The earthing systems used in power transmission infrastructure of state utility Madhya Pradesh Power Transmission Company Ltd (MPPTCL) has received appreciation at the recently held 13th National Earthing System Conference.
A release by MPPTCL said that the conference, organized by Central Board of Irrigation & Power (CBIP), deliberated on the importance of earthing in electric power transmission systems.
A technical paper on earthing system and its utility and implementation was presented by MPPTCL. This paper was authored by K.K. Murthy (former Chief Engineer, MPPTCL) with co-authors Pramod Behare and Deepak Patel, both Executive Engineers at MPPTCL.
The MPPTCL release noted that in a major shift from traditional norms, Pramod Behare delivered his lecture in Hindi as against the standard practice of using English. The lecture, describing all aspects of earthing systems deployed by MPPTCL, was well appreciated.
Surpassing CEA norms
The MPPTCL release noted that the earthing system deployed by the utility in its substations and transmission towers conforms to guidelines prescribed by Central Electricity Authority (CEA). These guidelines also incorporate various international standards and guidelines.
MPPTCL has not only met all the CEA-prescribed parameters but has been successful in keeping earthing resistance to less than 0.5 ohm even in rocky terrain.
MPPTCL regularly monitors and maintains its earthing system, especially over the past two years, which has resulted in significant drop in failure rate of transmission equipment. In some locations, earthing resistance has been brought down to 0.1 ohm which is far better than the prescribed limit of 0.5 ohm, the release noted.
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Improved substation earthing
In many of substations earthing has been provided by boring more than 100 feet, resulting in keeping earth resistance well within prescribed limits. Further, earthing systems are regularly checked through the Earth Integrity Test conforming to international guidelines. It was informed in the seminar that Madhya Pradesh is among the leading states to regularly check its power transmission-related earthing systems.
