Effects of Geomagnetically Induced Currents on

Current Transformer and Differential Protection

Tao Zheng, Peilu Chen, Ting Lu, Ying Jin, Lianguang Liu
State Key Laboratory for Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Source
North China Electric Power University
Beijing, China
zhengtao sf@126.com
_

Abstract-Geomagnetically Induced Current (GIC) has long The transfer characteristics of CT are crucial to protective
been recognized to influence current transformer (CT). Treated relaying. Once CT saturation occurs, the fact that the
as quasi-DC, the effects of GIC haven't been discriminated from
secondary current cannot accurately reflect the primary
DC bias caused by High Voltage Direct Current transmission
current accurately may cause mal-operation of differential
(HYDC). However, the nature of GIC as current with time­
protection. There are several methods to recognize CT
varying magnitude and random waveform makes it generate
saturation at present. The time difference method [5] and
complex flux bias conditions. The differences between GIC and
traditional DC bias are firstly proposed in this paper. asynchronous method [6] are used to identify CT saturation
Simulation models using low-frequency sinusoidal currents to caused by external faults, but they fail in identifying CT
emulate GIC are established in PSCAD/EMTDC. Furthermore, saturation caused by DC bias; while the harmonic restraint
CT transient transferring characteristics in the presence of GIC method [7] and wavelet method [8] along with mathematical
are researched by theoretical analysis with simulation tests. morphology methods [9] - [10] are on the basis of certain
Besides, the performances of transformer differential protection characteristics of the saturation current, they may not work
are included in respective scenarios. According to our
effectively resulting from the absence of CT partial saturation
investigations, GIC has effects on differential protection by
characteristics. Therefore, CT partial transient saturation may
virtue of leading CT to transient saturation or partial transient
become a potential threat to the reliability of the protective
saturation. This research work will promote the development of
the novel scheme of protection that immune to GIC. relaying. Studies have shown that recovery imush current and
sympathetic imush current may lead to partial transient
Index Terms-- current transformer (CT), DC bias, saturation of CT, not involving the effects of DC bias.
Geomagnetically Induced Current (GIC), differential GIC can cause DC bias in the same manner as HVDC in
protection, transferring characteristic present research on its effects. However, the biasing current
caused by HVDC is essentially driven by a constant DC
I. INTRODUCTION current field around DC earth electrode. If the operation
mode of the HVDC system remains unchanged, the biasing
Global fluctuations in the geomagnetic field caused by
current will be pure DC and keep constant. It has limited
solar winds or other solar activities may cause strong
influence on the grid near DC grounding electrode. The
fluctuations in the geomagnetic field. Then a potential
direction, amplitude and frequency of the biasing current
difference is induced on the surface of the earth due to
caused by GIC will be changed due to fluctuations in the
magnetic field disturbances, thus generating a current known
geomagnetic field. In particular, the amplitude may reach up
as GIC. GIC exits through the grounded neutrals of
to hundreds of amps with widespread impact. In addition, the
transformers and flows along the transmission lines into
higher the voltage levels of the grid are, the severer
power systems, which may cause DC bias in
consequences power system will have. Therefore, it is of
ferromagnetic devices.
great significance to discriminate between DC bias caused by
Additionally, HVDC systems under monopole ground
GIC and HVDC on transfer characteristics of CT.
operation mode may lead to DC bias as well. Recently, a lot
Furthermore, the risks of suffering from GIC increase
of studies have investigated the effects of DC bias upon
because of the development of high-voltage, long-distance
transformers, especially harmful influence on CT. Even in
and large-capacity power grid. Research on influence
some researches that have shown that DC bias may affect the
mechanism of GIC upon relay protection in depth will help
time-to-saturation of CT [3]-[4], GIC effects haven't been
ensure the safety and stability of the operation of the grid
taken into consideration.
when magnetic storm occurs. This paper takes transformer
The national key basic research and development program of China
(2012CB215206)
The National Natural Science Fund Projects (51177045)

978-1-4799-1303-9/13/$31.00 ©2013
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differential protection as an example, discussing the effects of
GIC upon transient transfer characteristics of CT and
transformer differential protection. Low frequency sinusoidal
currents are adopted to simulate GIC because it changes
slowly in numerical value and directions like AC
characteristics. Furthermore, this paper analyzes the
differences between DC bias caused by GIC and HYDC and
verifies accuracy of theoretical analysis by simulation.
(a)The CT equivalent circuit
II. THE EFFECTS OF GIC ON CT TRANSFERRING
CHARACTERISTICS B
Bm -
A. Flow Path of GIC in the Power Grid
Intense variations of the geomagnetic field caused by solar
activity are called magnetic storms. During such storms, the
H
electric fields induced at the Earth's surface drive
geomagnetically induced currents (GIC) in the circuit of Hm
power transmission lines, neutral-grounded transformers and
the Earth, as illustrated in Figure 1.

ICIC

!GIC (b)B-H curve

Figure 2. The CT equivalent circuit and its magnetizing characteristics

T2

C. Comparison between effects of DC magnetic bias due to

GIC and HVDC upon CT Transfer Characteristics

When transferring power frequency current (50Hz in

China), CT operates in the linear area. The value of
magnetizing current ie is small due to the large and constant
Figure I. The flow path of GIC
magnetizing impedance. However, the frequency of GIC
ranges from O.OOlHz to O.IHz and the magnitudes may reach
B. The CT equivalent analysis model
up to hundreds of amps. When transferring low-frequency
The equivalent circuit of current transformer is shown in
GIC, the magnetizing impedance Ze decreases, magnetizing
Figure 2 (a). The saturation degree as well as magnetizing
current increases and core becomes saturated, it means that the
characteristic curve are decisive factors to CT transient
CT operating point enters the saturation region when ie
characteristics, as shown in Figure 2(b), and this curve can be
increases to certain extent. The magnitude of GIC, floating
expressed as liles-Atherton model [12]- [14].
range of frequency, and the differences of CT types all may
TABLE l. DESCRIPTION OF NOTATIONS IN FIGURE 2 affect the saturation level.

As for DC bias caused by HYDC, biasing current is limited

Z, primary leakage impedance
to a large extent by the DC field around earth electrode. If the
Z2 secondary leakage impedance
system keeps operating in the same mode, the value and
ZL burden impedance
direction of biasing current would stay constant, and DC
Ze equivalent magnetizing impedance
magnetic flux caused would become an integral part of the CT
i, primary current
excitation flux. In general, the value of DC biasing current
i2 secondary current
caused by HYDC is too small to result in the CT transient
ie magnetizing current
saturation. The AC power system near DC grounding
Hm maximum value of magnetic field intensity H electrode will be affected easily by the DC bias, so the
Bm maximum value of magnetic induction B conditions need to be strict. For a given CT, DC biasing
He coercive force current in a very small range may lead to partial transient
Br remanence saturation. And for a given DC biasing current, it may only
cause partial transient saturation in a certain type of CT, as
shown in Figure 3, where Bde is flux density of DC bias.

However, the DC bias caused by GIC differs from that

caused by HYDC in some respects. GIC fluctuates in a low
frequency which may lead to a variable DC offset of the CT's

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core flux. The GIC has a widespread influence due to the
global fluctuation of the earth magnetic field. Different types
and capacities of CT are all susceptible to the DC bias caused
by GIC, considering the time-varying magnitude and
directions. Above all, the influence mechanism of DC bias
caused by GTC is much more complicated and the CT
transferring characteristics are more easily affected than that
caused by HVDC In the following section, the impacts of
GIC on CT transient transferring characteristics and
differential protection will be discussed in detail.
(a)CT transient saturation process

B
the partial hysteresis loop
I---�·--

Current(p.u.)
Bdc -

"
64
"
:� - --

,/' ;/ H
/' ,/
(b)Primary current and secondary current
0.60

0.40

0.20

0.00

-0.20

-0.40

-0.60
0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 1.40 1.60 1.80 2.00
time s
Figure 3. CT partial transient saturation caused by DC (c)Differential current

III. SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS

Tn order to imitate the fluctuation of GTC and evaluate its

effects on CT transfer characteristics approximately, low­
frequency sinusoidal signals are taken to represent GTC and
the CT is simulated by Jiles-Atherton model. All simulation
models are constructed in PSCAD/EMTDC (d)The 2nd harmonic ratio
Figure 4. CT transient saturation case
A. CT transient saturation

The high magnitude of GIC may cause CT transient
saturation. As shown in Figure 4, CT transient saturation can
be observed when the magnitude of GTC is 40A at frequency
of O.OSHz. When CT transient saturation occurs, there would
be a distortion in the secondary current. According to the
harmonic analysis, it is obvious that the amount of second
harmonic ratio exceeds the threshold (set as 20%) in the
second harmonic restraint method. That
maloperation can be avoided if transformer
protection is based on the principle of second harmomc
restraint. However, when internal fault happens, the ratIO m
the differential current is so high that it may cause delay
response or even failure to operate, which will threaten the
security of power system greatly.
B. CT partial transient saturation
GTC of certain magnitude may cause CT partial transient
saturation. Figure S shows the phenomenon of CT partial
transient saturation when magnitude of GTC is 2SA at
frequency of O.OSHz. After about 1.8 seconds, CT operating
point in Figure S comes to the partial hysteresis l?op in �he
first quadrant, moving slowly near the saturatIOn pomt.
is, undesired
Compared with the primary current, the secondary current
differential
have no obvious wave distortion except for phase deviation.
The direction of CT magnetizing current is the same as the
reference direction shown in Figure 2(a). Therefore, the
differential current increases in the negative direction of the
vertical axis, while the second harmonic ratio rises slightly.
Unlike pure DC bias, the partial transient saturation caused
by GTC is periodic, which can't maintain for a long time.
With the magnitude and direction of GTC continuously
varying, the biased magnetic flux changes and CT returns to
the linear region then enters the partial hysteresis loop in the
third quadrants where direction of magnetizing current is

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opposite to the reference direction shown in Figure 2(a). (b )Differential current
Figure 6 shows that the differential current increases in the Figure 6. CT partial transient saturation located in the third quadrant
positive direction of the vertical axis. (2SA,0.OSHz)

.PrimafY current
6.0 -Secondaty current
'" 4.0
� 2.0
� O.O+----··----·�--·-��··---
B(T)

� -2.0
"

-4.0
-6.0 .1:-:::-_______-:-"-:-_______.,,....,
o. 2 0.40
"me(s)

(a)CT partial transient saturation process (a)Primary current and secondary current ofCT
1.00
0.50
h:'
Qs-0.oo
-0.50
-1 0�.+.,.-2 ------- --:o�.4,.,.0
------- --,-,

(b )Flux density of the core

(b)Primary current and secondary current
Figure 7. CT transient characteristic with fault current

In addition, the CT model is also tested under fault

condition. As shown in Figure 7(a), the secondary current of
CT can trace the primary current of CT correctly even if the
fault current is nearly 20 times the nominal current. The flux
density of CT is also shown in Figure 7(b), the magnitude of
(c)Differential current flux density is under 1 Tesla, which means that the CT will
not saturate under such case. Compared with Figure 4 and
Figure 5, it can be concluded that GIC is capable of bringing
CT into saturation or partial transient saturation even with the
magnitude of dozens of amps.

Furthermore, it is remarkable that not only GIC of specific

(d)The 2nd harmonic ratio magnitude and frequency can cause partial transient saturation,
Figure S. CT partial transient saturation located in the first quadrant but the time-varying magnitude and frequency of GIC may
(2SA,0.OSHz) also have significant influence on the saturation degree.

Figure 8 shows that when magnitude of GIC is 30A at

(a)CT partial transient saturation process
frequency of 0.05Hz, partial transient saturation can also be
observed with differential currents surging greatly while the
second harmonic ratio rising slightly. In addition, time-to­
saturation reduces by O.4s compared with Figure 5. Besides,
GIC with magnitude of 25A at frequency of 0.02Hz is able to
cause CT partial transient saturation as well. Hence, there are
several factors, including time-varying magnitude, unstable
frequency and different CT models, which may make
significant difference to the CT partial transient saturation
phenomenon. In conclusion, the DC bias generated from GIC
can influence larger areas and cause partial transient saturation
much more easily.

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(a)Differential current
(b)The 2nd harmonic ratio
Figure 8. The case of GIC of 30A, 0.05Hz
IV. CONCLUSIONS
The risk of GIC bringing to the power grid can not be
ignored. This paper fIrstly indicates the differences between
DC bias caused by GIC and HVDC. Then the effects of GIC
on CT transfer characteristics and transformer differential
protection are studied as well. Main conclusions are as follows:
• DC bias caused by GIC may result in CT transient
saturation. During normal operation, differential currents
in transformers connected in Wye-Delta mode will
probably surge to a great extent due to inconsistent
saturation degree of CT on different side. And the second
harmonic ratio is estimated so large that,
transformer differential protection adopting the second
harmonic restraint method, maloperation can be avoided.
However, when internal fault occurs, such a high content
of second harmonic in the differential currents may lead
to delay response or even maloperation.
• DC bias caused by GIC may also lead to CT partial
transient saturation. On account that magnitude and
direction of GIC vary from time to time, the partial
transient saturation is periodic, which can't maintain for
long. When partial transient saturation occurs, angle
deviation instead of wave distortion, can be apparently
observed in the comparison between the currents on the
primary and secondary side. Therefore, false differential
current with low second harmonic ratio may be available
to detect, which will probably cause maloperation of
differential protection.
• As the system's operation mode keeps unchanged, DC
biasing current caused by HVDC is constant in value and
exerts limited impact upon CT transient characteristics.
When it comes to GIC, the case becomes much more
complicated. There are several factors, such as its time­
varying magnitude and unstable frequency, as well as
diverse CT types, which may make signifIcant difference
on the CT partial transient saturation phenomenon. In
brief, GIC generating from global fluctuations in the
earth's magnetic fIeld, becomes a great threat to the
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reliability of relay protection, which should be paid more
attention to.
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