Arc characteristics and a single-pole auto-reclosure scheme for Alexandria HV transmission system

Arcing faults are the most common faults that occur in the 220 kV transmission line national grid of Egypt, in the vicinity of ‘Alexandria’ city. This part of the network also feeds a large industrial load in the form of steel works, which injects a large amount of harmonics into the network. In this paper, the performance of this 220 kV TL network during arcing faults is studied with the aid of the PSCAD/EMTDC program together with a specially designed arcing fault custom model incorporated in the program. Several arcing faults are simulated, and the effect of harmonics on the fault current and secondary arc duration time is demonstrated. Based upon the simulation results, recommendations regarding single-pole autoreclosing and arc suppression methods are suggested.