Vietnam 

Cho long 155MW Wind Power Project 
 
EARTHING SYSTEM AND GROUND VERIFICATION STUDY 
 
Index No.: CLW‐EPC‐CAL‐0514‐WFM‐IFR‐02_Earth_Ground_Verif 
 

REV.C

May 2021

 
 

Qualitycon control sheet 
Document  EARTHING SYSTEM AND GROUND VERIFICATION STUDY 
Project  Vietnam Cho long 155MW Wind Power Project 
Code  CLW‐EPC‐CAL‐0514‐WFM‐IFR‐02_Earth_Ground_Verif 
Authors  Signed: 
  Date 
Verified  Signed: 
  Date 
Recipient   
Notes   

 
 

 
 

Contents 

 
1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 
1.1 Requirements .................................................................................................................. 1 
1.2 International standards ................................................................................................. 1 
1.3 Relevant documents ....................................................................................................... 1 
2. Calculation ................................................................................................................................... 2 
2.1 Resistivity of TWG farms ................................................................................................. 2 
2.2 Calculation of the size for down lead conductor and grounding conductor ................ 3 
2.3 Calculation of grounding resistance of the farm grounding grid .................................. 4 
3. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 8 

 
 

1. Introduction
1.1 Requirements
The calculation report is computation on grounding system underground of
Vietnam Cho long 155MW Wind Power Project. The purpose of the calculation is to
prove the validity of the designed grounding system.
1.2 International standards
The design for the grounding system of wind turbines farm execute international
standards. The calculation is based on following standards:
-IEEE Standard 80: Guide for Safety in AC Substation Grounding
-IEEE Standard 665: Guide for Generating Station Grounding
1.3 Relevant documents
The wind turbines of this project is purchased from Xinjiang Goldwind Science
& Technology Co., Ltd. The designed grounding system implement the demand of
equipment manufacturer. The relevant documents are referenced as follows:
- GW-08JT.0004, Guide for lightning protection and grounding system
- 70.02.01194, Guide for 130m (6-section) anchor bolt foundation
- Geophysical survey document, Report on resistivity test of soil and rock

1 
 
 

2. Calculation
2.1 Resistivity of TWG farms
According to the report on resistivity test of soil and rock in cho long
geophysical survey document, the resistivity of 35 TWG farms are summarized in the
following table.
Resistivity from surface to bellow
Average
Wind turbine (Ωm)
(Ωm)
Depth 1 Depth 2
WTG01 522 107 314.5
WTG02 45.8 37.2 41.5
WTG03 73.8 25.9 49.85
WTG04 18.4 21.8 20.1
WTG05 728 1207 967.5
WTG06 29 766 397.5
WTG07 222 21 121.5
WTG08 672 71.1 371.55
WTG09 114 17.8 65.9
WTG10 16.8 43.9 30.35
WTG11 130 53.1 91.55
WTG12 959 220 589.5
WTG13 36.8 26.6 31.7
WTG14 713 179 446
WTG15 49.1 25.1 37.1
WTG16 37.2 63.4 50.3
WTG17 302 65.6 183.8
WTG18 37.2 26.6 31.9
WTG19 60.3 30.7 45.5
WTG20 270 64.9 167.45
WTG21 163 36.4 99.7
WTG22 1217 1829 1523
WTG23 143 23.2 83.1
WTG24 164 35 99.5
WTG25 2016 246 1131
WTG26 2383 378 1380.5
WTG27 638 196 417
WTG28 4375 822 2598.5
WTG29 1437 833 1135
WTG30 411 228 319.5
WTG31 431 94.5 262.75
WTG32 54.9 78.4 66.65

2 
 
 

WTG33 1538 151 844.5

WTG34 1814 246 1030
WTG35 80.4 20 50.2

2.2 Calculation of the size for down lead conductor and grounding conductor
Maximum single-phase short circuit fault current: 25kA (As there is no
impedance of system now, the most serious condition is to be considered).

The decrement factor D f is (refer to IEEE Std 80 equation-79)

2 t f
T
D f  1  a (1  e Ta
)
tf
Ta is the dc offset time constant

Ta  X /(R)
X / R  14
  2f  314
Ta  0.0449

t f is the time duration of fault

tf 1

2
0.0449
Df  1 (1  e 0.0449 )  1.022
1

Thus the rms asymmetrical fault current is I  25  1.022  25.55kA .

This current value will be used to determine the size of down lead conductor
from wind turbine to the grounding grid.
1 1
Amm  I
2  25.55   463.6mm2
TCAP  10 4   K 0  Tm   3.93  10 4   293  419
     
 t    ln K  T  1  0.00320 20.10 ln 293  40 
 c r r   0 a    
(refer to IEEE Standard 80 equation-40)
t c  1s (fault duration)

T m  419 (max. allowable temperature in deg C -- IEEE Std 665 Annex A)

T a 40 (ambient temperature in deg C)

a r  0.00320 (thermal coefficient of resistivity at reference temperature

--IEEE Std 80 Section 11, Table 1)

3 
 
 

 r  20.10 (the resistivity of the ground conductor at reference temperature

in   cm )

K 0  293 (IEEE Std 80 Section 11, Table 1)

TCAP  3.93 (thermal capacity factor in j /(cm3 0 C ) --IEEE Std 80 Section 11,
Table1)
According to the computation results, flat steel 80×6 which section is 480 mm²
in accord with the requirements of calculation results.
Corrosion must be taken into account, and flat steel needs to be protected by hot
galvanizing. The thickness of galvanize coating (≥85μm) could protect steel from
corrosion in project lifetime (25 years).
Therefore, hot-dip galvanized flat steel 80×6 will be used in this project.

2.3 Calculation of grounding resistance of the farm grounding grid

The grounding system is composed of horizontal grounding grid and earthing
shaft. The WTG grounding layout please refer to
CLW-EPC-DRW-0607-WFM-IFR-02_WTG_Earth_Layout.
The resistance of grounding grid is calculated by the following formula(refer to
IEEE Std 80 Equation-52)：

1 1 1 
R g    (1  )
 LT 20A 1  h 20 / A 
 - the soil resistivity.

LT -the total effective length of grounding grid conductor, including horizontal

grounding grid and earthing shaft 10m.
A -the area of grounding grid
h  1m (the depth of horizontal grounding grid)
According to the WTG EARTHING LAYOUT drawing, the area of grounding
grid is 450m² and the length is 320m. So, in the formula, A=450m², LT=320m.
According to the formula, the grounding resistance of each wind turbines is
calculated as follows.
The grounding resistance
No.
(Ω)

4 
 
 

WTG01 6.629838
WTG02 0.874843
WTG03 1.050866
WTG04 0.423719
WTG05 20.39545
WTG06 8.379524
WTG07 2.561289
WTG08 7.832484
WTG09 1.389209
WTG10 0.639795
WTG11 1.929926
WTG12 12.42699
WTG13 0.668254
WTG14 9.401932
WTG15 0.782089
WTG16 1.060352
WTG17 3.874608
WTG18 0.67247
WTG19 0.959166
WTG20 3.529941
WTG21 2.101732
WTG22 32.1057
WTG23 1.751795
WTG24 2.097516
WTG25 23.84212
WTG26 29.10172
WTG27 8.790595
WTG28 54.77785
WTG29 23.92644
WTG30 6.73524
WTG31 5.538918
WTG32 1.40502
WTG33 17.80254
WTG34 21.71298
WTG35 1.058244
Depending IEEE80 14.1, the usually acceptable is from 1Ω~5Ω. However,
according to the requirements of Vietnam, the grounding resistance should be less
than 4Ω. There are 16 grounding grids of wind turbine that not satisfy this
requirement, they are WTG01, WTG05, WTG06, WTG08, WTG12, WTG14, WTG22,
WTG25, WTG26, WTG27, WTG28, WTG29, WTG30, WTG31, WTG33, WTG34.

5 
 
 

So they need to be taken resistance reduction measures

In order to reduce the grounding resistance, the measure of making all the ring
grounding grid connect with nearby others and finally connect to the grounding grid
of substation can be adopted. Through this measure, magnifying the length of
grounding grid conductor and the area of grounding grid. The whole WTG farm
grounding layout please refer to
CLW-EPC-DRW-0606-WFM-IFR-02_Grid_Earth_Layout.
According to the EARTHING GRID LAYOUT drawing, the total effective
length of grounding grid conductor is the length of underground ground wire, which
include distance between WTGs (total ~43724m), the length of 35 grounding grids of
WTG (total ~11200m). So, LT’=54924m. The area of grounding grid include the area
of 35 grounding grids of WTG (total ~15750m²), 5m distance between 2 underground
ground wire between WTGs (total ~109310m²). So, A’=125060m².
According to the formula, the grounding resistance of each wind turbines after
resistance reduction measure is calculated as follows.
The grounding resistance after
No. resistance reduction measure
(Ω)
WTG01 0.400962
WTG02 0.052909
WTG03 0.063555
WTG04 0.025626
WTG05 1.233483
WTG06 0.50678
WTG07 0.154903
WTG08 0.473696
WTG09 0.084017
WTG10 0.038694
WTG11 0.116719
WTG12 0.751564
WTG13 0.040415
WTG14 0.568614
WTG15 0.047299
WTG16 0.064128
WTG17 0.23433

6 
 
 

WTG18 0.04067
WTG19 0.058009
WTG20 0.213485
WTG21 0.127109
WTG22 1.941701
WTG23 0.105946
WTG24 0.126854
WTG25 1.441933
WTG26 1.760025
WTG27 0.531641
WTG28 3.312875
WTG29 1.447032
WTG30 0.407336
WTG31 0.334985
WTG32 0.084973
WTG33 1.076668
WTG34 1.313166
WTG35 0.064001
From the result calculated above, all the grounding resistance are reduced under
4Ω.

7 
 
 

3. Conclusion
The hot-dip galvanized flat steel 80×6 can be accepted as the grid horizontal
grounding conductor, all the grounding resistance of WTG are reduced under 4Ω. The
farm main grounding grid can meet design requirement.

8