GIC observations and studies in the Hydro-Québec power system

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6826(02)00128-1Get rights and content

Abstract

On March 13, 1989, at 7 h 45 UT, Hydro-Québec experienced a complete black-out of its system due to a severe geomagnetic storm. Consequently, service was interrupted for many hours and overvoltages resulting from line openings cost 6.5 M$ in material damages alone among a total of 13.2 M$. In 1991, geomagnetically induced currents (GIC) produced some effects and damages on the Radisson–Sandy Pond HVDC link. On March 24, at 21h55 UT, GIC larger than 110A were measured in one of two transformers in parallel (presumably, giving a total of 220 A) at Radisson substation which led to the loss of the HVDC link. The same thing happened on October 28, but this time with material damages to equipment. From these events, short-term studies led to the upgrading of operational processes, modifications of opening thresholds of Static Var Compensators and modifications of some filters at Radisson. Also an agreement was concluded with Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) for sending a warning alert to the Network Control Centre (CCR) before any anticipated severe geomagnetic storms. Among more long-term studies, in collaboration with GSC, we have installed 5 acquisition substations along a 250-km long copper telephone line in Abitibi, a site typical of Hydro-Québec facilities, and from 1992 to 1994 measured ground voltages and magnetic fields every 10s. The highest ground voltage measured at Louvicourt substation was ∼1.70V/km for 20s. Asymmetry measurement of line voltages, based on techniques developed at IREQ in the 1980s, have been upgraded, the number of installations has been increased (from 4 to 8) and functions like harmonic measurement have been added. Voltage asymmetries over a fixed threshold produce an alarm at the CCR, which reacts by taking security measures in network operation. During March 1989 and 1991 events, voltage asymmetry grew to 9.6% and 15.5%, respectively, at the Arnaud substation. A major change, for needs of network stability during short circuit or other contingencies, has been the installation of series compensation in 1996 into the Hydro-Québec 735-kV network. Since capacitors block DC current, the observed asymmetry has remained about 20% of that observed before. So, now, we are confident that our network would survive the anticipated worst case GIC.

Section snippets

March 13, 1989 power failure

Between March 6 and 12, 1989, a series of enormous explosions with coronal mass ejection occurred in the same solar zone. The explosion that came at the end of the day on March 10 ejected a flow of particles (electrons, protons, and alpha) towards the earth, which reached some 50h later. This triggered a violent geomagnetic storm which affected human installations over a period of about 30h, i.e. from ∼2h UT on March 13 until ∼9h UT the next day (Fig. 1).

During the evening of March 12 Eastern

Subsequent corrective measures

In the days or weeks that followed the failure, several corrective measures were applied to the equipment and to the way the system was operated. The first was the signing of an agreement with the Geomagnetic Laboratory of the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) regarding the emission of major magnetic storm warnings 24h a day, 7 days a week, to allow system operators to take the appropriate steps in good time and follow the new system operating directives in the event of geomagnetic storms. In

Longer-term solutions

Some of the 17 recommendations formulated by a second working group, and all subsequently implemented, are given below:

  • Measurement of the telluric potential at a site typical of Hydro-Québec facilities. To this end, Hydro-Québec in collaboration with the Geomagnetic Laboratory set up five measurement sites covering a distance of 250km in Abitibi, located in the Laurentian Shield. From July 1992 to November 1994, at each one of these five substations, we have measured simultaneously, every 10s,

March 1991 events

The year 1991 saw many very strong geomagnetic storms. Neither the blocking capacitors nor the series compensators had been installed by then. In March, just as the Hydro-Québec team was ready to carry out impact tests on the main operating system of the MTDC link with DC current ground return up to the Duncan electrode, a major magnetic storm (classified K-8, i.e. not as intense as the storm on March 13, 1989 which was K-9) pounded the earth for 4 days in a row, including March 24, 1991 when

October 28, 1991 event

On October 28, 1991 at 10:38 EST, at which time the converter at Radisson was operating in monopolar mode with metallic return and was connected to the main system, a DC current reaching 130–140A flowed in each of the neutrals of transformers T2 and T3 at that substation. The converter was shut down. By then, the second harmonic of the voltage at Radisson had reached 7% and the asymmetry at Arnaud, 12%. The geomagnetic storm that was taking place did not last long and was relatively harmless,

Series compensation and the MAIS project

The decision to introduce series compensation on the 735-kV transmission lines from Churchill Falls and the La Grande Complex had already been taken well before 1989 with a view to enhancing the system stability and avoiding general failures in the event of a three-phase fault. The failure that occurred on March 13, 1989 called for a re-examination of that decision. New simulations have shown that implementing series compensation and blocking the passage of DC current wherever compensation is

Conclusion

This paper has described the influence that geomagnetic storms have had in the past few years on Hydro-Québec's power system and the steps that have been taken to counter or reduce the impact. The studies undertaken to achieve this are outlined.

Hydro-Québec is convinced that the steps taken and the operating modes it uses in the event of such storms are adequate to keep its main grid in proper working order. Among the major modifications and additions, mention should be made of the new

Acknowledgements

Improving recommendations of the referees, graphic works by Alain Arseneault, help and useful suggestions from colleagues Dr. Patrick Picher, André Gaudreau and Denis Ruest of IREQ and Dr. David Boteler of the Geomagnetic Laboratory of the Geological Survey of Canada are gratefully acknowledged. Dr. Boteler also produced the figures courtesy of GSC.

References (20)

  • L. Bolduc et al.

    Saturation time of transformers under DC excitation

    Electric Power Systems Research

    (2000)
  • D. Tousignant et al.

    A method for the indication of power transformer saturation

    Electric Power Systems Research

    (1996)
  • Aubin, J., 1992. Effects of geomagnetically induced currents on power transformers. Electra 141,...
  • Béland, J., 1998. SMDA4: Manuel de Référence (HP-1000/A-990), Vol. 2. IREQ internal...
  • G. Blais et al.

    Operating the Hydro-Québec grid under magnetic storm conditions since the storm of 13 March 1989

    Solar-Terrestrial Predictions-IV Proceedings

    (1993)
  • Bolduc, L., Aubin, J., 1977/78. Effects of direct currents in power transformers. Part I. a general theoretical...
  • Bolduc, L., Langlois, P., 1995. Hydro-Québec follow-up of the March 1989 event. XXI IUGG General Assembly, Session...
  • Bolduc, L., Kieffer, P., Dutil, A., Granger, M., Bui-Van, Q., 1990. Currents and harmonics generated in power...
  • Bolduc, L., Michel, S., Boteler, D., Pirjola, R., 1997. Analysis of the electrojet fields affecting power systems using...
  • L. Bolduc et al.

    A study of geoelectromagnetic disturbances in Québec, 1, general results

    IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery

    (1998)
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (339)

  • Ionospheric response over the middle ASIAN region to the may 1967 geomagnetic storm

    2023, Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics
  • Adaptations to a geomagnetic field interpolation method in Southern Africa

    2023, Advances in Space Research
    Citation Excerpt :

    The primary space weather related cause of damage in power grids and pipelines arises from geomagnetically induced currents (GICs). In power networks, GICs driven by extreme space weather events may result in total system collapse, similar to that which led to the 1989 Hydro-Québec blackout (Bolduc, 2002; Boteler, 2019). A conservative estimate of the direct economic impact of this event, which caused a 12-h long power blackout for millions of people, was on the order of $13.2 million (Bolduc, 2002).

View all citing articles on Scopus
View full text