THE STUDY OF HV FAULT IMPACT ON

LV SYSTEM
Kesinee Laohacharoensombat, Nattawut Taklueb
Research Division, Power System Research and Development Department, Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) Thailand

kesinee.lac@pea.co.th, herenatt@hotmail.com

Abstract - Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) is the excessive and, therefore, unsafe for the low voltage system. In
transmission and distribution utility. PEA service area covers fact, medium/high voltage protective relays in charge of the
73 provinces (throughout the country in Thailand). PEA has protection of the primary side of substations may be time-
total asset of 8,701cct-km HV transmission line, 289,328 cct- delayed to facilitate their coordination with other devices.
km MV distribution line and 450,424 cct-km LV distribution
High voltage fault may overstress the low voltage
line. In this paper, HV transmission (115 kV) and MV
equipment by imposing an excessive voltage across its
distribution line (22, 33 kV) will be called HV line and LV
insulation and earth. The stress voltages may breakdown the
distribution line (230 V, 400 V) will be called LV line. There
insulation and cause faults as well as start fires.
is always the chance of HV fault in long HV line in PEA
system. When fault occur in HV line, there are some energy
transfer to LV system. The result is overvoltage in LV system
that causes the electric appliance damage or malfunction.
Moreover, the customers may injure from operating some
appliances. This paper presents the study of HV fault impact
on LV system by simulation on PSCAD program. The
phenomena of overvoltage in LV system are considered under
a variety of system condition. Finally the solutions are
proposed in this paper.

Index terms: HV fault, LV system

I. INTRODUCTION
PEA is a transmission and distribution utility. In this
paper, high voltage transmission (115 kV) and medium voltage
distribution line (22, 33 kV) will be called HV line and low
voltage distribution line (230 V, 400 V) will be called LV line. a)
For the safety and the efficiency propose, transmission and
2 Windings Transformer, Line Type 1, 5 ohms Impedance
distribution line are varies voltage level. In many areas, there 7000
(1)
Conductor
IGwLeft (3) If (1) IGwRi ght (4)
are HV line and LV line installed in the same pole. When fault 6000
(2)
(3)
(4)
occurs in HV line, it may be transfer some energy through LV 5000
IGndImp (2)
system and overvoltage appear in LV system which damage or
Fault Current(A)

4000

malfunction the customer’s appliances. 3000

Ground faults that occur in the primary side of substations, 2000

supplied through distribution systems operation at 1000

medium/high voltages, may cause circulation of high current 0

0 20 40 60 80 100 120
(i.e./ tens of kiloampere) in their earthing systems. The Pole#

intensities of the ground-fault currents depend on how the

neutral of the primary side distribution system is “operated”.
Such neutral, defined as the common point of a polyphase
supply system, may be solidly grounded, isolated from ground
or grounded through impedances or resistances.
High and low sides of substations, though, may share the
same earthing system and, therefore, in primary fault
conditions, the low voltage exposure conductive part (ECPs)
connected to it become energized. The duration of the resulting
prospective touch voltage in the low-voltage system, in the
order of thousand of volts, although temporary, may be
b)
Fig. 1 HV fault dissipates into 3 directions and the example of
the fault current for each direction.
Most overvoltage in LV system caused by HV fault.
Normally, when HV fault occur, fault current will flow to
transformer in distribution line or in substation. Fault current
can dissipate into 3 directions as in the figure 1.
Fault current from HV can transfer to LV system in 2
ways. (1) Energy transfer via ground connection between HV
ground and LV ground. (2) Flashover via LV insulator.
 In following sections, the simulation on PSCAD will show (6) Ground rod installed in LV line
HV fault impact on LV. The phenomena of overvoltage in LV In PEA standard, there are ground rods installed every
system are considered under a variety of system condition. 200 meters. However, the installation of ground rods every
Finally the solutions are proposed in this paper. 100 meters is considered too.

II. METHODOLOGY TO STUDY

Transformer V
Impact study of LV overvoltage from HV fault quite LCC LCC

complicate because there are many LV configures such as P S

single phase and three phases, impedance of the ground rod 50L50N 50L50N
and fault current. Therefore, PSCAD is used to simulation
overvoltage phenomena from HV fault. + Vf -
SLG Fault
The simulation covers single phase two wires (1P2W),

V
+ Vf -
Current Source
single phase three wires (1P3W) and three phase four wires
(3P4W) installed in PEA LV system. The distribution V
transformers are 30 kVA in single phase system and 100 kVA
in three phases system. There are 11 customer loads in 1P2W,
22 customer loads in 1P3W and 33 customer loads in 3P4W.
HV

(a) Model HV fault transfer by flashover through LV insulator

V
LCC LCC
P S

50L50N 50L50N
Fig. 2. Single line diagram in LV single phase.
+ Vf -
SLG Fault
The considering factors are as follow:

V
Current Source + Vf -

(1) The patterns of HV fault transfer to LV system

V
HV fault can transfer to LV system in two ways.
When high fault current occur, it can direct transfer by Tower Footing
flashover through LV insulator. When HV and LV grounds are Resistance
installed in the same pole, the energy can indirect transferred
by inducing voltage through LV grounding system. Both can
be modeled in figure 3. HV LV

(2) Fault current injected in LV system are 200 A, 500 A,

1 kA, 3 kA, 5 kA and 10 kA (b) insulator Model HV fault transfer by inducing voltage
through grounding system
(3) Fault transfer locations
In PEA system, most LV lines are installed Fig 3. Model HV fault transfer to LV system
underneath the HV line. Therefore HV fault can be transferred
to LV system at all position of LV line. The simulation will be
shown the HV fault transfer to LV line at 3 positions; at low
side of the transformer, the middle of LV line and the end of
LV line.
(4) LV Grounding system
Because PEA customers are various in grounding
installations such as TN, TT and no grounding are considered
in the simulation. TT system is sprit into 2 systems: TT1 and
TT2. Grounding connections are shown in figure 4.
(5) Ground rod resistance in LV system
The criteria of ground rod resistance are 5 or 10 ohms
but in some areas, which are high soil resistivity, the resistance
is more than 25 ohms. Various ground rod resistance in the
simulation are 5, 10, 25 and 50 ohms. Fig 4. Grounding systems in LV system

Voltages at MDB of the customers are also considered

where overvoltage could be appeared.
 III. SIMULATION RESULTS (3) Compare the positions of HV fault transfer to LV
system
The simulation results in all customer load types, 1P2W,
The overvoltage is quite severe at the fault point and
1P3W and 3P4W, have the same characteristic in overvoltage,
decrease at other positions as shown in figure 5.
therefore the results are mostly shown in 1P2W.
(4) LV Grounding system
(1) HV fault direct flashover through LV insulator
The simulation result is shown that voltage in TT1 is
LV insulator withstand voltage is 25 kV. When HV fault
similar to TN and voltage in TT2 is similar to no ground
current is high, voltage at ground rod which high
system. When HV fault transferred to LV system, the
impedance can be flashover through LV insulator.
overvoltage in TN and TT1 system is much lower than
TT2 and no ground system as shown in figure 6 and 7.
TABLE I
HV FAULT EFFECT OVERVOLTAGE IN LV SYSTEM FOR 1P2W (5) Grounding rod resistance and the installation of ground
rods
Rod Single Phase Two wires
I
fault
Imp TN, TT1 TT2, no ground

(ohm) (kA)
LV of Tr. Mid line End line LV of Tr. Mid line End line

5 0.5 222.2699 206.9398 201.3817 221.6589 206.4385 200.9311

10 0.5 221.4043 206.1516 200.6302 221.3351 206.1405 200.6441
25 0.5 220.8968 205.6867 200.1843 221.1226 205.9415 200.4505
50 0.5 1405.747 1402.137 1400.254 3559.568 3558.028 3556.888
5 1 222.2689 206.9389 201.3807 221.6567 206.4364 200.929
10 1 221.401 206.1484 200.6269 221.3273 206.1328 200.6364
25 1 1494.967 1484.169 1479.101 3632.577 3624.43 3620.308
50 1 2881.161 2870.85 2865.89 7202.711 7194.783 7190.713

Fig 6 Overvoltage at different ground rod resistance for TN

(2) HV fault indirect transfer to LV system by inducing
and TT1 (installed ground rod every 200 m)
voltage through LV grounding system

Fig 7 Overvoltage at different ground rod resistance for TT2

and no ground (installed ground rod every 200 m)

(6) Spacing between grounding rod installation in LV line

Overvoltage in 100 meters spacing between ground rods
is lower than installed ground rod every 200 meters as
shown in figure 6 and 8.

Fig 5 Overvoltage in LV system from indirect transfer at

different point of HV fault
 grounding resistance more than 2 ohms lead to high risk
of overvoltage.

TABLE III
TOTAL GROUNDING RESISTANCE IN DIFFERENT SYSTEM
Total Grounding Resistance (ohm)
Customer ground Customer
Rod TN and TT1 ground
Rod
Resistance TT2 and
Installed
(ohm) no
ground
1P2W 1P3W 3P4W 1P3W
5 0.465 0.372 0.185 0.785
Every 10 0.707 0.544 0.297 1.268
Fig 8 Overvoltage at different ground rod resistance for TN 100 m 25 1.407 1.006 0.642 2.747
and TT1 (installed ground rod every 100 m) 50 2.587 1.775 1.221 5.238
5 0.525 0.399 0.195 1.309
IV. ANALYSIS Every 10 0.818 0.590 0.320 2.288
200 m 25 1.685 1.116 0.700 5.271
From all results, many factors effect overvoltage in LV
50 3.146 1.997 1.339 10.265
system as follow:
(1) Direct flashover from HV fault through LV insulator is
quite severe. Even though fault current is not much, the V. CONCLUSION
overvoltage is very high. However, flashover voltage From the study, overvoltage in LV system could be transfer
should be more than insulator level 25 kV, direct from HV fault. The overvoltage is quite severe if HV fault
flashover could be occurred. Moreover, PEA has tested directly flashover to LV system. Fault current and total
flashover voltage of LV insulator as in table 2. grounding resistance are the important factors which
influenced LV overvoltage. This paper also proposes many
TABLE II solutions to prevent and reduce the effect of overvoltage from
FLASHOVER VOLTAGE OF LV INSULATOR HV fault to LV system.
Test Flashover voltage (kV) (1) Limit HV fault current is the first step to decrease LV
Condition 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Ave overvoltage. Impedance grounding installation at HV
Normal 26 27 27 26 27 26.6 side of the transformer is the solution.
Dirty 18 18 16 - - 17.3
(2) Separation of HV and LV grounding is to prevent fault
Wet 15 15 14 14 15 14.6
transfer via grounding path. However in some area, it is
Tie wire near quite difficult to separate grounding therefore
10 10 10 10 10 10
rack equippotential bonding is the alter solution.
Tie wire close
2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 (3) In TN and TT1 grounding system, the overvoltage is
to rack
lower because grounding in customer side reduce total
From table 2, if the installation of LV insulators was grounding resistance. Keeping total grounding
careless, tie wire could be near or close to the rack and the resistance lower than 2 ohms decrease overvoltage
insulator level would be rapidly decrease. The high overvoltage phenomena from HV fault.
from HV fault transfer to LV system risk to damaging the
customer appliance. (4) Beware and maintenance LV system especially LV
insulator as a routine check. When conductor fall from
(2) At HV fault transfer point, overvoltage is higher than LV insulator, or the LV insulator is contaminated, or tie
other points. However, it’s not significant than direct wire short circuit occur, the withstand voltage level of
flashover. the insulator can reduce from 25 kV to 2-10 kV.
(3) The higher HV fault current effect the higher
overvoltage in LV system. More than 1 kV in HV fault ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
current cause overvoltage in LV system.
The authors would like to thank the Provincial Electricity
(4) In grounding system, it is not significant in each ground Authority (PEA), Thailand for supporting this research.
rod resistance. The important factor is total grounding
resistance in LV system which varies according to the
grounding system such as TN, TT and no grounding. VI. REFERENCE
The more ground rods installed in the LV system, the [1] “Grounding”, Dr.Chamnan Haokeat
less overvoltage occurs. From the simulation result, total
[2] IEC60364-4-44 : Protection for Safety – Protection
against voltage disturbances and electromagnetic
disturbances
[3] “Electrical Safety of Low-Voltage Systems”
Dr.Massimo A.G. Mitolo