A systematic approach to improving grounding circuits

摘要

Global earthing supplies the safe grounding of low-, medium-and even high-voltage (LV, MV, HV) networks. Providing integrated protection against lightning and switching events, a well-designed single grounding system is invaluable for networks connected to customers' premises. NUON is one of the major power utilities in the Netherlands supplying gas, water and electricity to 5 million customers in five provinces, including the capital city of Amsterdam. To investigate the consequences of global earthing in the regions the transmission and distribution utility serves, NUON entered into a research contract with Eindhoven University of Technology (TUIe). The contract offered cooperative benefits to both parties. NUON gained access to modern, unconventional measuring techniques developed at TU/e, and TU/e gained access to NUON's network to perform measurements at all system voltage levels. Working together, the utility and Tu/e analyzed system problems and found solutions with firm backup from theoretical investigations conducted on LV, MV and HV systems.