INTRODUCTION TO POWER SUBSTATIONS:

A substation is a part of an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system.

Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or perform any of several other
important functions. Between the generating station and consumer, electric power may flow
through several substations at different voltage levels. A substation may include transformers to
change voltage levels between high transmission voltages and lower distribution voltages, or at
the interconnection of two different transmission voltages.
Substations may be owned and operated by an electrical utility, or may be owned by a large
industrial or commercial customer. Generally substations are unattended, relying on SCADA for
remote supervision and control.
The word substation comes from the days before the distribution system became a grid. As
central generation stations became larger, smaller generating plants were converted to
distribution stations, receiving their energy supply from a larger plant instead of using their own
generators. The first substations were connected to only one power station, where the
generators were housed, and were subsidiaries of that power station.

TYPES
Substations may be described by their voltage class, their applications within the power system,
the method used to insulate most connections, and by the style and materials of the structures
used. These categories are not disjointed; for example, to solve a particular problem, a
transmission substation may include significant distribution functions.

A 35/10 kV substation in Čakovec, Croatia

substation in Russia

Transmission substation[edit]
A transmission substation connects two or more transmission lines.[2] The simplest case is where
all transmission lines have the same voltage. In such cases, substation contains high-voltage
switches that allow lines to be connected or isolated for fault clearance or maintenance. A
transmission station may have transformers to convert between two transmission
voltages, voltage control/power factor correction devices such as capacitors, reactors or static
VAR compensators and equipment such as phase shifting transformers to control power flow
between two adjacent power systems.
minimal HV station in Germany

Transmission substations can range from simple to complex. A small "switching station" may be
little more than a bus plus some circuit breakers. The largest transmission substations can cover
a large area (several acres/hectares) with multiple voltage levels, many circuit breakers, and a
large amount of protection and control equipment (voltage and current
transformers, relays and SCADA systems). Modern substations may be implemented using
international standards such as IEC Standard 61850.

Distribution substation[edit]

A distribution substation in Scarborough, Ontario disguised as a house, complete with a driveway, front
walk and a mown lawn and shrubs in the front yard. A warning notice can be clearly seen on the "front
door". Disguises for substations are common in many cities.[3]

A distribution substation transfers power from the transmission system to the distribution system
of an area.[2] It is uneconomical to directly connect electricity consumers to the main transmission
network, unless they use large amounts of power, so the distribution station reduces voltage to a
level suitable for local distribution.
The input for a distribution substation is typically at least two transmission or sub-transmission
lines. Input voltage may be, for example, 115 kV, or whatever is common in the area. The output
is a number of feeders. Distribution voltages are typically medium voltage, between 2.4 kV and
33 kV, depending on the size of the area served and the practices of the local utility. The feeders
run along streets overhead (or underground, in some cases) and power the distribution
transformers at or near the customer premises.
In addition to transforming voltage, distribution substations also isolate faults in either the
transmission or distribution systems. Distribution substations are typically the points of voltage
regulation, although on long distribution circuits (of several miles/kilometers), voltage regulation
equipment may also be installed along the line.
The downtown areas of large cities feature complicated distribution substations, with high-voltage
switching, and switching and backup systems on the low-voltage side. More typical distribution
substations have a switch, one transformer, and minimal facilities on the low-voltage side.
Collector substation[edit]
In distributed generation projects such as a wind farm, a collector substation may be required. It
resembles a distribution substation although power flow is in the opposite direction, from
many wind turbines up into the transmission grid. Usually for economy of construction the
collector system operates around 35 kV, and the collector substation steps up voltage to a
transmission voltage for the grid. The collector substation can also provide power factor
correction if it is needed, metering, and control of the wind farm. In some special cases a
collector substation can also contain an HVDC converter station.
Collector substations also exist where multiple thermal or hydroelectric power plants of
comparable output power are in proximity. Examples for such substations are Brauweiler in
Germany and Hradec in the Czech Republic, where power is collected from nearby lignite-fired
power plants. If no transformers are required for increasing the voltage to transmission level, the
substation is a switching station.

Converter substations[edit]
Converter substations may be associated with HVDC converter plants, traction current, or
interconnected non-synchronous networks. These stations contain power electronic devices to
change the frequency of current, or else convert from alternating to direct current or the reverse.
Formerly rotary converters changed frequency to interconnect two systems; nowadays such
substations are rare.

Switching station[edit]
A switching station is a substation without transformers and operating only at a single voltage
level. Switching stations are sometimes used as collector and distribution stations. Sometimes
they are used for switching the current to back-up lines or for parallelizing circuits in case of
failure. An example is the switching stations for the HVDC Inga–Shabatransmission line.
A switching station may also be known as a switchyard, and these are commonly located directly
adjacent to or nearby a power station. In this case the generators from the power station supply
their power into the yard onto the Generator Bus on one side of the yard, and the transmission
lines take their power from a Feeder Bus on the other side of the yard.
An important function performed by a substation is switching, which is the connecting and
disconnecting of transmission lines or other components to and from the system. Switching
events may be planned or unplanned. A transmission line or other component may need to be
de-energized for maintenance or for new construction, for example, adding or removing a
transmission line or a transformer. To maintain reliability of supply, companies aim at keeping the
system up and running while performing maintenance. All work to be performed, from routine
testing to adding entirely new substations, should be done while keeping the whole system
running.

Switchyard at Grand Coulee Dam, United States, 2006

 

Former high-voltage substation in Stuttgart, Germany, now 110kV switching station. The 220kV level
is eliminated for grid simplification.
Unplanned switching events are caused by a fault in a transmission line or any other component,
for example:

 a line is hit by lightning and develops an arc,

 a tower is blown down by high wind.
The function of the switching station is to isolate the faulty portion of the system in the shortest
possible time. De-energizing faulty equipment protects it from further damage, and isolating a
fault helps keep the rest of the electrical grid operating with stability.[4]

Railways[edit]
Main article: Traction substation
Electrified railways also use substations, often distribution substations. In some cases a
conversion of the current type takes place, commonly with rectifiers for direct current (DC) trains,
or rotary converters for trains using alternating current (AC) at frequencies other than that of the
public grid. Sometimes they are also transmission substations or collector substations if the
railway network also operates its own grid and generators to supply the other stations.

Mobile substation[edit]
A mobile substation is a substation on wheels, containing a transformer, breakers and buswork
mounted on a self-contained semi-trailer, meant to be pulled by a truck. They are designed to be
compact for travel on public roads, and are used for temporary backup in times of natural
disaster or war. Mobile substations are usually rated much lower than permanent installations,
and may be built in several units to meet road travel limitations.[5]

How a Substation Works

Hydro-Québec's research institute in Varennes is home to the company's

largest transformer. It weighs 507 tonnes and holds 212,000 litres of
mineral oil, an insulating material.
Substations have many functions for controlling power flows. For example, they play a key role in
dividing long lines into smaller sections. This helps to minimize any disruption to the continuity of
service when a section is not functional, during a fault or maintenance period.

The various components found in a substation include: instruments for measuring current and
voltage (voltage transformer ,
current transformer and power transformer ); protective equipment such as circuit breakers
, for interrupting a line’s current, or surge arresters , which protect transformers from a voltage
spike caused by lightning; control devices, such as disconnect switches and busbars , which
are used to switch energy from one line to another almost instantaneously (when sections are out-
of-service, for example). Other instruments, such as reactors, capacitors and compensators, are
also used to control the voltage in substations.

Most of the substations are automated and remotely controlled; only the most important ones
have technical personnel permanently on-site. Maintenance of the other substations is performed
by mobile teams.

Alternative content

Electrical Transmission Tower Types and Design

Transmission TowerTower ErectionTransmission Tower FoundationTowers in Different Soils

The main supporting unit of overhead transmission line is transmission tower.

Transmission towers have to carry the heavy transmission conductor at a
sufficient safe height from ground. In addition to that all towers have to
sustain all kinds of natural calamities. So transmission tower designing is an
important engineering job where all three basic engineering concepts, civil,
mechanical and electrical engineering concepts are equally applicable.A
power transmission tower consists of the following parts,
1. Peak of transmission tower
2. Cross arm of transmission tower
3. Boom of transmission tower
4. Cage of transmission tower
5. Transmission Tower Body
6. Leg of transmission tower
7. Stub/Anchor Bolt and Base plate assembly of transmission tower.
The main parts among these are shown in the pictures.
Peak of Transmission Tower
The portion above the top cross arm is called peak of transmission tower.
Generally earth shield wire connected to the tip of this peak.
Cross Arm of Transmission Tower
Cross arms of transmission tower hold the transmission conductor. The
dimension of cross arm depends on the level of transmission voltage,
configuration and minimum forming angle for stress distribution.
Cage of Transmission Tower
The portion between tower body and peak is known as cage of transmission
tower. This portion of the tower holds the cross arms.
Transmission Tower Body
The portion from bottom cross arms up to the ground level is called
transmission tower body. This portion of the tower plays a vital role for
maintaining required ground clearance of the bottom conductor of the
transmission line.
Design of Transmission Tower
During design of transmission tower the following points to be considered in
mind,

 The minimum ground clearance of the lowest conductor point above the
ground level.
 The length of the insulator string.
 The minimum clearance to be maintained between conductors and
between conductor and tower.
 The location of ground wire with respect to outer most conductors.
 The mid span clearance required from considerations of the dynamic
behavior of conductor and lightening protection of the line.
To determine the actual transmission tower height by considering the above
points, we have divided the total height of tower in four parts,
1. Minimum permissible ground clearance (H1)
2. Maximum sag of the conductor (H2)
3. Vertical spacing between top and bottom conductors (H3)
4. Vertical clearance between ground wire and top conductor (H4).
Types of Transmission Tower
According to different considerations, there are different types of
transmission towers. The transmission line goes as per available corridors.
Due to unavailability of shortest distance straight corridor transmission line
has to deviate from its straight way when obstruction comes. In total length
of a long transmission line there may be several deviation points. According to
the angle of deviation there are four types of transmission tower-
1. A – type tower – angle of deviation 0o to 2o.
2. B – type tower – angle of deviation 2o to 15o.
3. C – type tower – angle of deviation 15o to 30o.
4. D – type tower – angle of deviation 30o to 60o.
As per the force applied by the conductor on the cross arms, the transmission
towers can be categorized in another way-

1. Tangent suspension tower and it is generally A - type tower.

2. Angle tower or tension tower or sometime it is called section tower. All B,
C and D types of transmission towers come under this category.
Apart from the above customized type of tower, the tower is designed to meet

special usages listed below, These are

called special type tower
1. River crossing tower
2. Railway/ Highway crossing tower
3. Transposition tower
Based on numbers of circuits carried by a transmission tower, it can be
classisfied as-
1. Single circuit tower
2. Double circuit tower
3. Multi circuit tower.