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Carelabs

IEEE 1584 · Engineering

Power System Study & Analysis - Carelabs Saudi Arabia

Power system study and analysis solves the power flow equations that govern your electrical network, verifying that generators, lines, transformers, and shunt elements perform as intended, withstand expected stress, and are protected against failures. For a Saudi facility this brings together load flow analysis, short-circuit and fault analysis, and relay coordination into one connected study. Carelabs performs the full study in ETAP and delivers findings aligned with SBC 401.

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Several substations, one network

A large complex is usually studied substation by substation, by whoever built each one. What that misses is how they interact: where fault current comes from when they are tied, and whether protection still discriminates across the tie.

What We Deliver

The whole network in one model

Every substation is modelled together rather than separately, which is the only way fault contribution through a bus tie or a ring arrangement can be calculated rather than estimated.

WHY IT MATTERS

Adequate alone, inadequate when tied

Switchgear rated correctly for its own substation can be under-rated once buses are tied, because fault current then arrives from more than one source. The configuration that improves reliability is frequently the one that breaks the rating.

  • Fault duties calculated in every operating configuration the complex actually uses, not only the normal one.
  • Fault level obtained from the supply authority for each point of connection, since a complex may have more than one intake.
  • On-site generation included with its real contribution and decay characteristic where present.
  • Motor contribution above roughly 50 kW included across the whole network, as large machines feed the first cycles of a fault from wherever they sit.
  • Ambient conditions considered for equipment thermal ratings, since derating in a hot environment reduces margins that look adequate on nameplate.
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DELIVERABLES

What you receive

A combined report against SBC 401, SASO IEC 60364 and IEC 60909, signed by the engineer who carried out the site work.

  1. 1A single reconciled model of the whole complex rather than per-substation drawings
  2. 2Fault duty per bus in every operating configuration, with pass or fail against installed ratings
  3. 3Discrimination assessment across bus ties and between substations
  4. 4Bus voltage and branch loading per configuration
  5. 5A recommended operating philosophy with the resilience and fault duty consequence of each option
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How the study runs

01

Establish how the complex runs

We record the configurations actually used, including abnormal and maintenance arrangements, since those are frequently where the adequacy problem sits.

02

Survey and consolidate

Each substation is surveyed and the drawings consolidated into one reconciled single line diagram for the whole network.

03

Obtain supply data

Fault level is requested for every point of connection, and any on-site generation is characterised from its own data.

04

Model and solve each configuration

Fault duty and load flow are calculated for every operating arrangement rather than for the normal case alone.

05

Grade across the ties

Discrimination is verified between substations as well as within them, including the cases where a fault is fed from two directions.

06

Report and recommend

Findings are ranked and an operating philosophy is recommended with the trade-off between resilience and fault duty stated plainly.

Frequently asked questions

Because they are not electrically independent. When buses are tied, fault current at one substation is fed partly from the other, so a per-substation study understates the duty. Discrimination across the tie cannot be assessed at all from separate models, and that is where coordination failures between substations originate.
It can, and it is a common finding. Tying improves resilience and raises available fault current at the same time. Switchgear rated correctly for its own substation operating alone may be under-rated once fault current arrives from two sources, which is why each configuration is assessed rather than only the normal one.
It is a starting point, though they frequently disagree with each other and with the installation at the interfaces. Consolidating them into one reconciled model is part of the work, and the corrected network diagram is itself a deliverable that most complexes have never held.
It affects the margins. Equipment thermal ratings are specified at a reference ambient, so in a hot environment usable capacity is lower than nameplate suggests. A device that passes on nameplate rating can have very little real margin, which is worth knowing before the margin is spent on a load increase.

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