Determination of Withstand Capability of Power Transformers Under GIC Conditions

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This research program aims to analyze and determine the impacts of the Geomagnetically Induced Current (GIC) on power transformers operation and determine the transformers' withstand capabilities when subjected to saturation and overheating due to GIC. This is crucial for transformer manufacturers such as Northern Transformer Corp. (NTC) and their clients to ensure that their transformers can withstand the GIC stresses and the power system operators can successfully operate the power system and transformers during solar storms. The associated problematic situations result from the Geomagnetic Disturbance (GMD) phenomenon, also referred to as solar geomagnetic storm or simply solar storm. If the GMD occurs with high intensity, it can result in widespread impacts on power systems originating from power transformers. Canada is one of the most vulnerable areas to GMD globally, and the most significant GMD incident to power system happened in Canada. In March 1989, a mild solar storm resulted in the Hydro--Quebec power system blackout, which left nine million people without power for more than eight hours with a minimum estimated cost of $300M. Due to such detrimental effects, North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) has released two important standards that require the power utilities and system operators to perform GMD impact assessments and provide evidence that their transformers and systems are not prone to failure and maloperation, during the GMD and the GIC flow in power systems. As a result and to address the raised concerns, the power utilities and operators require the transformer manufacturers to provide the withstand capability assessment of their transformers under the GIC conditions. Such assessments require i) new advanced models and ii) special test methods and setups that are not common even in the transformer manufacturers' labs. The proposed project addresses the above challenges and accurately determines the NTC's transformer withstand capabilities when subjected to GIC.