Electrical Safety Analysis in the Presence of Resonant Grounding Neutral

Abstract

The resonant grounding is one of the possible methods of the system neutral grounding for the medium voltage distribution. IEEE standards do define this grounding configuration, but important advantages and drawbacks of the resonant grounding might not be fully known, due to its rather uncommon application in North America. On the other hand, resonant grounding in Europe is imposed by the increased requirements for power quality, especially for medium-voltage (MV) industrial users, imposed to electric utilities by regulatory authorities, with the purpose to protect the interests of users and consumers. Level of the continuity of the service, magnitude and phase of ground-fault currents, magnitude of touch voltages, all depend on how the neutral is connected to ground. In this paper, the authors will discuss electrical safety features of the resonant ground, and analyze issues when a substation, originally operated with different methods of system neutral grounding, is reconfigured with a resonant ground. In particular, a conservative approach for preserving safety during high-voltage (HV)-MV substations’ reconfiguration is herein proposed; the cases of the substation reconfiguration from resonant grounding to isolated-from-ground and vice versa shall be analyzed. Finally, the analysis of the impact of the use of Petersen coil on the global grounding systems will be provided.