IEEE-NCS, PES/IAS Chapter Presents
Monday, September 30th, 2019, 6:00 to 8:30pm, doors open at 5:30pm

IEEE 80 GROUNDING SYSTEM ANALYSIS FOR SOLAR FARM IN KINGSTON

This presentation will have a brief introduction to the basics of substation grounding as per IEEE 80 and will describe the analytical methodology, performance results and the grounding system analysis for the Kingston Solar Farm in Ontario. The Kingston Solar Farm saves approximately 14,700 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, an amount equivalent to planting 3,340 acres of trees and is the largest solar farm ever built in Canada.

The Kingston Solar Farm which is owned by Kingston Solar LP has a generating capacity of 100 MW AC /140 MW DC and consists of six (6) distributed zones interconnected by a 34.5kV distribution network. The solar farm is connected to the Hydro One 230 kV transmission system.

The most advanced grounding software CDEGS was used for the grounding system performance analysis to simulate a ground fault on the 230kV system to induce a GPR at the interconnecting substation and a transfer potential throughout the solar farm.

This presentation will describe the limitations in terms of soil model variations and the maximum number of conductors / elements that were included in the simulation model. As a result, special analysis methods had to be used for this large solar farm which included a simplified overall model and further detailed analysis of the different zones using GPR energization.

This presentation will also describe the final design of the grounding system including a combination of mitigation methods such as neutral grounding resistors, crushed stone layers, gradient control conductors, insulated fence sections as well as different interconnection methods between the zones.

Speaker: Pierre Bérubé, P.Eng. of CIMA+

Biography:

Mr. Pierre Berube is the Western Canada Operation Manager of the Transmission & Distribution division at CIMA+ Canada Inc. He is an electrical engineer with more than 25 years of experience in engineering, management and project execution for industrial and utility power systems. Pierre is a professional engineer registered  in the provinces of Alberta (APEGA), Saskatchewan (APEGS) Manitoba (APEGM), Quebec (OIQ), and British Columbia (APEGBC). Before joining CIMA+ in 2010, he was the Engineering Manager for the Power and Industrial Systems Division at ABB in Montreal. Over his career, he has designed and gained extensive experience in the commissioning, design and  installation of power distribution networks for the utilities and industrial across Canada Peru and Chile. He has been involved the design of High Voltage Substations, FACTS and HVDC installations. Currently, Pierre is the expert for CIMA+ in the analysis and design of grounding systems for various types of electrical installations substations, industrial plants, wind and solar farms all over Canada. He has completed more than 100 grounding studies during the last 15  years.

Location:  9107 116 Street, Building: D-ICE, Room 8-207, Edmonton, AB  T6G 2V6

Registration: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/204072