Safe Substation Grounding-Part I

A practical approach to safety in grounding is aimed at balancing the interaction of two grounding systems: The permanent one, consisting of buried ground electrodes, and the accidental one, produced by a person walking in the exposed area or standing there and touching a grounded object. This paper describes the conditions and factors encountered in the accidental circuit analysis. Criteria are established for evaluation of the allowable step and touch voltages, for both conventional and gas-insulated substations. The presented material is a preliminary version of updated information, to replace the text of Sections 1-6 of the existing IEEE Std. 80, which is presently being revised by Working Group 78.1 of the Distribution Substation Subcommittee, and sponsored by the Substation Committee of IEEE. After comments to Part I, as well as to the future Parts II, III, IV, are received from the industry, a separate document will be qualified for the submission to IEEE Standards, as a Guide.