The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ Power and Energy Society Substations Committee is gearing up for its annual meeting in New Orleans May 12-16. A delegation of grid professionals from Sargent & Lundy will be there to discuss challenges and pivotal developments in substation design. Among the highlights of the five-day conference will be a presentation from Senior Project Associate Udit Narayanan discussing data center interconnection substations.
Sargent & Lundy is a platinum sponsor of this year’s conference and will have a table near the registration desk providing attendees with an opportunity to connect and engage. The conference brings together professionals from utilities, consulting firms, and manufacturers from around the world to share insights into the latest industry trends. The event also focuses on the development of IEEE standards, which impact engineering practices in the power industry.
Narayanan’s presentation May 13 will examine the pressing issue of designing effective substation ground grids specifically tailored for data center interconnection substations located in high fault current zones. Narayanan’s paper addresses the challenges posed by the increasing number of data centers and their rising power demand, which have resulted in congested electrical networks and elevated fault currents in certain U.S. regions. This situation complicates the installation of safe and reliable substation ground grid systems.
Narayanan has more than a decade of experience in the power industry focusing on substation electrical engineering and design, and his presentation will describe the hazardous step potentials identified at some data center interconnection substations using traditional ground grid design methods. Concentrated electrical load from data centers, poor soil conditions, and conservative approaches in traditional IEEE 80 ground grid models contribute to safety concerns. To tackle these challenges, Narayanan proposes several innovative design strategies, such as tying multiple ground grids together, altering site conditions beyond the substation’s fence, adjusting the substation footprint, and refining fault current calculations during grounding studies.
Additional considerations are existing site easements, accurate identification of soil conditions, possible ground well installation, and the selection of materials for the substation surface layer. These measures are aimed at enhancing the safety of ground grids in high-demand environments.
Find out more about the IEEE PES conference here.
