Innovative protection schemes for H Configuration Fuseless Grounded Shunt Capacitor Banks

Shunt Capacitor Banks are used in the electrical industry for power factor correction (local Reactive Power demand) and for voltage support, and thereby improving the efficiency of the overall Power Grid. This paper discusses the fundamentals of the design criteria (electrical and physical configurations) for a H Configuration Grounded Fuseless Shunt Cap Bank @ 345kV and provides details about the development of an innovative Protective Relaying Schemes which accurately detects and identifies capacitor elements/units failures on each diagonal quadrant of each phase of Shunt Capacitor Banks. This innovative imbalance protection schemes provides easy identification of elements failures and eliminates the issue of masking (offsetting) capacitor elements failures faced by the traditional protective relaying schemes. This advancement in the protective relaying schemes could reduce typical maintenance time and cost, and allow longer operation periods for Shunt Capacitor Banks.