters, Capacitive Voltage Transformer, Dis-connectors and Transmission lines are detailed in this paper.