Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
(OP)
Please ignore my post just below this one, it is a duplicate - accidently pressed submit before finishing Subject line.
A small wind farm of five units connects to a 44kV utility line. The facility is operating for about 1 year and experiences high level of gasses at turbine step up transformers 34.5kV/690V. Turbines are 2.2MW operate at 690V, step up transformers are 2.5MVA, while the main 44/34.5kV transformer is 11MVA.
Here is a long list of fact and things which were measured, analyzed or tried:
Gassing only occurs at all 2.5MVA units while the main 11MVA transformer is fine.
2.5MVA transformers are connected to full power converters, AC-DC-AC.
The oil gas analysis (done a number of times) indicates an increased level of hydrogen, ethane, methane and acetylene, which suggests presence of partial discharge but it is unclear what may be causing it. Content of gasses increases over time ad similar rate.
The entire 34.kV collector, which is a total ~20km long is undeground cable. There is also several km of 44kV cable before the facility connects to the utility OH line.
Gas level is unrelated to the collector topology and geography – there are two 2.5 transformers close to the main substation, and one shows a much higher (2 times) level of gas than the other, and the same applies for other two units which are >10km from the sub.
Total harmonic distortion is measured and found to be in the range of 2-3% at full load, which should not be causing gassing as the full load on a wind farm rarely occurs. Harmonic content is much higher at low load but that should not matter much in terms of gassing.
The owner ordered a replacement transformer which was made a bit larger, 2.6MVA and for significantly higher V/Hz ratio then the original ones, but after several months in operation that transformer developed the same problem. The harmonic factor for this transformer remained 1, as it was for the original unit.
Various P-Q analyzers were used to measure V, I, P, Q and TDH over a longer period of time and capture events, but nothing particularly significant was captured.
Except it was identified that when utility is switching a large 30MVA capacitor bank some 30km away on the same feeder, an overvoltage spike in the range of 150% and lasting about half cycle reaches the 2.5MVA transformers, but the capacitor is being switched relatively infrequently, the average is probably less than one per day.
Turbine converter reactive capability is higher than transformer rating (2.7MVA vs 2.5MVA) and under certain operating conditions units may operate with a low power factor, but transformer apparent power still very rarely exceeds 2.5MVA and may only occur for a short period of time when only one or two units are operating at low kW output. In which cased they will be ordered by an automatic controller to import a larger amount of VARs from the grid (the facility operates at fixed power factor mode).
Various sources indicate that many wind facilities experience somewhat increased level of transformer gassing, but that this phenomena is still poorly understood and science is still to explain it. There are various hypotheses why this is occurring and mine would be that this problem may have something to do with the fact that wind turbines are the most unstable generators by far in terms of power output and event not that many loads are as unstable. They are not as bad as arc furnaces but have a lot of similarities except changes are slower.
However, transformer gassing at this facility has already reached very alarming levels, and there must be something else in addition to that phenomena which affects many other facilties. But we seem to be running out of ideas what to try next. Any comments would be greatly welcomed!
Than you for your time to read this long story :).






RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
Hydrogen (H2) - 2400
Methane (CH4) - 1800
Ethylene (C2H4) - 20
Ethane (C2H6) - 1130
Acetylene (C2H2) - 5
Propane (C3H8) - 50
Oxygen + Argon (02 + A) - 4230
Nitrogen (N2) - 19500
Carbon Monoxide (CO) - 160
Carbon Dioxide (CO2) - 1300
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
Where are these measurements being taken? At he 690v secondary of each trafo or at the 33kV level via PTs? I would imagine that at the 690V level the distortion would be much greater than at the 33Kv level inasmuch due to the high capacitance of the long 33KV system cables, which would tend to dampen the HF components.
At the 690V windings it may be a similar situation caused by VFDs causing a lot of HF spikes of high amplitude eventually causing insulation failures in motor windings not designed for use with VFDs. The difference being that the motor windings operate in air, with no measurements of deterioration, until failure.
In the case of oil insulated transformers, the deterioration is measureable/evident by the oil tests being done, long before actual failure occurs. Basically (as I understand it) (not a VFD expert) the AC-DC/AC converter is a form of VFD.
Just some ideas.
rasevskii
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
Specific THD data refers to measurements taken at 690V. At very low turbine output, like 10%, the THD may reach over 30%, but then near the full load it drops down to about 2% for voltage and a bit more for current.
I did think of converter induced spikes which are in the range of microsecond and with nono-sec raise time domain, but then there are two factors against this thinking:
1. How likely is that such short spikes, even if there are many of them in each half cycle (and we will be confirming that with an oscilloscope soon), are to pass through the low side winding and find its path somewhere else discharging through the oil as their magnitude is still low even if they reach twice the normal crest voltage at 690V RMS.
2. Turbines and converters come from a reputable manufacturer which supplies thousands of such units,so if there is something wrong in this case at 690V side, then it is some sort of mismatch between the transformer design and converter design which may not exist in other cases as pad mounted transformers come from different supplier.
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
"Full" means that the converter fully separates the grid and the generator. But many wind turbines are still supplied with partial conversion, specifically they use asynchronous doubly feed machines, with only rotor attached to an AC-DC-AC converter while the stator is directly on the grid.
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
"Throughout space there is energy. Is this energy static or kinetic! If static our hopes are in vain; if kinetic — and this we know it is, for certain — then it is a mere question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature". – Nikola Tesla
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
What is against this hypothesis is that most transformers developed the problem after being just few months in operation, not years.
But what goes along this theory is that even though all 2.5MVA transformers produce high level of gasses, some produce twice the much then others and there in no any logic in it in terms of being unrelated to collector length or anything else we could think of. So maybe it is related to how much fuse clips are loose?
As I indicated above, a replacement transformer was ordered from the same shop, just slightly up-rated, but it probably uses the same fuses and clips. However, that transformer started developing the same problem shortly after (few months).
The replacement transformer was used to replace the unit which had the higher level of gas at that time. Then the transformers manufacturer took the original transformer back to shop and completely dismantled it for inspection, but they then reported that they could not find anything wrong with it, nor any signs or internal arcing or similar were visible.
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
http://www.pddnet.com/articles/2010/03/weakest-lin...
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
It is not common to have PD in submersed parts, but it is not impossible. Are there parts that are not fully submersed? Have you inspected them for traces of possible PD?
FYI: THD or other harmonics measurement do not reveal HF components. You need to measure with a high-badwidth scope and corresponding voltage dividers or differential probes. You can use (fused) probes and a differential probe on the 690 V side. That is where the HF is best seen.
Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org
--------------------------------------
Half full - Half empty? I don't mind. It's what in it that counts.
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
Gunnar, thank you for your comments. we are going to use a good 100MHz of higher frequency scope to zoom into half cycle and see what sort of kHz MHz converter spike we see. The reason why we are not rushing with it is that we are not sure what to do with that info yet and what a good reference to measure the converter noise may be:
The turbines and converter come from a reputable manufacturer and this particular WTG model is not new on the market. It has been around for several years and many of these were supplied and use the same 34.5kV collector. However, there are no reports that other facilities utilizing the same WTG experience the same gassing problem.
With this in mind, it seems to be less likely that we have good transformers but bad converters. We also don't have a reference what a "good" converter is. All converters are noisy and will produce HF spikes. But how much is too much, we don't know yet. And the answer to this question may not be dependent on a particular converter design, but also on kW load, which is anything but steady.
Amount and amplitude kHz and MHz spikes may not necessarily be directly related to THD%, however since current THD is about 10 times higher at 10% load vs 80% load, I would still think that distribution of high frequency components will similarly depend on the load to some extent.
Re your questions about parts not fully submersed, I don't know that yet – don't have full info on the transformer internal design. There are two fuses inside, they are serviceable, but I don't know if they are fully submersed. Nor I have seen the transformer which was dismantled for the inspection - it was only reported that the manufacturer issued a statement that they could not find any traces of PD or arcing.
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
Re DGA numbers I posted above, the test took place some 8 months after the facility was placed in service. However, an icreased level of gas was showing at the very first DGA test done just several weeks after units were commissioned.
The above results are for one of the transformers with higher content of H2 and CH4. Here are results from another two transformers which have significantly lower content of H2 and CH4. For comparison purposes I pasted results for the one with the high content at the bottom. DGA tests were done at the same time on all 3.
Hydrogen (H2) - 700
Methane (CH4) - 870
Ethylene (C2H4) - 15
Ethane (C2H6) - 600
Acetylene (C2H2) - 3
Propane (C3H8) - 2
Oxygen + Argon (02 + A) - 8000
Nitrogen (N2) - 36800
Carbon Monoxide (CO) - 100
Carbon Dioxide (CO2) – 1100
*
Hydrogen (H2) - 1300
Methane (CH4) - 1000
Ethylene (C2H4) - 15
Ethane (C2H6) - 600
Acetylene (C2H2) - 6
Propane (C3H8) - 50
Oxygen + Argon (02 + A) - 6800
Nitrogen (N2) - 23200
Carbon Monoxide (CO) - 70
Carbon Dioxide (CO2) - 1000
*
Hydrogen (H2) - 2400
Methane (CH4) - 1800
Ethylene (C2H4) - 20
Ethane (C2H6) - 1130
Acetylene (C2H2) - 5
Propane (C3H8) - 50
Oxygen + Argon (02 + A) - 4230
Nitrogen (N2) - 19500
Carbon Monoxide (CO) - 160
Carbon Dioxide (CO2) - 1300
*
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
For clarity, this is what one of these units likely looks like. N2 blanket sealed. Not easy to connect to for testing (the left side utilizes "dead front" cable connectors, not easy to work on. Some units do have access panels available to get inside. Notice on the left, the 2 fuses (F1/F2) as well as the feed through(loop connection) for the HV cables. The OP also mentioned that his unit has internal switches and an OLTC (not pictured in this photo)
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
Most 35kV wind pad mounted transformers are with 5-leg wound cores and most produce gas not due to dielectric breakdowns on windings of any kind but gassing comes from the core due high inter-laminar capacitance allowing for high capacitive charge. The solution would be either inside (not outside) core grounds or core shield. The presentation underlines that using outside core grounds results in high core volts, while inside core grounds eliminate static charges and reduce core volts to volt/turn level.
The other conclusion is that this gassing phenomena appear to be directly proportional to the operating voltage, meaning that wind transformers operating at voltage lower than 35kV see much less of this problem (and hence, I suppose, those working at higher level, such as 46kV, and there are some of those as well, may see even more).
This all may very well be the case, an in essence it sort of suggests that high ratio and relatively high voltage transformers are prone to this gassing problem. But that is a bit debatable, maybe they still are behaving so if attached to a wind turbine (and if so it, it is to be explained why), but there are 35kV transformers stepping down to several hundred volts for some industrial applications and I could not find any references suggesting that these have gassing problems as well.
Any comments?
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
A transformer sees only voltage and current. Voltage and current are the same quantities regardless of the nature of the energy source driving the turbine.
Regards
Marmite
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
Exactly the oppsite is true. A wind turbine with a PWM inverter between generator and transformer produces lots of ill effects that you do not have if the generator were feeding the transformer directly.
Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org
--------------------------------------
Half full - Half empty? I don't mind. It's what in it that counts.
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org
--------------------------------------
Half full - Half empty? I don't mind. It's what in it that counts.
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
There is a turbine which is just 200m from the substation, it has its own feeder (not daisy chained with other units), its collector lenght is neglifeable but its transformer is still developing about the same amount of combustible gasses as for another turbine which is on a different feeder and daisy chained with 3 other units and located 14km away from the substation. While two other units neither very close or very far from the sub represent the best and the worst case...
In summary, if the turbine at 200m is producing gasses at amount of 100% (a relative number), then here is what other 3 turbines are showing:
Unit at 200m, it own feeder; gasses 100%
Unit at 14km, different feeder; gasses still about 100%
Unit at 3km, different feeder then for the above 2; gasses 50%
Unit at 4.5km, same feeder as for 3km; gasses 200%.
Can the collector resonance result in such rather random impact on individual transformers which seem to have nothing to do with individual feeders, lengths, a particular location in the daisy chain (seems not to matter at all) or anything else?
At the same time, the main 44/34.5kV transformer which is just 200m away from the am turbine develops very little gasses (but comes from a different manufacturer and is of different design).
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
There are also two very small station service padmounts (50kVA) coming from the same manufacturer also gassing. But 10m from them, two main step-ups to 44kV being 9 and 11MVA don’t produce any excessive gas, however they come from a different supplier.
I had no opportunity to see internals of the removed transformer, but pictures taken by other parties indicate that they just un-tanked it for a visual inspection without taking windings apart. There are also no details that fuse assemblies were inspected at all.
Various web sources talk about wind turbine transformers gassing but we don’t have enough empirical data to compare with this specific case. There are verbal reports that another facility, not far away for the one we are discussing, is also gassing but that one uses different turbines (another manufacturer), transformers are also made by another supplier and it is connecting to a different utility line. But we don’t know to which extent and if is comparable to this case. However, that facility uses high ratio transformers stepping up from 690V to 44kV (the collector is 44kV) which may have something to do with this phenomena, as in either case 34.5/0.7 and 44/0.7 the ratio is fairly high. Before wind and solar times, the industry did use some high ratio transfomers, but for generation this sort of ratio was less common at the medium voltage or any level.
There are also reports that some wind facility in the same region don’t bother doing oil test at all so they even many not know that they could have a similar problem.
Trying another transformer is already suggested so it is up to the owner to assess the risk vs. cost to do so.
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
I rule out resonnance and overvoltage. The gas pattern correspond more to overheating. Are you noticing high oil temperature during full load running of transformer.There is possibilty due to harmonics.
In fact new IEC standard IEC60076-16 ed1.0-2011 Transformers for wind turbine applications stipulate special requirements to meet these service conditins.
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
The transformer pictured and many transformers at wind installations in the states have under oil HV isolation switches. These switches are in the same oil as the transformer core and windings. If the HV isolation switches have been operated under voltage (which may form part of the turbine maintenance routine), gasses will be generated in the oil. This is normal.
The DGA experts on this forum may like to comment on whether this is consistent with the gas results you have.
The above conclusion does not explain why the 50kVA pad mounts are also gassing though. Perhaps a partial discharge test is in order?
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
Jebb, yes we did suggest trying different oil in one of the units but it is not up to the owner to decided.
Prc, I just googled a specific sentence from that document and found it also available as public here:
http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/transformers/subcom...
Written by this fellow:
http://www.hvolt.com/hopkinson.htm
I also could not fully comprehend it since this is not an actual paper which elaborates details but just seems to be the summary of a presentation.
Acog, the actual transformers at this facility have internal fuses (two in series) but no disconnect switches in the oil. Individual turbines can be isolate only on the LV (690V) side or the entire strings can be isolated to 35kV but opening an interrupter in the substation.
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
Normally manufacturers take care of above type of core grounding issues.Voltage ratio is not an issue as today there are step up transformers working with 22/1200 kV voltage ratio (China)
So I will stick to my earlier conclusion.Manufacturer can help in diagnosis. Try with another make step up transformer
Can the star /delta winding connnection with 5 limbed core can result in some abnormality? Why in this type of aplication star/delta is used as in normal generator transformers it is always delta/star?
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
We are experiencing the same problems with step up transformers at wind farms. In one phase of the project we have 16 turbines and about half are gassing and half are not, the transformers are all identical. We have done extensive testing in the collector system, including high frequency, and we can confirm that our problem is no caused by resonance or other issues in the collector.
The gas results indicate partial discharge, however not all of our transformers are gassing. We have swapped gassing transformers to locations where there is no gassing taking place. The "good" transformer maintained low gas and the "bad" transformers continued to increase hydrogen levels - indicating that the problem is internal and not collector related.
Core grounding and charge build up sounds like a good explanation but we do not see gassing in all of the transformers???
Some of our units have over 20,000 ppm hydrogen, in a couple instances the hydrogen levels went down since the last test. This may seem dramatic but load tap changers and voltage regulators have higher hydrogen levels.
We continue to look for answers.
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
mopractice, it is good to know that I’m not suffering alone :). Thank you really very much for your post. Very informative.
If I understand your post well, you had two project phases, so transformers were not made at the same time, maybe one year apart, but still came from the same supplier? If so, the fact that one phase transformers will gas no matter where you put them suggest that there might be a manufacturing flaw with that particular series which may possibly be related to items which area already mentioned by other fellows above, like fuses, clips or other components in the oil (switches, taps, etc). Those third party components may be different (different make or model) between phases even though transformers are otherwise the same. Please keep us posted if you nail it down and I will do the same.
But even if this hypothesis is correct, it still may have something to do with the unstable nature of wind generation, or maybe not given the in the distribution world the transformers with internal fuses and switches did not seem to be very common.
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
RE: Wind farm step-up transformers - excessive gas problem
This oil test result is from one of the gassing transformers, taken in Nov 2012.
First number is a "bad' transformer the second is from an identical transformer installed in the same time frame
Hydrogen 11291 41
Methane 588 4
Ethane 83 2
Ethylene 1 1
Acetylene 0 0
Carbon mon 517 537
Carbon dio 1040 802
Nitorgen 67833 75255
Oxygen 10631 14498
There are 31 transformers installed on this phase of the project, all from the same manufacturer
Two have greater than 20,000ppm Hydrogen
Five are betweeen 10k and 20k
Three are between 5k and 10k
Nine are between 1k and 5k
Eleven have less than 1000 pph hydrogen (most less than 100ppm)
Several transformers have had decreases in hydrogen since the prior test. For example one dropped from 21k to 8.3k in a 5 month perios. More samples are being taken this week so we will see...