Effect of Different Arresters on Switching Overvoltages in UHV Transmission Lines

The amplitude of switching overvoltages is a key factor for designing the insulation of UHV equipment. The effect of different arresters needs to be studied, since installing arresters is an important way to suppress switching overvoltages in UHV transmission lines. Switching overvoltages on the 1000 kV Huainan-Huxi double-circuit transmission line were simulated for different operating modes and different arrester designs using the electromagnetic transient program PSCAD/EMTDC. With parallel resistors, the switching overvoltages are less than 1.70 p.u. (1.0 p.u. = 1100×√2/√3 kV). If the arrestors are better, the switching overvoltages can be reduced even lower to 1.55 p.u. Without parallel resistors, the arresters can reduce three-phase energizing overvoltages to 1.70 p.u, while the single-phase reclosing overvoltages still exceed the limit. The results show that the parallel resistors cannot be eliminated if the arresters are only installed at each end of the transmission line. Also, better quality arresters significantly lower the switching overvoltages.