Surge protection of high voltage shunt capacitor banks on AC power systems survey results and application considerations

A survey of power utilities has been carried out to obtain data on high-voltage shunt capacitor bank surge protection practices which presently exist. The questionnaire sought answers to questions relating to voltage rating, size of bank, number of banks, installation practices, switching arrangements, and the application of surge arresters for overvoltage protection. A summary of the results of the survey is presented along with some general comments and conclusions on the findings. The high rate of return on the survey indicates the widespread interest of utilities in surge arrester protection of high voltage shunt capacitor banks. It does not appear to be common practice among electric utilities to apply surge arresters to shunt capacitor banks for overvoltage protection. Where surge arresters are applied, they are often used to protect other equipment, such as transformers and circuit breakers, against overvoltages during capacitor switching