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2006 IEEE PES Transmission and Distribution Conference and Exposition Latin America, Venezuela
Feasibility of the Modernization and Upgrade of
the Electrical High Voltage Substations
G. Villa
Abstract--In Venezuela and over the world exist substations
with more than thirty years of operation; being these at the end of
their useful life, the replacement of its primary equipment is
becoming necessary. Since then, some technologies have evolved,
like the encapsulated equipment, and others such as the compact
and hybrid. These present among their advantages, greater
reliability, less required area, cables, minor maintenance and easy
replacement. The intention of this work is, taking as comparison
norm the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) of the substations, to compare
different technology alternatives, taking as study subjects two
Substations from the 70's, Santa Teresa and El Tigre, both at
400kV, belonging to C.V.G. EDELCA, and evaluating which of
these is the best technical-economical solution for the replacement
of the High Voltage equipment.
Index Term-- Compact Technologies, Life Cycle Cost (LCC),
Reliability, Substation.
I. INTRODUCTION
T he electrical companies in Venezuela, and among them
“C.V.G. EDELCA”, have at the present substations whose
equipment approach the end of their utility life, according to
its design. For them, it is fundamental at the moment, to know
clearly what parameters to evaluate to modernize the
substations according to the requirements of the system and
the market. The new laws of the Venezuelan electrical sector
contemplate high fines for deficient quality and non-served
electrical energy. In this way the improvement of the reliability
in the substations happens to be an important part of the study
and the analysis for the decision making in case of a total or
partial replacement. Throughout the years since the substations
of C.V.G. EDELCA began operations, new technologies for
substation of high voltage equipment have been developed, on
the part of manufacturers like ABB, such as the compact,
hybrids, and GIS. The purpose of this study is to make a
comparison between solutions of Conventional technologies,
against others types of technologies, like Compact, Hybrid and
GIS; taking as a norm for reference the total Life Cycle Cost
(LCC) from the substation and as study cases, the Substations
Santa Teresa and El Tigre at 400kV.
II. DESCRIPTION OF THE SUBSTATIONS IN STUDY
The Santa Teresa substation operates under the scheme of
breaker and half with Conventional AIS technology type.
G. Villa is with ABB, Caracas ,Venezuela , (e-mail:
giancarlo.villa@ve.abb.com )
1-4244-0288-3/06/$20.00 ©2006 IEEE
It has five (5) bays at 400kV and two (2) derivation reactors of
100 MVAR each, connected to the outputs of the transmission
line and (1) 50 MVAR reactor connected to the tertiary
winding of the 400/230kV Autotransformer, with the following
entrance and exit lines:
- Two (2) entrance lines from the San Gerónimo
substations (San Gerónimo 1 and San Gerónimo 2)
- Three (3) exit lines that connect to two (2) 450 MVA
Autotransformers, which go to Santa Teresa 230kV
substation, belonging to CADAFE, and another one
that goes directly to one (1) Autotransformer in the
Ciudad Losada substation.
The EL TIGRE substation operates under the scheme of
breaker and half with Conventional AIS technology type, it has
five (5) bays and thirteen (13) breakers, with the following
entrance and exit lines:
- Three (3) entrance lines from the substations at La
Canoa, Guri “A” 1 y Guri “A” 2.
- Five (5) exit lines that connect in this way: two (2)
lines to the San Gerónimo substation, one (1) line to
the Barbacoa II substation and two (2) exit lines to
CADAFE’s 230kV El Tigre substation through two (2)
Autotransformers of 450 MVA each one.
III. HIGH VOLTAGE EQUIPMENT TECHNOLOGIES FOR
SUBSTATIONS
The different technologies evaluated for this project are:
A. Conventional Substations
These are the High Voltage equipment, whose equipment
isolation method is based on the natural permeability of the air
and whose high Voltage elements (Measure Transformers,
Disconnectors and Circuit Breakers) are located individually
throughout the bay of the substation..
B. Gas Insulated Substations (GIS)
In the encapsulated substations, all the components of the
substation, Circuit Breakers, Disconnectors and instrument
transformers are isolated in SF6, like the busbars of the
substation.
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C. New Technologies
Being based on the fact that, through the years, the circuit
breakers have been evolving and improving their reliability has
increased until being more reliable than the disconnectors, it
was chosen to eliminate these last ones; but not thus its
function, necessary for maintenance, attributed this time to the
switches.

Thus, eliminating an equipment with a higher fault rate, and

improving the disposition of the equipment, it is possible to
obtain smaller, more reliable substations and with smaller Fig. 3. Movable contact in functions of the disconnector
amounts of foundations, cables, land and maintenance.
IV. RELIABILITY CALCULATIONS AND RESULTS
The objective of the evaluation of the reliability in a
substation is to determine values that reflect the quality in the
final consumer. There are two significant reasons for an
interruption in the operation of a substation, that are called
deterministic, or due to maintenance, and the stochastic that
are due to a fault of the equipment itself [1]. For the
calculation of the reliability of the different alternatives in the
substations in study, was used the program SubRel™ of ABB
Fig. (4), which is able of model each possible contingency,
determining the

Fig. 1. Increase of the reliability of the technologies of the circuit breakers

with respect to the disconnectors through the years.

Of these new tendencies we have:

1) Compacts

In the compact substations, the circuit breakers can move

and isolate themselves for maintenance, fulfilling therefore the
functions of the disconnectors.

Fig. 4. Windows of the SubRel ™

impact of this in the reliability of each affected component, as

Fig. 2. Compact Circuit Breaker, left connected, right disconnect.
2) Hybrids PASS
In the case of the hybrid substations, the disconnectors are
replaced by a joined movable contact to the breaking chamber,
through an axis, that when rotating, makes the connections to
the energized busbar, disconnection and earthing [2]. The
busbars of the substation continue isolated by air.
well as to simulate each fault of the substation when it is found
operating in normal conditions. In addition it is able to
simulate the fault or maintenance of a component that must be
isolated from the rest of the system, reshaping this for later
evaluation of the outage time for the substation if this is the
case. The outage result for the 400kV Santa Teresa Substation
were 16,73 hours per year, for the Conventional solution; 4,58
hours per year for the Compact solution; 3,41 hours per year
for the Hybrids Technologies and 3,51 hours per year for the
GIS (Figure 5). For the EL TIGRE substation 400kV (Figure
6), were 19,91 hours a year for the Conventional solution; 5,13
hours a year for the Compact solution, 5,37 hours a year for
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the Hybrids Technologies and 3,68 hours a year for the GIS.
Its observed clearly that the reliability of the conventional
technology , is widely surpassed by the compact, hybrid and
GIS technologies.
In this way it is demonstrated that with the new
technologies, what actually makes sense is that the
disconnecting switch is an element that, far from offering the
necessary reliability to the substation, is responsible for the
low reliability of it.
In order to obtain the Non Served Energy figures in the
Substations in study, one analyzes the contingencies that could
cause the outage of one of the lines of the substations, thus we
have a case that the substation cannot assume or satisfy the
total load completely due to lack of capacity, this evolves in
the necessity to ration energy, giving less energy to
V. ECONOMIC FACTORS
Venezuela counts between its resources a vast hydroelectric
power potential, approximately 60% of the generation of the
country is hydroelectric and with vast power reserves of
petroleum and gas, which are translated in very economic fuel
costs. Nevertheless for the fault cost we must consider two
types mainly [3], which are:
A. DIRECT FAULT COSTS
These costs are determined by the value of a fault in a
specific point of the system whose quantification is direct and
they do not include secondary factors that can increase the
value that is considered. In the case of this study the cost will
be taken from the energy sold of EDELCA towards CADAFE,
in a price around 0,05 $/kwh.
B. INDIRECT FAULT COSTS
The indirect cost of fault take into account all the processes
associated in the network that are affected by the outage, this
relation is based assuming that the economic activity is
reduced in direct proportion to the KWh interrupted during an
electrical fault. Considering that the main industry in
Venezuela is the oil industry, extended in almost all the
national geography, a noticeable difference between the
indirect cost of fault and the direct one exists, which is
exposed next in the TABLE II.

TABLE I
OPERATION SUBSTATION EL TIGRE
WHEN IS AFFECTED THE LINE OF THE AT1
Operación FS AT1 MVA % Carga
Fig. 5 Comparison of the hours of outage at year of the different technologies Salidas
in the substation Santa Teresa 400kV San Gerónimo 1 267,66 21,95%
San Gerónimo 2 269,91 39,14%
Barbacoa 479,15 38,19%
AT 1 hacia CADAFE FALLA 0,00%
AT 2 hacia CADAFE 596,23 135,58%
Entradas
La Canoa 445,73 37,24%
Guri "A" 1 495,17 41,37%
Guri "A" 2 497,76 40,71%

TABLE II
TABLE OF INDIRECT COSTS OF FAULTS
ACCORDING TO THE REGION OF THE COUNTRY [3]
Región Estados Costo $/kWh
Guayana Amazonas, Bolívar 2,75
Oriente Sucre, Monagas, Anzoategui, Delta Amacuro 1,49
Capital Miranda, Distrito Capital 2,22
Central Aragua, Carabobo, Cojedes, Falcón, Guárico,
Yaracuy 1,54
Fig. 6 Comparison of the hours of outage at year of the different technologies Nor Occidental Lara, Zulia 2,04
in the substation El Tigre 400kV Sur Occidental Apure, Barinas, Portuguesa, Trujillo, Táchira,
Mérida 1,14
Total Nacional 1,97
the load; for this special case, a maximum time of rationing of
2 hours will be used, after which, the indirect cost of fault will
VI. EVALUATION OF THE LIFE CYCLE COST (LCC)
reach the value of 1,49 $/kWh for the substation El Tigre
400kV and 2,22 $/kWh for the substation Santa Teresa 400kV The Life Cycle Cost (LCC), is a methodology that evaluates
for their geographical influence areas. According to the the total cost of the substation as a system, through all its life
simulations made, only the El Tigre 400kV substation has utility, brought to present value, which is, obviously, greater to
presently installed lines, through AT1 and AT2, that are able the initial cost, in which the costs of beginning of the
to suply during a situation of energy rationing. So, it is substation are only considered, underestimating others like
possible to be appreciated in Table I. maintenance, outages, lost energy, etc. that in the long run are
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as expensive as the first ones. At the present time, with the

longevity of the substations, the disadvantage of lack of spare
parts appears, low reliability, etc. It is for this that the
companies search for economic and reliable solutions, for the
replacement or the commissioning of new substations. For the
evaluation of the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) the following formula
of present value was used [1,2]:

ª (1 + i ) n − 1º
LCC = CI + [CF + CV ] * « n »
(1)
¬ i * (1 + i ) ¼
In wich:
Fig. 7 Comparison of LCC of the Substation Santa Teresa
taken the direct cost of fault.
LCC = Life Cycle Cost.

CI = Initial Cost. Here are evaluated the costs of

acquisition of land, costs of the High Voltage equipment,
control and protective equipment costs are evaluated, wiring,
civil infrastructure of the substation, metallic structures,
assembly equipment, etc.

CF = Fixed Cost, in this item are evaluated the costs of

maintenance, substation personnel wages, spare parts, and the
work of maintenance personnel.

CV = Variable Costs, they are those costs that are not

predicted, it is to say costs caused by faults and their reflection Fig.8 Comparison of LCC of the Substation EL TIGRE
in the nonserved energy. taken the direct cost of fault.

n = years of expectation of the time of life of the substation,

for this study a life will be taken of 30 years.

i = rate of discount. For this study will take 5% for

comparative effect.

Taking as a reference the cost of investment for the

Conventional solution, being most well known, we obtained
additional to that cost, due to the variables before mentioned,
the following results:

-For the SE Santa Teresa Figure 7, the LCC is: 27.1% for
the conventional solution, 35.55% for the Compact, 75.42%
for the Hybrid, and 264.06% for the GIS, additional to the
initial investment, for a direct cost of fault.
- For the SE El Tigre Figure 8, LCC is: 231.11% for the
Conventional solution, 93.50% for the Compact, 126.19% for
the Hybrid, and 299.39% for the GIS additional to the initial
investment, for a direct cost of fault.
- For the SE El Tigre Figure 9, 1868.58% for the
Conventional, 515.58% for the Compact, 522.22% for the
Hybrid, and 616.68% for the GIS, additional to the initial
investment, for a indirect cost of fault.
Fig. 9 Comparison of LCC of the Substation EL TIGRE
taken the indirect cost of fault.
VII. CONCLUSIONS
The study demonstrated that the compact technology
solutions are a suitable option for replacement or
refurbishment of high Voltage Substations, its high reliability
takes it to compete with more expensive technologies like GIS,
also not only the size of the Compact technologies places it
over the Conventional technologies, but also its lower
maintenance and the smaller costs that these carry throughout
their utility life.
For SANTA TERESA it was demonstrated that a
replacement by these new technologies, would not contribute a
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significant reduction in its Life Cycle Cost, this is in capacity

to always give energy, and that its operation exceeds its
requirements, this never presents, for the effects of the present
study, rationing, reason why it does not evaluate his indirect
costs by faults and the direct ones are very low. A change of
schemes in the substation for a simpler scheme could be
offered as it simplifies and to reduce therefore the initial costs,
obtaining once more an economic solution and of greater
reliability, than a conventional one maintaining the present
scheme.

For El TIGRE the replacement by technologies of compact

type or Hybrids would be more than justified by its high
requirements of reliability, equally a change in its scheme to
one economic using technologies of compact or hybrid type,
also would be a suitable solution.

They are possible to be modeled to other scenes, using the

same program and sensitizing with the costs of maintenance
and repair that C.V.G EDELCA considers advisable.

VIII. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I wanted to thank the contribution for this work to the
engineers A. De Arizón, R.Naranjo, K. Koutlev, R. González
without whose collaboration this work would not have been
possible.

IX. REFERENCES
[1] H.Rickel, K. Koutlev, R. Reymers, Tang, L. Willis, "Substation
Reliability and Economic Analysis – Tractebel Choctaw Project," IEEE
[2] R. Bordon, "Tutorial on Compaction of Substation" CIGRÉ Southern
Africa Regional Conference.
[3] Manuel Acosta, Cálculo del Costo de Falla para el sistema eléctrico
Venezolano, C.V.G. Electrificación del Caroní (EDELCA)

X. BIOGRAPHIES
Giancarlo Villa R. Was born in Caracas, Venezuela
the 15 of October of 1976. He graduated in
Electrical Engineer in the Universidad Metropolitana
(UNIMET), in 2004, making studies of
specialization in equipment of High Voltage in the
Corporative University of ABB in Ludvika, Sweden
that same year, where he worked in the Division of
Power Systems in the area of sales of High Voltage
equipment for Latin American. At the present he
works in sales in the Department of Substations, in
the division of Power Technologies of ABB in Caracas, Venezuela.