Investigation on the suitability of PSCAD/EMTDC models to study energisation transients of 132kV underground cables

Behaviour of energisation transients of high voltage (HV) underground cable system can be established through carefully crafted simulation studies. This information is useful for design engineers to ensure that protection and insulation co-ordination are able to meet design criteria. This paper presents an assessment of the validity and applicability of existing cable models in PSCAD/EMTDC to study energisation transients of HV cable systems. The models considered are the distributed parameter travelling wave models (FD-Phase and FD-Mode models). Their performance is analysed through comparison of simulated results with measured current transient behaviour during the energisation of a 132 kV, 5.6 km underground cable system. The results obtained from FD-Phase model demonstrate acceptable agreement with experimental data, whereas the simulation results of FD-Mode model predicted slightly lower transient peak magnitudes. Both models give reasonable settling time of the corresponding transient envelope.