TESTS ON THE FIRST 500kV COMPACT
TRANSMISSION LINE IN CHINA
Xuehai Gong Huiren Wang
Jinping Wang Jian Wang
North China Electric Power Research Institute
Beijing 100045, P.R.CHINA
ABSTRACT
The paper deals with the tests on the first
500kV compact transmission line in China.
The transmission line is located in north China
power network. It is from Fangshan substation
to Changping substation nearby Beijing . The
transmission distance of the line is 83 km.In
order to investigate the characteristics of the
transmission line, many tests were performed
on the line before and after its operation. The
electrical parameters including the positive
sequence and zero sequence impedance were
measured before operation. The results are the
same as the designed ones. The electrical field
nearby the transmission line when it is
energized is not higher than the conventional
transmission line. As compared with the
conventional transmission line, the insulation
distance of the compact transmission line is
considerably short; the switching surges of
phase to earth and phase to phase were
investigated carefully during switching
operation. Different operation modes of the
breaker are considered. The phase to earth
overvoltage is less than 1.79p.u. The phase
to phase overvoltage is not greater than 3.45
p.u.
The voltage and current unbalance between
the phases of the transmission line is very
small when it is energized. The audible noise
and radio interference is not higher than
designed one. The transmission line was put
into operation in the end of last year.
KEY WORDS
Compact Transmission Line, Overvoltage,
Switching Surge, Parameters
1. INTRODUCTION
The first 500kV compact transmission line in
China is nearby Beijing from Changping
substation to Fangshan substation with length
0-7803-6338-8/00/$10.00(~)2000IEEE
Zhangkui Zhang
Yichao Yuan
of 83 km. It was put into operation after the
commissioning on 18 Nov. 1999. The
construction of this 500kV compact line is
based on the experience of first 220 kV
compact transmission line which was put into
operation in Sept.1994 and four years research
work.
As compared with the conventional 500kV
transmission line in north China power grid,
its advantage is:
0 The natural transmission power is
increased by 34% attaining 1340MW
without the increase of total conductor
size, which is beneficial for long distance
power transmission.
0 The right of way (ROW) is restricted to
17.9m and the cost per unit natural
transmission power is reduced by 22%.
The main characteristics of this compact line
are as follows:
The conductors of 3 phases are in the
same window of the tower without cross
arms (see fig.l).
The clearance of phase to phase is greatly
reduced from 12.3m of conventional line
to 6.7m of compact line.
The number of ACSR sub-conductors per
phase is increased from four LGJ-400/35
(aluminum areaheel area in mm2) to six
LG 5-240130.
The number of sub-conductors is 6 and
the bundle diameter is 750".
The insulator along the whole line is
composite insulator.
When the span exceeds 800m, an
insulated interphase spacer is installed at
the mid-point of the span to prevent the
flashover due to non-synchronous swing.
order to demonstrate the electric
characteristic of the line, a test line with the
length of 1 km was constructed before the
construction of the line. A lot of tests were
conducted on the test line including switching
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 surge flashover of phase to earth and phase to line is different from conventional line. The
phase. The test results show many specific calculation of relay protection set value must
characteristics, which are different from the be based on the measurement of power
conventional line due to the decrease of frequency parameter. The measurement was
clearance of phase to phase. For example, performed in 7 Nov. 1999. Table 1 is the
switching surge flashover voltage to earth is measured results.
much influenced by the voltage and polarity of
the other phases. As compared with
conventional line, under the same clearance to
earth, the switching surge flashover voltage is
reduced 10%. Type of line Compact line Conventional
line
Positive sequence inductance 0 664 090
(m") L,
Zero sequence inductance 3 33 24
(m") Lo
Positive sequence 0 0207 0 032
capacitance (yF/km) C,
Zero sequence 0 00798 0 00892
capacitance(pFlkm) CO
Positive sequence resistance 0 0207 0 032
(Qkm)R,
Zero sequence resistance 0 143 03
(Qkm)%

In table 1 , the measured result of a

conventional line, which is from Sha Lingzi to
Changping, is also illustrated. The difference
is obvious.

The surge impedance is as follows:

----(F1)
C is the capacitance per unit length
From table 1 , the surge impedance can be
calculated (see table 2).

Fig. 1 The configuration of the tower

Type of line
The lightning surge test is also conducted on
the model tower of compact line. The Compact line 191.5
withstand level of lightning surge due to the 518.7
lightning flashover overvoltage is about
170kA, which is the same as conventional From surge impedance, the natural
line. transmission power can be estimated.

During the commissioning, the power

frequency parameters, the switching surge
overvoltage, the electric field nearby ------(F2)
transmission line, and the radio interference Where, PNis natural transmission power of the
and audible noise are measured. line
U is nominal voltage
2. THE MEASUREMENT OF POWER z is surge impedance
FREQUENCY PARAMETERS From table 2, the positive sequence surge
impedance of compact line is 27% less than
The power frequency parameter of compact

174
conventional line. Hence, the natural
transmission power will be increased more
than 30% by F2.
3. SWITCHING OPERATION TEST ON
COMPACT LINE
From table 1, the positive sequence
capacitance of compact line is larger than
conventional line, so Ferrite effect of compact
line should be more serious than conventional
line. In order to reduce the power frequency
overvoltage of the line, a reactor is installed in
Changping substation. A MOA (metal oxide
arrester) is installed on both sides of the line.
The rated voltage of MOA is 444kV. The
circuit breakers on both sides of the line are
SF6 breakers without closing resistor.
The switching test was performed in 15
Nov. 1999. Four different switching operation
modes are considered. The one-line diagram
of transmission line and related equipment is
shown in fig.2.
Fig.2 One-line diagram of the operation mode
0 Changping substation as power source,
switching no-load transmission line with
breaker 5013, the reactor is out of
operation. The switching operation is
closing, opening and closing-opening (C-
O) cycle by 5 times, single phase
opening-closing-opening (0-CO) cycle 3
0
times.
Changping substation as power source,
switching no-load transmission line with
breaker 5013. The reactor is put into
operation. The switching operation is
closing, opening and closing-opening
cycle by 5 times, single phase opening-
closing-opening cycle 3 times.
Fangshan substation as power source,
switching no-load transmission line with
breaker 5041. The reactor is out of
operation. The switching operation is
closing, opening and closing-opening
cycle 5 times separately, single phase
opening-closing-opening cycle 3 times.
Fangshan substation as power source,
switching no-load transmission line, the
reactor is out of operation.
Fangshan substation as power source,
switching no-load transmission line with
breaker 5041, the reactor is put into
operation. The switching operation is
closing, opening and closing-opening 5
times separately, single phase opening-
closing-opening 3 times.
The test results according to operation modes
mentioned above are shown in table 3 and
table 4.
Table 3. Test result switching in Changping
3tion
U2
1.22
1.21
175
 Table 4. Test results switching in Fangshan the line is energized
:ation
Phase to earth Phase to phase

8 3 I 1.39 I 1.19 I 1.31 12.25 I 1.82 12.40

4 1.27 1.08 1.47 2.00 1.98 1.96
I 5 I 1.33 I 1.35 I 1.23 I 1.98 1 1.82 I 2.03 Fig.4 Overvoltage waveform during CO
operation
2
1.74
I I 1.22 I 1.18 I 1.24 I 1.79 I 1.75 I 1.86
I2 1 1.08 1 1.18 I 1.21 I 1.82 I 1.78 I 1.84

2. IO

8 3 I 1.19 I 1.31 I 1.19 I 1.80 I 1.73 I 1.92 I . . .~ . . . .. . .

4 1.50 1.13 1.20 2.31 1.73 1.87

I 5 I 1.30 I 1.41 I 1.20 I 1.94 I 1.82 I 1.86

Fig.5 Overvoltage waveform during 0-C(

operation

The measured result of overvoltage is nearly

energized. Fig.4 shows the overvoltage during
closing-opening operation. Fig.5 shows the
overvoltage during opening-closing-opening
operation.
identical with the calculation result. The
overvoltage of phase to phase is a little bit
higher than calculation that is 3.3 p.u. The
base value of calculation is 550 J 2/3
=449kV. The base value for measurement is
the steady state value. There is a difference
between them. However, the substations on
both sides of the transmission line are load
substation, the operation voltage will not
exceed the maximum nominal voltage, so the
insulation coordination can meet the
requirement. The energized current of the line
is about 141.5A when the voltage is 518kV.
The unbalance between phase voltage is less
than 0.7% and the current unbalance is less
than 1%.

There is no conductor transposition along this

Fig.3 Waveform of voltage and current when
whole compact transmission line. The
unbalances of voltage and current indicate that
the symmetry of compact line is much better
than conventional line. It is unnecessary to
transpose the line conductor even when the

176
length of compact line exceeds hundreds
kilometers. This is also beneficial to the
calculation of relay protection.
An important problem is the rush current
when the transmission line is energized. 10
times of energized current with high frequency
is recorded in the test. However, it is
attenuated quickly and lasts only 2 power
frequency period (see fig.3).
The capacitance of compact line higher than
conventional line is the major reason for big
rush current. If closing resistor of circuit
breaker on both sides of transmission line, the
rush current could be small due to the
damping of resistor. The influence of rush
current to relay protection sensitivity should
be considered when the length of compact line
is somewhat long.
The measurement is performed on 22 Nov.
1999. The measuring point is selected at a
point that is 15m away from transmission line.
The distribution of audible noise at different
frequencies is shown in fig.7. The noise level
under the transmission line is about 39.6 dB
(A). The audible noise level meets the
requirement of design and some standard. The
measurement of radio interference is due to
the regulations of CISPR. The distribution of
radio interference is shown in table 5 .

4. MEASUREMENT OF ELECTRIC
FIELD
"
The electric field under transmission line is a
very important performance. The measuring
region is selected at the mid-point of a span. Fig.7 Audible noise distribution at
The measuring points are 1 m above the differentfrequencies
ground along the vertical direction of the line.
The measured electric field distribution is
shown in figure 6.

Interference level

The radio interference level is within the

Fig.6 The distribution of electric field
The maximum field is under the transmission
line and the field is attenuated with the
distance away from the line. The maximum
horizontal field is 0.794 kV/m, the maximum
vertical field is 4.36 kV/m. The region in
which the vertical field is more than 4 kV/m is
6 m. It is much lower than conventional line
which is about 60m. This indicates that the
ROW of compact line is much narrower than
conventional line. The benefit of compact line
is obvious.
5. AUDIBLE NOISE AND RADIO
INTERFERENCE
requirement of design and some standard.
6. CONCLUSIONS
The tests on the first 500kV compact line
verify the design and research work.
The positive surge impedance of compact line
is 27% lower than conventional line. The
natural transmission power is increased more
than 30%.
The rush current of compact line is much
higher than conventional line when it is
energized.
The overvoltage can meet the requirement of

177
 operation.
The ROW of compact line can be greatly
reduced due to the shrink of high field region.
7.REFERENCES
[l] R.H.Behucke etc., 500kV compact line
designs for the greater Bangkok area
(CIGRk, 1998 session).
178
[2] Yafang Liu, etc., Study of 500kV compact
transmission technology (CIGRk, 1998
session).
[3] Zhangkui Zhang, etc,. Commissioning
report of Changping-Fangshan 500kV
compact transmission line (2000-3).
[4] Yichao Yuan, etc., Report of 500kV
compact test line (1 997-3).