Design and testing of thyristor valves of TCSC for Kanpur-Ballabhgarh 400kV line

This paper describes the design and type testing aspects of thyristor valves of thyristor controlled series capacitor (TCSC) scheme for Kanpur-Ballabhgarh 400 kV line. The single circuit AC line from Kanpur to Ballabhgarh in northern part of India is 400 km long and owned by power grid corporation of India limited (PGCIL). This is India's first indigenous TCSC scheme. It is a joint developmental project by BHEL, a supplier and utility, PGCIL. Thyristor valves are designed to meet the specified operating and fault conditions. The valves are assembled and production tests performed at electronics division, BHEL, Bangalore, India. In- house manufactured 100 mm wafer size thyristors are used in the thyristor valve. Thyristor valve of each phase is housed in a weatherproof enclosure. The valve enclosure is mounted on the 400 kV-insulated platform. The dielectric and operational type tests including optional tests as per IEC-61954 (1999) were performed at central power research institute (CPRI) Bangalore, India.