PREVENTING AND MINIMIZING ARC FLASH RISK IN POWER SYSTEM NETWORK

Abstract

Arc flash events have resulted in several accidents due to faults in electrical equipment that lead to a significant release of energy. This event is a hazard and threat to the Power System Security and due to the large energy release, plasma is generated, as pressure increases since it causes physical damage to equipment while life of system operators within the vicinity of its occurrence are at risk. Although arc flash is one of the electrical safety programs that have been in existence, arc flash hazard was not adequately addressed until recently. However, the Electric Arc phenomenon is relatively new in the Nigerian power industry, there are certain aspect that are yet to be treated by the available literature, hence it is the duty of this work to establish model for addressing the observed lapses. The design is adequately prepared for the power system security analysis using typical scenarios in industrial facilities that are prone to yield high incident energy levels. In line with the foregoing, the developed methodology is validated using a segment of the Nigerias power industry as case study.