+/-800 KV HVDC CHAMPA-KURUKSHETRA BIPOLE LINE WITH DMR

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Out of the estimated 15000-16000 MW of power transfer requirement from Raigarh (Kotra),
Champa, Raigarh (Tamnar) and Raipur generation complex in Chhattisgarh, about 5000 MW
power is indicated for transfer to Northern region. Considering the long distance viz. approx.
1300 km as well as quantum of power transfer requirement to NR from IPP generation
projects in Chhattisgarh, it is proposed that power from IPP generation projects in
Chhattisgarh can be transferred over HVDC system. Initially the system shall be able to carry
3000 MW of power although provision to upgrade the HVDC Bipole to 6000MW at a later
date shall also be kept. Development of such HVDC transmission corridors shall facilitate in
establishing transmission corridors with hybrid technology. This shall also facilitate in
meeting controlled power flow requirement, flexibility of operation as well as maintaining
system parameters within limits through its control mechanism.
Presently, almost all the HVDC Bipole lines in India & abroad are being constructed with
earth electrode lines earthed at earth electrode station. However design of such earth
electrode stations is associated with a lot of uncertainties w.r.t. the magnitude of the ground
currents & its anticipated path. As a result, ground currents appear unexpectedly, thereby,
severely impacting electrical installations, oil & natural gas pipelines, railway lines, hand
pumps & water bodies. Existence of rocky surfaces & low water table in vast stretches of
land near Champa & Kurukshetra ends have made the selection of suitable site for earth
electrode station all the more difficult.
Considering such constraints with respect to the environmental impact of earth electrode
station as well as right of way requirement of earth electrode lines, POWERGRID has opted
for using Dedicated Metallic return with 2X Twin Lapwing conductors running on the same
tower. Although, separate towers for DMR running all along the Bipole line between the
converter stations would also have been a viable alternative and would have lesser
complicacies wrt insulation design. However, this would have considerable environmental &
financial impact as separate ROW would have been required.
However, installation of DMR on same tower has severe consequences for DMR insulator
string for which the string must be designed. Some of such constraints are occurrence of
backflashovers on DMR during pole backflashovers; Transfer surges due to pole-ground

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fault; switching type overvoltages on the DMR due to system start up, system shut down and
converter commutation failure.
The paper elaborates the step-by-step procedure involved in design of +/-800 kV HVDC
Champa-Kurukshetra Bipole line with DMR and the various aspects taken into account for
integration of DMR on the Bipole line.

2.0 REQUIREMENT OF DEDICATED METALLIC RETURN

The major constraint of Ground Return is the selection of an earth electrode site. Such a site
should have a soil resistivity of as low as 250 ohm-m in a hemisphere of radius of approx. 10
kms. This necessitates absence of any rocky surfaces & presence of substantially high water
table (not less than 4 to 5 meter) in order to maintain easy transfer of current from coke to
soil by keeping coke & soil interface moist.
It has also been experienced that spread of ground current has been different than expected
leading to saturation of some grid transformers in vicinity. Also, the electrical potential
distribution around electrode station tends to offset the small potential at which oil & natural
gas pipelines are maintained for cathodic protection. This tends to cause corrosion in metallic
pipelines buried underneath.
In view of this, the site is to selected such that no metallic buried objects such as oil & gas
pipelines, hand pumps with metallic pipes, railway lines, etc. and grounded electrical
installations lies within a radius of about 8 to 10 kms from the centre of proposed site of earth
electrode station.
Unavailability of such a large patch of land at reasonable cost and the uncertainties associated
in the design of electrode station w.r.t. surface currents has necessitated the requirement of
alternative means.
An HVDC Bipole transmission line with Dedicated Metallic return (DMR) conductor
running all along the transmission line between the converter stations is one of the viable
alternatives. Such a DMR line can either be installed on the same tower carrying the two
poles or on separate tower running parallel to the bipole line with a separate ROW
requirement. Though a separate DMR line involves lesser complicacies w.r.t. DMR insulation
design, POWERGRID has preferred to have DMR on the bipole tower itself in view of the
low cost & less ROW requirement (27 m less).

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Increase in the total project cost due to inclusion of DMR instead of ground return mode is
quite marginal viz. 5 to 6 %. Further, the % losses in DMR vis--vis total line losses in the
HVDC line during bipole operation is entirely negligible. Even the increase in % losses due
to usage of DMR instead of earth return during contingencies result in a very marginal
additional losses (approx. 2 % of total line losses in the HVDC line assuming 10 days/year of
monopolar operation with one pole under maintenance/shutdown)

3.0 KEY DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS FOR DMR

A. Current Carrying Capacity: The Dedicated metallic return conductor should have the
capacity to carry the entire amount of current carried by one pole during monopolar
operation.
The +/- 800 kV HVDC Champa-Kurukshetra line has been designed to carry 6000 MW
during bipolar operation & 3000 MW during monopolar operation. Therefore, each pole as
well as the DMR must be able to carry a nominal current of magnitude 3750 A. Additionally,
each pole as well as the DMR must be able to carry 4126 A of current corresponding to
reduced voltage operation of monopolar HVDC line.
Following table illustrates the DC current carrying capacity of various conductor bundles
considered.
TABLE 1
A Summary of current carrying capacity of selected conductor bundles
Sl. No.

Conductor Bundle

Nominal
carrying

current Short

term

current

capacity carrying capacity (corres.

1.

Quad Moose Conductor

(corres. To 85C)
4 X 802 A = 3208 A

To 95C)
4 X 940 A = 3760 A

2.

Quad Bersimis Conductor

4 X 935 A = 3740 A

4 X 1100 A = 4400 A

3.

Quad Lapwing Conductor

4 X 1035 A =4140 A

4 X 1222 A = 4888 A

4.

Hexa Zebra Conductor

6 X 706 A = 4236 A

6 X 825 A = 4950 A

Note: Above values are derived considering 45 deg C as ambient temperature

From the table above, it can be seen that Quad Bersimis marginally misses the required
nominal current carrying capacity. Further, Quad Lapwing easily meets the nominal current
capacity requirement. Additionally, it can be seen that Quad Lapwing conductor meets the
requirement of reduced voltage operation withion its nominal current carrying capacity itself
thereby elevating the reliability of the high capacity bipole line.
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In view of the above, Quad Lapwing conductor was selected as the most optimal conductor
bundle from amongst the selected conductor bundles for DMR.
B. Tower Geometry w.r.t. Placement/ Position of DMR
After the selection of conductor bundle for DMR, following alternative tower configurations
with DMR have been analysed.
i)

Alternative 1: 2 X Twin Lapwing DMR above the conductors and below each
earthwire.

Advantages:
a) Increased mechanical reliability of DMR i.e. when one of the conductor
bundles is damaged/under maintenance, the other conductor bundle will
continue to provide conduction path for the leakage current.
Further, during monopolar operation also (with one pole damaged/under
maintenance) if one of the DMRs will suffer damage, flow of power atleast
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1/4th of the total bipole power can be continued, thus furthering the reliability
of the bipole system.
b) Ease of Line maintenance under one pole shutdown with the other pole in
operation (one DMR & one pole under shutdown)
ii)

Alternative 2: Quad lapwing DMR in the tower body/cage at Conductor level

Advantages
a) Existing +/-800 kV HVDC tower design could be used.
b) Better lightning protection for DMR
c) Least weight among alternatives
iii)

Alternative 3: Quad lapwing DMR in the middle of cross arm

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Advantages
a) Existing +/-800 kV HVDC tower design could be used.
b) Good lightning protection for DMR
c) Comparatively less weight

iv)

Alternative 4: 2XTwin Lapwing DMR in the middle of Cross-arm.

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Advantages:
a) Increased mechanical reliability of DMR i.e. when one of the conductor

bundles is damaged/under maintenance, the other conductor bundle will

continue to provide conduction path for the leakage current.
b) Good lightning protection for DMR

TABLE 2
A Summary of parameters corresponding to each alternative
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ALT -1

ALT-2

ALT -3

ALT-4

Tower

Height 57

53.5

53.5

53.5

(mtrs.)
Estimated

Tower 38

36

37

37

weight(MT)
ROW Requirement 69

69

69

74

(mtrs.)
Salient Advantages

1) Increased

1) Least weight

1) Increased

mechanical reliability

among

mechanical

of DMR

alternatives

reliability of DMR

2)

Ease

of

maintenance

Line
under

one pole shutdown

with the other pole in
operation

In view of the above mentioned advantages of Alternative 1 and its conventional tower
geometry, the Alternative 1 has been finalised for +/-800 kV HVDC Champa-Kurukshetra
line with DMR conductor.
C. Insulator Requirement
The Dedicated Metallic Return Conductor at the inverter end shall be grounded and the other
end shall remain floating (ungrounded). Therefore, a certain potential corresponding to the
leakage current through DMR during bipolar operation shall exist at all points of DMR
(except the grounded end) with the magnitude maximum at the floating end. This potential
shall be highest during monopolar mode of operation with only DMR as the return conductor.
With the maximum design value of 4126 A & the line length of approx. 1300 km, this
potential at the floating end of DMR has been calculated to be approx. 64 kV DC. An
insulation level of 110/132 kV AC has therefore been adopted in view of the higher
requirement for equivalent AC system and the next available rating. Had the DMR been
constructed on separate transmission line towers, the insulation design considering DMR
voltage drop of 110/132 kV AC i.e. for Lightning Impulse withstand level (LIWL) of 650
kVp. Thus, 9 insulator discs for suspension towers would have been sufficient.
However, the case is not so and the DMR is to be placed on the same bipole tower. Therefore,
following additional aspects have also been considered in the insulation design for DMR:8 | Page

i) During lightning, backflashovers on pole is followed by backflashovers on DMR as

the pole voltage appears on the tower & significantly high voltage difference develops
across DMR depending on which pole has undergone backflashover. Backflashover of
the Negative pole will cause severe backflashover of DMR. Such backflashovers
cannot be avoided but the probability of backflashover can be reduced by slightly
increasing the number of discs.
The appearance of such high voltage across DMR is of switching surge type &
therefore, the arcing distance across the insulator string has been selected taking into
account such a magnitude of switching surge instead of 550 kVp for 132kV lines.
ii) A pole-ground fault causes induced voltage to appear on the DMR referred to as
Transfer surges. A pole fault initiates travelling waves which propagate away from
the location along all conductors of HVDC line, including the DMR. Waves reflected
from the line terminations can constructively superimpose at certain locations,
resulting in high overvoltages. The DMR insulator string has therefore been designed
considering such overvoltages.
A pole fault also results into immediate operation of DMR under monopolar mode,
therefore, suddenly a switching type overvoltage voltage appears across the insulator
strings & the strings must be designed considering this aspect.
iii) System start up, system shut down and converter commutation failure produces
switching type overvoltages on the DMR.
iv)If the steady state current of the two poles is substantially balanced, the flashover fault
should extinguish itself. However if they are substantially unbalanced or the system is
in monopolar operation with DMR, the arc will continue and must be extinguished
quickly. Thus, arcing horns should be provided to protect insulators from energy
released during flashovers. However, there should also be a current differential
protection on the DMR if the fault persists.
In view of the above, the number of insulators has been kept as 15 for Single suspension
insulator string and 2 X 15 nos. for Double Tension insulator string for DMR. The insulator
rating for single suspension insulator string has been calculated by comparing everyday
loading & ultimate loading on the insulator strings. The insulator rating for double tension

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insulator is decided on the basis of UTS of the conductor. 210 kN insulators shall be required
for both types of strings.

Diagram of a typical Single Suspension insulator string for DMR

D. Corona Performance of DMR & Earthwire
Presence of DMR conductor bundles between the pole conductor bundles & groundwires will
significantly modify the space charge free as well as space charge modified electric field
distribution of the bipole line. The space charge generated due to corona on the pole
conductors has a significant impact on the surface gradients of ground wires and DMR
conductors.
The surface gradient on the DMR conductor due to pole conductors has also been evaluated
for both 2 X Twin Lapwing as well as Quad Lapwing DMR and it has been observed that
surface gradient of both types of DMR is generally below their corona onset gradient under
all modes of operation.

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Corona performance has been evaluated by considering bipolar as well as unipolar mode of
operation & it has been observed that worst results are obtained during unipolar mode itself
because of the presence of only one type of space charge.
It has also been observed that DMR conductor bundles produce screening effect, leading to a
reduction of the electric field on the ground wires. Therefore, compared to the +/- 800 kV
HVDC NER-Agra Bipole line with earth electrode, the ground wire surface gradients of the
+/- 800 kV HVDC Champa-Kurukshetra Bipole line with DMR are much lower under
bipolar as well as unipolar modes of operation.

4. CONCLUSION
From the various studies carried out for design of +/- 800 kV HVDC Champa-Kurukshetra
Bipole transmission line, it is observed that provision of DMR instead of ground return as
well as integration of DMR on bipole towers is a prudent solution to the uncertain soil
characteristics, low reliability & manifold issues associated with earth return. Such a higher
reliability, greater controllability & greater operational flexibility are the key advantages of
such an important high capacity link which has tremendous bearing on the health of national
grid & Indian power system.

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