This seminar provides an overview of the IEEE J25 Synchronous Condenser Protection report, which can be found here:
Synchronous Condenser Protection | URC | IEEE Universal Resource Center (Free for PES Members!).
The report provides guidance on the protection of synchronous condensers — rotating synchronous machines that supply voltage regulation and system inertia without generating active power. As utilities increasingly deploy synchronous condensers to strengthen grids with high inverter-based resource penetration, appropriate protection schemes are essential.
The report describes synchronous condenser machine characteristics, including excitation systems, rotating inertia, capability curves, and fault current contribution. It addresses how existing generators — hydro, combustion turbine, and steam turbine types — may be repurposed as synchronous condensers. Protection schemes are discussed in detail, distinguishing those essential for synchronous condensers from those developed for synchronous generators that require modification or are unnecessary entirely. Key topics include loss of field protection, negative-
sequence protection, stator ground fault protection, and backup protection. The report also identifies protection functions — such as loss of synchronism, inadvertent motoring, and abnormal frequency — that are generally not required due to the absence of a prime mover.
Additional considerations cover stability limits, inadvertent energization, out-of-phase synchronization, and subsynchronous oscillations. Appendices provide simulation analyses, a protection settings example, and supporting theoretical derivations.
Lunch will be provided.
Three (3) Professional Development Hours will be awarded to attendees