Practical Power System

Protection Design &

Coordination
23 – 27 June 2025 - Sandton Centre
Johannesburg South Africa

R19, 999.00 Per Delegate

Course Overview
Power system protection systems play a crucial role in establishing reliable electrical power systems. Poorly
designed protection systems may result in major power failures. Due to the increasing importance of electricity, such
power failures can have a serious impact on society and the economy.
Knowledge of power system protection systems is key when it comes to optimising the reliability level of electrical
infrastructures. With the advances in protection and communication technology in recent decades plus the strong
increase of renewable energy sources, the design and operation of power system protection systems has become
ever more challenging.

This course presents the fundamentals of power system protection and its application. A very “hands-on” approach is
used to teach the concepts. Understanding is reinforced with real world examples. Interaction is encouraged between
participants and the presenters, to underpin the
learning objectives.

Learning objectives. Through this course, participants will:

 Develop an understanding of the most common types of protection.

 Learn how to apply the theory to a range of practical examples.
 Comprehend the jargon when specifying protection and control equipment
 Understand how to determine relay settings, and/or evaluate systems designed by others
 Develop a structured approach and understanding of major protection schemes
 Ensure safe operation of the electrical equipment and installations
 Become familiar with testing and measuring instruments
 Ensure a sensible selection of protection functions and relay types for different operation scenarios
 Implement effective relay protection settings for different zones
 Calculation of fault levels and prospective fault current in a transformer

WHO should attend?

 Project Engineers
 Project Managers
 Electrical Engineers
 Protection Technician
 Electrical Technicians
 System Operators
 Design Engineers
 Asset Engineers
 Asset Managers
 Planning Engineers
 Planning Managers
 Protection and Instrumentation Engineer
 Commissioning Engineers and Technicians
Program Outline
Introduction to power system protection

 Protection concepts
 main and backup protection
 security and dependability
 selectivity

 Protection types

 fuses
 overcurrent protection
 differential protection
 distance protection
 Protection technologies
 Protection philosophies
 Protection setting plans

Introduction to power systems

 Network topologies
 Smart Grids
 Renewable energy sources
 System grounding
 Behaviour of power systems under fault conditions (introduction)
 Power system calculations

Power system and power system protection calculations

 Modelling of power systems
 Type of power system calculations
 Symmetrical component method
 Short circuit calculations
 Protection coordination studies
 Arc flash studies (introduction)

Protection Technologies
 Electromechanical
 Static
 Digital
 Operation of digital relays
 Protection algorithms

Instrument transformers
 Current transformers
 Voltage transformers
 Non conventional instrument transformers
Power System Fault Calculations

 Calculation of three phase faults using Ohmic method

 Per unit method for simplifying fault current calculations
 Worked-out example using per unit method— 3ph, ph-ph, and ph-ground
 Typical values of per unit impedances for generators, motors, transformers, etc. Basic concept of
symmetrical components and using them to calculate fault currents
 Fault current relationship involving different transformer connections
 Worked-out example using a commercial software
 Symmetrical and unsymmetrical components of fault current
 What is DC offset?
 Response of relays to DC offset
 Relay response depends on time elapsed since fault inception
 Fault current duties experienced by interrupting devices such as fuses, breakers, etc.
 Evaluation of interrupting devices based on first cycle duty and symmetrical duty

Circuit breakers

 Types
 Specifications

Protection of power transformers

 Guidelines for protection of power transformers

 Protection concepts for power transformers
 Protection equipment typically used for power transformers
 Setting guidelines
 fuses
 overcurrent protection
 transformer differential protection
 restricted earth fault protection
Worked examples on power system protection Protection of power cables and lines

 Guidelines for protection of power cables and lines

 Protection concepts for power cables and lines
 Protection equipment typically used for power cables and lines
o Overcurrent protection
 setting guidelines
 Distance protection
 Differential protection

Worked example earth fault Distance protection

 Operating principles
 Trip characteristic types
 Power Swing Blocking
Worked examples distance protection

Protection of substations

 Guidelines for protection of substations

 Protection concepts for substations
 Protection equipment typically used for substations
 Setting guidelines
 Busbar protetction
 low impedance differential protection
 high impedance differential protection
 arc detection
 Worked examples

Protection of motors

 Guidelines for protection of motors

 Protection concepts for motors
 Protection equipment typically used for motors
 Setting guidelines
 thermal overload
 starting protection
 load jam protection
 locked rotor protection
 Worked examples

Special protection functions

 Switch onto fault protection

 Supervision of instrument transformers
 Trip circuit supervision
 Autoreclose

Protection of generators

 Operating diagram
 Protection devices

Arc flash studies

 Safety
 Standards
 Execution of an arc flash study

Frequency and voltage protection

 From components to system protection

 System disturbance
  Frequency protection
 Voltage protection

Wide area protection

 Basic concepts of wide area protection

 Phasor measurement unit
 Application of wide area protection systems

Power relays

 Explain the purpose of protective relays in a T&D system.

 Describe how a protective relay is used in a T&D system.
 Describe five common relay elements and explain how they work.

Electrical Faults Indicated by Numerical Relays

 Introduction to numerical relays

 ANSI code for numerical relays
 Motors faults represented by numerical relays
 Generator faults represented by numerical relays
 Fault current limiter

Testing of power system protections

 Standards
 Test plan development
 Test equipment
 Closed loop versus open loop testing
 Examples of test plans
 Commissioning test sheets

Failure investigations

 Approach
 Tools
 Examples

IEC 61850

 The digital substation

 Introduction to the IEC 61850 Standard
 Engineering of protection system using IEC 61850
 Testing of power system protection systems based on IEC 61850
 Points of attention when applying IEC 61850 Standard
 Conformance
 Worked examples
Trends in power system protection

 Unconventional instrument transformers

 Adaptive protections
 Wide area protection
 IEC 61850
 The digital substation
 Distribution automation

Protection of power systems with high degree of renewable energy resources

 Impact of renewable energy sources on classical protection concepts

 Protection of wind turbines
 Protection of solar power plants
 Separate standard for PV fuses
 Worked examples

Evaluation and Records of completion

End of the Workshop

For Registration and other Training arrangements,

contact us on the detail below.
SOUTH AFRICA: +27 11 057 6001
TANZANIA Cell: +255 769 688 544
WhatsApp +27 79 574 0389
info@bmktraining.co.za / www.bmktraining.com