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A new EMC code of practice for the electricity supply industry

by Bart Druif, EM Consulting The field of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) remains something of a "black art" for many in the electricity supply industry. A new code of practice is under development to help address this burning issue. Here, in the fist of a series of articles, we look at the background to the development of the NRS 083 series and briefly discuss the recently published NRS 083 part 1.

Utility substations are, and always have been, a pretty hostile environment from an electromagnetic interference point of view. High levels of 50 Hz magnetic and electric fields are generally present and during typical switching activity, a lot of energy is generated in higher frequency bands. Lightning is particularly attracted to the high, earthed structures necessary for electricity supplies, and strikes way beyond the substation boundary can introduce large energy surges into the substation, carried there by the power lines that it serves. Some of this unwanted energy could find its way into sensitive secondary control and protection equipment. In the bygone era of electromechanical relays this was of limited concern, however, the subsequent generations of semi-conductor equipment have witnessed a reduction by many orders of magnitude of not only the energy level required to switch between logic states, but also the energy required to destroy a component. Inherently, these new technologies are therefore much more susceptible to electromagnetic interference than their predecessors, and their use would not be possible without diligent consideration of the electromagnetic interference that can be present in this environment. Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) has thus become a crucial aspect of the specifications of electronic equipment used in utility substations. In the latter half of the last century, and particularly during the eighties and nineties, EMC in the substation environment was an area of intense research world-wide, at power utilities, equipment manufacturers, universities and research organizations associated with the electricity supply industry. Many hundreds of research papers were published. Along with this, standard setting organizations such as the IEC, CISPR and the IEEE published a multitude of standards and guidelines that address this issue at every level, including aspects such as equipment immunity,

screening, surge protection, electrostatic discharge, earthing layout and cable routing to name a few. As technology developed, standards were updated and new standards were added every year, a trend that continues to this day and is set to continue in future. Indeed, for many engineers involved with the design of substation secondary systems it becomes a near impossible task to take cognisance of all the information available, or to stay abreast with developments in this field. With the transmission and distribution networks in South Africa poised for major expansion, and the greater part of the existing substations due for refurbishment and upgrading, the Electricity Suppliers Liaison Committee (ESLC) recognized the need for a guidance document on EMC in substations to ensure that the latest standards and knowledge can be integrated into these new designs. In 2005 a working group (WG) was formed drawing upon the expertise in this area from across the local supply industry, universities and consultancies. This WG was tasked with preparing a code of practice to be published as NRS 083. In addition an interest group (IG) was formed, consisting of members who could not actively participate in the WG meetings yet still had valuable contributions to offer, by means of commenting on the WG draft documents. Where the WG was in agreement with the IG comments, these were taken into account.

Document structure To focus on the requirements of the different disciplines involved in the design of substations and their systems, the WG decided that the document should consist of four parts; Part 1: Equipment standards, to address the question of how to select and specify EMC standards and test levels for new secondary equipment, Part 2: Substation design and equipment installation practices, to provide relevant advice on substation earthing system design, as well as equipment earthing, bonding, trenching, cabling and surge protection, Part 3: Secondary equipment installations: Illustrations, as a simple guidance for installers and contractors involved with the installation and maintenance of substation secondary equipment, Part 4: Induction by power lines into other utility services, as guidance to power line, telephone line and pipeline planners on how to predict and account for induction effects on parallel routes. Part 1 was recently published. Parts 2 and 3 are currently in advanced draft stage and work on Part 4 commenced in early 2008. Achieving EMC in the substation secondary environment The basic principle involved to achieve electromagnetic compatibility for any type of electronic equipment is relatively

Fig. 1: Relative EMC levels.

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straightforward. The susceptible equipment must be capable of withstanding, with some safety margin, the maximum disturbance or interference level expected in a given environment. This level is termed the electromagnetic compatibility level, and is specific to the type of disturbance under consideration. At the same time, the equipment should itself not produce interference that could cause adjacent or connected equipment to malfunction. It is thus generally necessary to specify both the immunity level and the emission limit of the equipment in a given environment (see Fig. 1). Different types of interference that may be encountered are represented by standardised test setups and waveforms, which are reproduced in a laboratory environment during equipment compliance certification. Detailed descriptions of such tests can be found in the IEC 61000-4 immunity test standard series. Included in this 35-part series are conducted interference tests, e.g. from switching transients (IEC 61000-4-4), lightning impulses (IEC 61000-4-5), induced 50 Hz voltages (IEC 61000-4-16), supply interruptions (IEC 61000-4-11 and IEC 61000-4-29), radiated interference tests, e.g. from RF fields (IEC 61000-4-3) and magnetic fields (IEC 61000-4-8), as well as electrostatic discharge tests (IEC 61000-4-2). Whist many of these tests are also intended for other environments, certain tests were specifically designed with utility substations in mind, such as the damped oscillatory wave test (IEC 61000-4-12). This test simulates the conducted interferences during HV disconnector and circuit breaker switching activity. Similarly, equipment emission test setups are described in other IEC standards, for example IEC 61000-3-2 for supply harmonics and IEC 61000-6-4 for radiated emission in the frequency band 30 MHz - 1000 MHz. Both immunity and emission test are defined in terms of the equipment ports they are expected to impinge upon or emanate from, as shown in Fig. 2. Whilst these same principles of achieving EMC are also applicable in substations, there are certain unique challenges. Critical control and protection equipment has to remain operational during large disturbances, which in other environments is usually not the case. For instance, during an earth fault in or near the substation, significant temporary potential differences can appear across the earthing system. This can introduce interfering voltages and currents into the protection circuits at the very time that this equipment is most urgently required to perform its function. It is hence not sufficient to employ simple surge protection devices that would short-circuit under these circumstances. Galvanic isolation barriers or other sophisticated filtering and surge protection schemes are often necessary. It is also essential to ensure that disturbance levels reaching the equipment are as low as possible in the first place. The compatibility level shown in figure 1 is not a pre-determined constant-rather it is a variable that is highly dependent on the particular substation layout and the earthing and screening practices used in the switchyard and equipment rooms. A significant reduction in the compatibility level is generally achievable by designing and engineering substations and secondary systems with EMC concepts in mind. Mitigation of interference Each case of interference has three elements in common, namely a source, a coupling path and a susceptible piece of equipment. A number of coupling paths may be present between the source and the equipment, which are then considered separately (see Fig. 3). Mitigation can in principle be applied to any of these three elements. Firstly, reducing interference at the source is sometimes possible by diverting some the energy away from the coupling path. An example energize - Jan/Feb 2008 - Page 47

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is the experimental use of damping resistors on HV disconnectors, which local studies have confirmed can reduce interference currents by nearly 90% [1]. However, this technology is still unavailable for mainstream application. Likewise in most other cases, there is not much that can presently be done to reduce the interference level at the source. The second option involves reducing the disturbance by restricting the coupling path, and this approach can be both highly effective and is also very realistic in terms of current design methods. It involves the use of screening, earthing and filtering techniques to prevent interference from reaching equipment ports-techniques that are in fact already used in existing designs, to a larger or smaller degree. This approach does however require a good understanding of the different coupling mechanisms at work and forms the primary theme of NRS 083 part 2, which will be examined in a future article. The third option is to screen or protect the equipment directly to such an extent that most of the incident disturbing energy is reflected (or deflected to earth) at the ports. In the extreme this would imply a installing the equipment in a Faraday Cage-like 'EMC cabinet', complete with filters, isolation barriers and/or surge protectors on all the input cables. In terms of installation and equipment cost there is a see-saw effect between the second and third option (Fig. 4). For instance, a welldesigned earthing layout and the use of high quality screened instrumentation and control cable with metallic cable trays is more expensive, but significantly reduces the electromagnetic compatibility level in the equipment rooms and hence decreases the immunity requirements of the equipment. On the other hand, a poorly designed layout with less than optimal cabling will cost less, but may require expensive EMC hardening of the equipment and, as experience shows, costly troubleshooting and downtime when the equipment fails. The most prudent engineering approach is to clearly to find a balance between these two options, so that the implications for the substation earthing and cabling cost are kept within reason but the techniques are still effective enough to ensure that specifically hardened equipment or tailor-made solutions are not required. Current practice in the electricity supply industry (ESI) In preparation for the drafting of NRS083, a questionnaire was sent to key personnel who were involved with EMC matters within their respective departments, many of whom also being NRS083 WG or IG members. They provided up-to-date feedback regarding the following: EMC standards, specifications and test levels in use Awareness of EMC in their department EMC - related problems experienced and/or resolved Investigations or studies performed Areas of concern From this feedback, a picture could be formed of the current practice within the ESI. This was considered important since any recommendations made in NRS083 would have to use the current practice as the point of departure. It emerged that the highest awareness levels were present amongst those departments with the most critical secondary equipment, such as the protection, power line carrier and telecommunication departments. Many of their equipment specifications are based on energize - Jan/Feb 2008 - Page 48
Fig. 2: Equipment ports.

Eskom transmission's protection equipment standard ESKASAA04, previously NWS1819, which was in turn based on an old UK CEGB standard. However, almost none of the respondents were using the IEC's latest available generic EMC standards. Nonetheless, apart from certain omitted immunity tests, the specifications in use were mostly of a high standard, with some immunity test levels exceeding those currently recommended by the IEC. There was a lower awareness of EMC aspects amongst personnel involved in substation earthing system design, since their primary concern is one of safety. Substation earth mats are designed according to current IEEE standards, but no specific standards or guides are in use regarding EMC in switchyard cabling. Furthermore, it was established that an EMC-unfriendly earthing topology is used in many existing control rooms which is regarded as obsolete in the more recent international standards. These issues are hence dealt with in considerable detail in NRS 083-2. Awareness amongst major secondary equipment suppliers and contractors was generally good, however without there being

Fig 3: Examples of interference paths.

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resulted in erroneous breaker status indication in some instances, and the erroneous tripping of a 132 kV transformer in another, the latter affecting the supply in the Nelspruit area. Furthermore, cases were reported of handheld radios and cellular phones used in control rooms causing false tripping of protection relays, changes of the charging condition of battery chargers and altered temperature settings of air conditioners in control rooms. In terms of non-critical failures reported, by far the largest in volume was the failure of substation telephone lines during earth faults and lightning, as a result of inadequate surge protection circuitry. Concerns expressed by respondents mainly focused on the inferior wiring and cabling practices sometimes encountered in control rooms, and the introduction of nonhardened telecommunications equipment into noisy relay rooms. The proliferation of IT and broadband equipment in substation rooms, generally without a suitable EMC specification, is another area of concern. One example is the frequent use of offthe-shelf modems, which were prone to failure and simply cannot be expected to operate reliably in this environment. Whilst the equipment referred to is used in noncritical applications such as data acquisition and monitoring, it is still feared that with

Fig. 4: Trade-off between substation earthing layout and equipment cost.

a strong overall EMC strategy in place in Eskom for example; this is still regarded as a problem area since separate contractors may use conflicting methods. Amongst minor contractors and maintenance personnel, the awareness level was low, leading in many cases to incorrect wiring and cabling practices. To address this particular issue it was decided to prepare a separate part of NRS 083, namely part 3, containing simple illustrations clearly showing the preferred cabling, wiring and earthing methods. EMC problems and concerns in the ESI A number of recent EMC related problem experiences were reported on. The two most significant in terms of impact were recounted by Eskom's telecommunication staff. Firstly, the frequent failure of certain multiplexers at many of their transmission substations during breaker and disconnector operation or line faults. These multiplexers form a crucial part of the microwave link between substations and the National Control Centre, and their failure compromised the control and protection systems. Secondly, the failure during line faults of PDH (Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy) radios, which are used as a back-up protection channel. During one incident involving a transmission line fault initiated by a veld fire, the primary power line carrier channel failed and the inability of this back-up channel to respond caused the shutdown of a major part of the transmission network, resulting in a widespread outage in the Western Cape region [2]. In both these cases, investigations followed and specific remedial solutions were implemented at the affected substations [3]. Other cases reported include poor cabling practice in distribution substations that

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the increased reliance on these systems seen against the general unawareness of IT personnel of the EMC environment in substations, problems may develop in future. Furthermore, the introduction of wireless equipment (e.g. UHF modems, WaveLAN's, IEEE 802.11b or IEEE 802.11g wireless modems) into substation rooms is another area of concern as this is often done without proper consideration of radiated fields and possible deleterious effects on other systems. To summarise, the feedback showed that EMC problems do exist in the ESI and even though these have not reached crisis proportions, they are serious enough to warrant attention, further supporting the need for an up-to-date guidance document such as NRS 083. The ESI vs. European utilities During 1998, an extensive tour of European utilities, manufacturers and EMC test houses was undertaken by an Eskom lead team, with the objective of establishing their experience with regard to EMC standards and practices, particularly in the light of the EMC Directive that went into effect in the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1996. This study concluded that most of the utilities had, to a greater extent, solved their EMC problems at the time by educating their staff in good design and specification practices, followed by correct installation procedures [4]. The Italian utility ENEL, for example, had already started as early as 1983 to systematically apply an "ENEL standard design" at their new and existing HV substations, which involved much improved earthing, bonding and installation practices which resulted in considerably reduced transient disturbance levels. All of the utilities visited during the study based their secondary equipment specifications on Unipede Norm 13, which has since been re-published without much change as the generic IEC immunity standard for power station and substation environments, IEC 61000-6-5. Considering that no similar practices have since been established locally and that the Unipede / IEC standard is still not widely adopted, it becomes clear that the South African ESI is lagging well behind Europe in this area. Part of the problem, as already identified in the 1998 study, has been that the basic EMC knowledge was not available on a broad level in the industry, mainly due to a lack of suitable courses, training and informative literature. Fortunately, there are now a number of firstrate EMC courses available to engineering staff involved with the design of substation systems, and the topic is now also actively addressed at a number of tertiary educational institutions. Furthermore, it is anticipated that the NRS 083 series will help fill some of the many gaps that still exist. Overview of NRS 083-1: equipment standards The scope of NRS 083-1 covers equipment used in substations ranging from 6,6 kV to 765 kV, air or gas insulated, as well as equipment installed on or near power lines (pole mounted RTU's, for example). Power stations and dedicated radio stations outside substation boundaries are presently excluded, but these may still be included in future editions, if warranted by demand. Whilst the focus is on secondary electronic equipment, primary HV equipment is also considered in as far as radio frequency emissions are concerned. All secondary electronic equipment used in substations is covered, such as equipment related to the following functions: Protection and teleprotection Control Measurement Telecommunication Data acquisition Supervisory systems Metering IT systems DC supplies NRS 083-1 is not a standard in itself, but rather a guide to the selection of acceptable standards and immunity test levels for different types of equipment. The need for guidance becomes clear when one realises how large the pool of international EMC-related standards is. In preparation for NRS 083-1, a total of some 380 different standards, either directly or indirectly related to substation equipment, were studied in terms of their scope and applicability. Of these, 142 are reviewed in the first edition of NRS 083-1. Although these are mainly European standards, suitable US standards were also analysed, since equipment sourced from the North American market will often be certified using ANSI or IEEE standards.
Fig. 5: Classification of locations and signal connections according to IEC 61000-6-5.

NRS 083-1 initially places into context a number of important and relevant issues:

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The roles of different EMC standard writing and standard setting organizations, such as the IEC, CENELEC, CISPR, CIGRE, ETSI, ITU, IEEE and ANSI, The European EMC Directives and performance guarantees (if any) provided by CE marking of equipment, The adoption of international standards by the SABS / StanSA as national standards, the regulatory framework in South Africa following ICASA's changes to EMC compliance certification requirements in 2004. The structure of IEC standards is next examined and relevant basic and generic standards are discussed, including the ubiquitous emission standard CISPR 22 (SANS 222). For equipment immunity, the most relevant generic standard is IEC 61000-6-5, developed from Unipede Norm 13. This standard employs a unique method of classification of locations and signal connections, as indicated in Fig. 5. With this classification method, it is possible to prevent the specification of immunity levels higher than required, thereby avoiding unnecessary cost. For example, equipment in a "H" location with only local connections does not require the same immunity levels as equipment in the same location connected to field or telecommunications cabling. IEC 61000-6-5 further addresses equipment types, in terms of functional importance versus the degradation in performance allowed during immunity testing. Certain less critical equipment, for instance, is allowed to stop functioning completely during a disturbance provided it resets itself afterwards without any damage or loss of data. A comparison between Eskoms ESKASA004 and IEC 61000-6-5 is made in NRS 083-1, indicating those areas where the current Eskom standard may be too strict, and highlights the additional immunity tests that might form part of the future revisions of this important standard. Relevant IEC product and product family standards are also addressed in NRS 083-1. These standards are applicable to specific product types, for example IEC 60870-2-1 for telecontrol equipment, IEC 60255-26 for electrical relays and protection equipment and IEC 61850-3 for communication systems associated with IED's. Further, the relevant ETSI, ITU-T, CISPR and IEEE standards are listed and their possible application in the substation environment is discussed. To simplify the process of preparing equipment specifications, NRS-083-1 provides easy to use flowcharts and an EMC specification template which will ensure that all important issues are taken into consideration. In summar y, NRS 083-1 provides the user with all the information necessary to prepare secondary substation equipment EMC specifications, and also reviews the radio influence voltage (RIV) emission limits applicable to the primary switchyard equipment. NRS 083-1 will be updated periodically in future to reflect the development of new or upgraded standards. In a following article, to coincide with the publication of NRS 083 parts 2 and 3, we will examine some substation design and equipment installation methods concomitant with good engineering practice from an EMC perspective. Acknowledgements The author would like to thank all the WG and IG members who volunteered to participate in the NRS083-1 drafting process for their valuable discussions and contributions. Mr Paul Johnson is thanked for his leadership during this project. References
[1] Pretorius PH, Britten AC, Reynders JP Van Coller , JM, "Control of interfering common mode currents generated during disconnector operations in a HV substation", EMC Europe 2000, Brugge, Belgium, Sep 2000. [2] Investigation into the electricity outages in the Western Cape for the period November 2005 to March 2006", NERSA report, Aug 2006. [3] Smith DC, Nasaroo S, "Electromagnetic compatibility problems with telecommunications equipment in the power utility environment", SAIEE/CIGRE joint colloquium, Midrand, 1999. [4] Hyde JC, Van Coller JM, "A study of EMC issues within European utilities and the European environment", SAIEE/CIGRE joint colloquium, Midrand, 1999.

For a copy of NRS 083-1, contact Standards Sales at SABS, Tel: 012 428 6883, or visit the web store at www.standardssa.co.za Members or organisations that comprise the ESLC can access a copy under password control at www.nrs.eskom.co.za Contact B Druif, EM Consulting, Tel 021 853-1437, bdruif@global.co.za v

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