Analyzing the Impact of Shunt Reactor Switching Operations Based on DFR Monitoring System

Cross Texas Transmission (CTT) uses 345kV shunt reactors to regulate the high voltages during lightly loaded conditions on its long transmission lines spanning over 100 miles on a regular basis. Initially, the company experienced a few challenges during reactor energizations due to inrush conditions. As a result, CTT implemented a Digital Field Recorder (DFR) monitoring system to capture and examine inrush waveform conditions. Actual field data recorded from DFRs over a period of 14 months is analyzed to present and discuss the behavior of reactor switching due to inrush and other observed effects for different operating conditions. This paper has diverse, practical scenarios to offer in the form of waveforms during reactor energization which help understand and avoid misoperations.