Analysis of Sequence Impedances of 345kV Cable Transmission Systems

Power system fault analysis is commonly based on well-known symmetrical component method, which describes power system elements by positive, negative and zero sequence impedance. In case of balanced fault, such as three phase short circuit, transmission line can be represented by positive sequence impedance only. The majority of fault in transmission lines, however, is unbalanced fault, such as line-to-ground faults, so that both positive and zero sequence impedance is required for fault analysis. When unbalanced fault occurs, zero sequence current flows through earth and skywires in overhead transmission systems and through cable sheaths and earth in cable transmission systems. Since zero sequence current distribution between cable sheath and earth is dependent on both sheath bondings and grounding configurations, care must be taken to calculate zero sequence impedance of underground cable transmission lines. In this paper, conventional and EMTP-based sequence impedance calculation methods were described and applied to 345kV cable transmission systems (4 circuit, OF 2000mm2). Calculation results showed that detailed circuit analysis is desirable to avoid possible errors of sequence impedance calculation resulted from various configuration of cable sheath bonding and grounding in underground cable transmission systems.