B4 IEEE Conference on Power Engineering and Renewable Energy 2012
3-5 July 2012, Bali, Indonesia
Temporary Ground Fault Path Clearing System
for Power Distribution System
Jusmin Sutanto1), Priambudi Pujihatma2), Radpandji Edy Widjaja3)
Dept of Power Generation and Transmission, PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia, Province of Riau, Indonesia
e-mail : 1) jsxp@chevron.com 2) pujp@chevron.com 3) radp@chevron.com
Abstract – This paper presents an alternative method to
improve the reliability of power distribution system against
temporary ground fault by means of a recloser inserted between
neutral point of substation power transformer and the
grounding resistor. This recloser trips when there is ground
fault at the feeder and reclose on a preset time delay. If the fault
is sustaining, the grounding recloser will close permanently and
the traditional overcurrent protection takes place. The field trial
confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed method. The
method is named as Ground Fault Path Clearing system or
GFPC for short.
Index Terms — GFPC, temporary ground fault, grounding
recloser
I. INTRODUCTION
Fault is inevitable in any power system operation.
Statistically, most of the faults occured between phase to
ground. Faults mostly happen on distribution lines, since
they are most exposed to the source of disturbance. Almost
all faults are temporary, while statistics have shown that
lightning is the primary factor that triggers temporary
ground fault.
To mitigate this problem, Transmission and
Distribution Operation Team of PT Chevron Pacific
Indonesia (CPI) has implemented an alternative method to
prevent the temporary ground fault causing feeder trip.
This scheme has been implemented in several substations,
especially in North Area.
This paper discusses the design and performance
evaluation of ground fault path clearing system (GFPC) in
minimizing the number of power outage and production
loss caused by temporary ground faults.
II. OVERCURRENT PROTECTION SYSTEM
Fig. 1.a shows the traditional overcurrent protection
system of substation. There are two distribution feeders for
example purpose only. In this traditional scheme, any fault
including ground fault at distribution line will be cleared by
associated feeder breakers.
The neutral overcurrent settings at feeder level (50N/51N)
is coordinated with overcurrent settings at transformer
grounding path (51G). Typically, the setting of the latter is
set equal with transformer neutral overcurrent (51N-W2).
These still coordinate with phase overcurrent setting at HV
side (51P-W1). The function 51P-W1 typically set almost
coincide with 51P-W2 coordinates with 50/51P at feeders.
The overcurrent functions at transformer also serve as
1
978-1-4673-2469-4/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE
transformer backup protection if transformer current
differential relay 87T fails.
Fig 1.b shows the improved distribution protection
system employing ground fault path clearing system. It is
shown that the transformer ground path is inserted with
grounding recloser. By means of this recloser, the ground
path during temporary ground fault is removed with recloser
tripping. Since the ground path has been removed, the
overcurrent is cleared, and neutral overcurrent relay at feeder
will drop out. Hence, the feeder breaker will not trip. The
grounding recloser will then reclose after 1 second time
delay, assuming the fault has been self-cleared. It is obvious
that the system benefited from no supply interruption during
temporary ground fault. The scheme is reset in 70 seconds. If
another ground fault occurred before this reset value, the
traditional feeder protection takes over.
This operation is achieved with the GFPC overcurrent
setting is set more sensitive than feeder neutral overcurrent
setting. Hence, the GFPC will operate first in the event of
ground fault. Fig. 2 shows the example of time-current
characteristic (TCC) of the GFPC (in red) along with the
feeder (in blue). It its shown that the GFPC is the fastest
protective action against ground fault.
GFPC system also introduces an alarm called GFPC
alarm to indicate there is a ground fault under associated
feeder. The TCC of alarm is a little more sensitive than the
pickup level of the GFPC. This alarm is manually reset
before the faulty feeder is investigated by powerline
maintenance team.
III. GFPC LOGIC SCHEME AND IMPLEMENTATION
To ensure safe and reliable operation, a logic scheme has
been developed to implement the GFPC system. Fig. 4 shows
the flowchart of GFPC logic scheme.
The logic is implemented in relay logic ladder using
existing multifeeder DSP-based relays, which also serve as
backup feeder protection. The logic scheme is communicated
between mentioned relay and main feeder protection relay.
Most of the substation equipped with GFPC use single-phase
breaker for grounding recloser, while some are using line-
type recloser operated in single-phase fashion. Both are
equipped with bypass and isolation switches. For safety
reason, this bypass switch shall be closed during feeder
breaker maintenance, hot line tag condition for hot line work,
blocked condition, and in the event of relay communication
/fiber optic failures. Fig. 3 shows the grounding recloser
along with the bypass and isolation switches.
(a) Conventional overcurrent protection system (b) Overcurrent protection with GFPC system
Fig. 1 Simplified substation overcurrent protection system

Fig. 3 Single-phase grounding recloser

Fig. 2 Time-current characteristic

2
 Fig. 4 Logic scheme of GFPC system

IV. PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

of ground fault alarm on each feeder, production loss
Several substations are equipped with GFPC system for prevented by the operation of GFPC may be calculated.
field trial, mostly at North Area. GFPC systems are installed Special for Substation-F which supplies gathering station,
between the end of 2005 thru 2007, and established in 2009. although no direct loss was saved, but the operation helps the
The substations equipped with GFPC in North Area are as gathering station to avoid overflown water or forced well
follows: shutdown due to absence of power at the facility. This
improves the system indirectly in terms of environmental and
 Substation-A : 2 feeders
production point of views.
 Substation-B : 2 feeders
 Substation-C: 2 feeders Table 1. GFPC operation in North Area area during 2012
 Substation-D: 3 feeders
 Substation-E : 2 feeders Substation GFPC Loss saved
 Substation-F: 4 feeders operation (bbls)
 Substation-G: 3 feeders Substation-A 15 2611
Substation-B 43 9476
Based on observation, during 2012, GFPC has operated Substation-C 17 1867
116 times. This may be considered as saved feeder trip- Substation-D 3 1110
reclose in safe manner. In other words, GFPC managed to Substation-E 16 1724
save distribution feeders from having another additional 119 Substation-F 5 0
outages. This number is quite significant when compared to Substation-G 17 7871
total outage in CPI distribution system in North Area. There TOTAL 116 24661
were a total of 324 power outages at 13.8kV line in North
Area during 2012. Judging from these numbers, it can be GFPC system has saved a production loss of 24,661 bbls
concluded that GFPC has an important role in decreasing rate during 2012 in North Area.
of outage, up to 26.36%. During 2006-2008, GFPC system was partially
Table 1 shows the calculated saving in production losses implemented. Some were in the construction phase, while
due to GFPC operation. It is assumed that each GFPC some others are being turned on and off for revisiting
operation is equal with avoiding one trip reclose (T/R) event purpose.
of feeders. GFPC has a ground fault alarm which indicates Fig. 5 and 6 show statistical data regarding production
the faulted feeder. Each feeder supplies wells or gathering loss and power interruption under substations equipped with
station at different production rates. By recording number GFPC supplying North Area. Fig 6 shows the production loss
in 2009 (after GFPC full implementation) decreased of 44%

3
compared to 2005. In 2011, we have successfully reduce the
number to 8531 bbls, the lowest in 6 years. Fig.6 shows that
the GFPC successfully cut the trend of power interruption
due to fault at distribution lines. The percentage of saved
power interruption is shown in fig. 7, which indicates 19%
regarding all faults under distribution line, and 26%
regarding only line fault under distribution line, respectively.
These numbers are considered very significant in term of
distribution line reliability.
Fig. 5 Production losses chart on substations with GFPC
Fig. 6 Outage number chart on substations with GFPC
Fig. 7 Line performance comparison
V. DISCUSSION
GFPC system obviously improves system performance in
helping the feeder delivering power without interruption
during temporary ground fault, but there are several issues
should be considered during operation.
With the presence of GFPC, there is a time when the
distribution system is floating, i.e. the ground path is
removed. During this period, healthy insulators, transformers
and lightning arrester will be exposed to phase-to phase
4
voltage. This is the reason that opening duration of the
recloser is limited to only one second, and only one action
before the traditional feeder protection takes over. An
insulation coordination study was conducted for mitigation,
which concluded that the insulators and distribution
transformers already meet the requirement, but some old type
lightning arresters shall be replaced with appropriate rating.
Hence this initiative is in line with lightning arrester
rejuvenation program. The power transformer itself was
already designed to withstand such condition.
VI. CONCLUSION
This paper has presented an alternative method of
improving distribution feeder reliability by using GFPC
system. From the explanation it can be concluded:
1. GFPC system can be implemented using DSP-based relay
and single phase recloser
2. GFPC system significantly improves the reliability of the
feeder against temporary ground faults
3. The implementation of GFPC system should consider the
insulation capability along the distribution line
REFERENCES
[1] D. Zipse, , “Earthing or Grounding ?” IEEE Ind. Appl. Mag, Nov/Dec
2003
[2] PG&T PT CPI Standard Substation Protection Design
[3] ANSI/IEEE Std. C67.92-1987, IEEE Guide for the Application of
Neutral Grounding in Electrical Utility Systems Part-1
[4] ANSI/IEEE Std 80-1986, IEEE Guide for Safety in AC Substation
Grounding
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Jusmin Sutanto received the
“Engineer” degree in Electrical
Engineering, and Master degree with
Cum Laude in Electrical Engineering
with specialty in Power Electronics,
in 1996 and 1999, respectively. Both
are from Institut Teknologi Bandung,
Bandung, Indonesia. From 2000 to
2006, he was a researcher and
lecturer in several universities. During these years he was
also a freeelance engineer serving various industries. He has
been awarded 7 funded researches from various institutios.
He has published more than 30 technical papers in both
national and international forums, including IEEE forums,
mostly in Power Electronics area. His interests include
renewable energy system, power electronics, and power
generation control. Since 2006, he joined PT Chevron Pacific
Indonesia, where he is now working as power system
engineer.
 Priambudi Pujihatma received
Engineering Degree in Electrical
Engineering and Master Degree in
Chemical Engineering University of
Indonesia. He is now working as a
power system engineer in PT Chevron
Pacific Indonesia.

Radpandji Edy Widjaja received the

“Engineer” degree in Electrical
Engineering from Bandung Institute
of Technology in 1995. He received
his MSEE degree in 2006 from
Union University, Schenectady, NY,
USA. He worked as lecturer in
Bandung Institute of Technology in
1995 thru 1997, and then joined PT
Chevron Pacific Indonesia in 1997 until now