Experienced electrical engineers created this reference list of standards for power systems earthing/grounding for substations, renewable energy, etc.

Understand how software simulations enhance grid impedance tests, improving accuracy and efficiency in earthing system design and performance evaluation.

This report explains how to perform accurate earth fault current analysis for substations connected by cable transmission lines. Earth fault currents for simple cable and overhead transmission lines are explained first. Next, two case studies involving hybrid cable transmission lines are presented.

Copper is often preferred for its superior electrical properties, while aluminum and galvanized steel are chosen for cost-effectiveness. Copper-clad steel can offer a balance between cost and performance. This article demonstrates which option is best for different scenarios.

The technical guide explains the electrical systems, local WTG and combined earthing system design, touch and step voltage hazards, soil electrical resistivity measurements, earth fault currents, earthing system software modelling, and validation testing of earthing for wind farms.

There are two reasons, according to the standards, why crushed rock or gravel is laid in substations, as explained in this article.

During an earth fault on a substation earth grid, the flow of current to the earth will produce voltage gradients. An earth grid that is properly designed will safely dissipate current into the ground.

Reach touch voltages are different to touch voltages and automatically set to zero when the distance between the voltage point on the ground surface and the grid conductor which is touched exceeds a reach distance.

The effects of lightning strikes on earthing or protection systems designed to IEC 62305 can be modelled using an equivalent single frequency from 25kHz up to 1MHz which gives similar results to a time-domain approach. This article provides the frequency and current values to be used for modelling lightning.

The effects of lightning strikes on earthing or protection systems designed to IEC 62305 can be modelled using an equivalent single frequency from 25kHz up to 1MHz which gives similar results to a time-domain approach. This article provides the frequency and current values to be used for modelling lightning.

This report shows the effects of a direct lightning strike to an air terminal installed on top of a building which is connected to a buried earthing system.

Low voltage earthing systems include TN-S, TN-C-S, TT, IT and DC. High voltage earthing includes solid, ungrounded, resistance, reactance and resonant.

This article shows the effects of soil resistivity and thickness of layers on grid resistance for earthing systems in multilayer soils. Increasing the resistivity of soil layers tends to increase the grid resistance, no matter which soil layer that is. Increasing the thickness of any soil layer with high resistivity also increases grid resistance and if the soil layer thickness is increased for a low resistivity layer then the grid resistance will decrease. Software modelling is performed and the results are compared and shown to match well with those from CDEGS software.

Earthing rods improve earthing systems when driven into low resistivity soil layers. Due to the proximity effect the rule of thumb is earth rods should be separated by at least their driven length. Rods may be encased in concrete to lower their resistance. Equations are provided for hand calculations and these have been validated with numerical software.

Soil electrical resistivity varies based on several factors. Use these tables to validate your soil measurements or devise a soil model without having measurements for preliminary earthing/grounding designs.

This article provides typical values for surface layer resistivity to be used for earthing and ground electrical calculations of touch and step voltages.

We compare the best and latest earthing and grounding system design software including SafeGrid, CDEGS, XGSLab, ETAP and more based on technical features and compares price.

Soil resistivity is one of the most critical factors affecting earthing and grounding system performance and safety. In cold climates, the top-soil layers may be frozen during the winter or spring seasons, and resistivity may increase to as high as 10,000 Ω.m in the frozen soil layers. This can give rise to significant touch voltage hazards during an earth fault.

How to design and model earthing systems for a solar PV farm to the latest practices and standards. Soil resistivity, fault levels, and safety are covered.

Should a metal fence be bonded to the substation earth grid? The metal fences around substations keep people out but they pose earthing safety challenges. These metallic fences, which are easily accessible to the public and personnel, must be adequately earthed and touch voltages on them during an electrical fault must not exceed safe limits.

Metal earthing rods that are encased inside concrete will have a lower resistance. Concrete has a typical electrical resistivity of between 30 Ohm.m to 200 Ohm.m.

We have benchmarked our SafeGrid Earthing Software results for a 60 x 60 m grid against well-known software XGSLab™ and CDEGS™. We show that the results for grid resistance in multilayer soils up to 5 layers are virtually identical.

Direct lightning strikes to substations causes physical damage and poses hazards for people.

The Annex H in IEEE Standard 80-2013 contains benchmark case results for comparing and evaluating software tools and methodologies used for the analysis of substation earthing. The results compare the simple equations from IEEE Std 80 with the results given by some of the commercially available software such as CDEGS, ETAP, SGW, SDWorkstation and WinIGS.

Provides test procedures based on the fall of potential method and actual touch and step voltage measurements for the purpose of validating a safe earthing design. Includes procedures for both large or small earthing systems, safety requirements (for undertaking the tests) and recommended testing equipment.

Key earthing design concepts covered including Grid Potential Rise, design to reduce touch and step voltages, fault current distribution, effects of soil resistivity and use of rods to improve safety along with calculation and modelling examples.

A safe earthing system design has two objectives; to provide a means to carry normal and fault current without exceeding equipment limits or adversely affect continuity of service and to reduce the risk of a person in the vicinity of an earthed facility being exposed to the danger of a critical electric shock.

Switchgear in substations is installed on top of concrete slabs containing substantial quantities of steel reinforcement. Often the embedded steel reinforcement is bonded to the main earthing system and used to cost-effectively improve earthing electrical performance and safety.

The purpose of transmission line grounding is to provide adequate lightning performance of the line; and effectively dissipate fault current avoiding the build-up of unsafe step and touch potentials around the tower base.

This tutorial is designed to help users of SafeGrid Earthing Software to learn about and practice the application of powerful operating principles.

An extensive study of earthing grids using SafeGrid software designed for determining performance of grids of arbitrary geometrical configuration in two layer soils has been undertaken. The study confirms work by Dawalibi and Mukhedkar undertaken using similar software called CDEGS®.