DAAAM INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC BOOK 2020 pp.

189-198 Chapter 15

METHODS OF NEUTRAL GROUNDING

MARIJANOVIC MATEJ
Abstract: In neutral grounding system, the neutral of the system or rotating system or
transformer is connected to the ground. The neutral grounding is an important aspect
of power system design because the performance of the system regarding short circuits,
stability, protection, etc., is greatly affected by the condition of the neutral. A three
phase system can be operated in two possible ways:
• With a ungrounded neutral
• With a grounded neutral
Keywords: ungrounded neutral system, grounded neutral system, petersen coil, low
resistance grounding, high resistance grounding

Authors´ data: Msc. Matej Marijanovic, JP Elektroprivreda HZHB d.d. Mostar,

[email protected]

This Publication has to be referred as: Marijanovic, M[atej] (2020). Methods of

Neutral Grounding, Chapter 15 in DAAAM International Scientific Book 2020,
pp.189-198, B. Katalinic (Ed.), Published by DAAAM International, ISBN 978-3-
902734-27-3, ISSN 1726-9687, Vienna, Austria
DOI: 10.2507/daaam.scibook.2020.15

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 Marijanovic, M.: Methods of Neutral Grounding
1. Ungrounded neutral system

In ungrounded system there is no internal connection between the conductors and

earth. However, as system, a capacitive coupling exists between the system conductors
and the adjacent grounded surfaces. Consequently, the “ungrounded system” is, in
reality, a “capacitive grounded system” by virtue of the distributed capacitance. Under
normal operating conditions, this distributed capacitance causes no problems. In fact,
it is beneficial because it establishes, in effect, a neutral point for the system; As a
result, the phase conductors are stressed at only lineto- neutral voltage above ground.
But problems can rise in ground fault conditions. A ground fault on one line results in
full line-to-line voltage appearing throughout the system. Thus, a voltage 1.73 times
the normal voltage is present on all insulation in the system. This situation can often
cause failures in older motors and transformers, due to insulation breakdown.

Fig. 1. Isolated Neutral.

Advantages:

• After the first ground fault, assuming it remains as a single fault, the circuit may
continue in operation, permitting continued production until a convenient shut
down for maintenance can be scheduled.

Disadvantages:

• The interaction between the faulted system and its distributed capacitance may
cause transient over-voltages (several times normal) to appear from line to
ground during normal switching of a circuit having a line-to ground fault (short).
These over voltages may cause insulation failures at points other than the
original fault.

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• A second fault on another phase may occur before the first fault can be cleared.
This can result in very high line-to-line fault currents, equipment damage and
disruption of both circuits.
• The cost of equipment damage.
• Complicate for locating fault(s), involving a tedious process of trial and error:
first isolating the correct feeder, then the branch, and finally, the equipment at
fault. The result is unnecessarily lengthy and expensive down downtime.

3. Importance of neutral grounding

There are many neutral grounding options available for both Low and Medium
voltage power systems. The neutral points of transformers, generators and rotating
machinery to the earth ground network provides a reference point of zero volts. This
protective measure offers many advantages over an ungrounded system, like:

1. Reduced magnitude of transient over voltages

2. Simplified ground fault location
3. Improved system and equipment fault protection
4. Reduced maintenance time and expense
5. Greater safety for personnel
6. Improved lightning protection
7. Reduction in frequency of faults.

Fig. 2. Neutral Grounding.

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Methods of Neutral Earthing

• Solid Neutral Earthed System

• Resistance Neutral Earthing System Low Resistance Earthing High Resistance
Earthing
• Resonant Neutral Earthing System
• Earthing Transformer Earthing

4. Solidly Neutral Grounded System

Solidly grounded systems are usually used in low voltage applications at 600
volts or less. In solidly grounded system, the neutral point is connected to earth. Solidly
Neutral Grounding slightly reduces the problem of transient over voltages found on the
ungrounded system and provided path for the ground fault current is in the range of 25
to 100% of the system three phase fault current. However, if the reactance of the
generator or transformer is too great, the problem of transient over voltages will not be
solved. While solidly grounded systems are an improvement over ungrounded systems,
and speed up the location of faults, they lack the current limiting ability of resistance
grounding and the extra protection this provides. To maintain systems health and safe,
Transformer neutral is grounded and grounding conductor must be extend from the
source to the furthest point of the system within the same raceway or conduit. Its
purpose is to maintain very low impedance to ground faults so that a relatively high
fault current will flow thus insuring that circuit breakers or fuses will clear the fault
quickly and therefore minimize damage. It also greatly reduces the shock hazard to
personnel! If the system is not solidly grounded, the neutral point of the system would
“float” with respect to ground as a function of load subjecting the line-to neutral loads
to voltage unbalances and instability. The single-phase earth fault current in a solidly
earthed system may exceed the three phase fault current. The magnitude of the current
depends on the fault location and the fault resistance. One way to reduce the earth fault
current is to leave some of the transformer neutrals unearthed.

Advantages:
• The main advantage of solidly earthed systems is low over voltages, which
makes the earthing design common at high voltage levels (HV).

Disadvantages
• This system involves all the drawbacks and hazards of high earth fault current:
maximum damage and disturbances.
• There is no service continuity on the faulty feeder.
• The danger for personnel is high during the fault since the touch voltages
created are high.

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5. Resistance earthed system

Resistance grounding has been used in three-phase industrial applications for

many years and it resolves many of the problems associated with solidly grounded and
ungrounded systems. Resistance Grounding Systems limits the phase-to ground fault
currents.

The main reasons for limiting the phase to ground fault current by resistance
grounding are:
• To reduce burning and melting effects in faulted electrical equipment like
switchgear,
• transformers, cables, and Rotating machines.
• To reduce mechanical stresses in circuits/Equipments carrying fault currents.
• To reduce electrical-shock hazards to personnel caused by stray ground fault.
• To reduce the arc blast or flash hazard.
• To reduce the momentary line-voltage dip.
• To secure control of the transient over-voltages while at the same time.
• To improve the detection of the earth fault in a power system.

Grounding Resistors are generally connected between ground and neutral of

transformers, generators and grounding transformers to limit maximum fault current as
per Ohms Law to a value which will not damage the equipment in the power system
and allow sufficient flow of fault current to detect and operate Earth protective relays
to clear the fault. Although it is possible to limit fault currents with high resistance
Neutral grounding Resistors, earth short circuit currents can be extremely reduced. As
a result of this fact, protection devices may not sense the fault. Therefore, it is the most
common application to limit single phase fault currents with low resistance Neutral
Grounding Resistors to approximately rated current of transformer and / or generator.
In addition, limiting fault currents to predetermined maximum values permits the
designer to selectively coordinate the operation of protective devices, which minimizes
system disruption and allows for quick
location of the fault.

There are two categories of resistance grounding:

• Low resistance Grounding
• High resistance Grounding

Low Resistance Grounded

Low Resistance Grounding is used for large electrical systems where there is a high
investment in capital equipment or prolonged loss of service of equipment has a
significant economic impact and it is not commonly used in low voltage systems
because the limited ground fault current is too low to reliably operate breaker trip units
or fuses. This makes system selectivity hard to achieve. Moreover, low resistance

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grounded systems are not suitable for 4 wire loads and hence have not been used in
commercial market applications. A resistor is connected from the system neutral point
to ground and generally sized to permit only 200A to 1200 amps of ground fault current
to flow. Enough current must flow such that protective devices can detect the faulted
circuit and trip it offline but not so much current as to create major damage at the fault
point. Since the grounding impedance is in the form of resistance, any transient over
voltages are quickly damped out and the whole transient overvoltage phenomena is no
longer applicable. Although theoretically possible to be applied in low voltage systems
(e.g. 480V),significant amount of the system voltage dropped across the grounding
resistor, there is not enough voltage across the arc forcing current to flow, for the fault
to be reliably detected. For this reason low resistance grounding is not used for low
voltage systems (under 1000 volts line to-line).

Advantages:
• Limits phase-to-ground currents to 200-400A.
• Reduces arcing current and, to some extent, limits arc-flash hazards associated
with phase-togroundarcing current conditions only.
• May limit the mechanical damage and thermal damage to shorted transformer
and rotating machinery windings.

Disadvantages:
• Does not prevent operation of over current devices.
• Does not require a ground fault detection system.
• May be utilized on medium or high voltage systems.
• Conductor insulation and surge arrestors must be rated based on the line to-line
voltage. Phase-toneutral loads must be served through an isolation transformer.
• Used: Up to 400 amps for 10 sec are commonly found on medium voltage
systems.

High Resistance Grounded

High resistance grounding is almost identical to low resistance grounding except

that the ground fault current magnitude is typically limited to 10 amperes or less. High
resistance grounding accomplishes two things. The first is that the ground fault current
magnitude is sufficiently low enough such that no appreciable damage is done at the
fault point. This means that the faulted circuit need not be tripped off-line when the
fault first occurs. Means that once a fault does occur, we do not know where the fault
is located. In this respect, it performs just like an ungrounded system.
The second point is it can control the transient overvoltage phenomenon present
on ungrounded systems if engineered properly. Under earth fault conditions, the
resistance must dominate over the system charging capacitance but not to the point of
permitting excessive current to flow and thereby excluding continuous operation.

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High Resistance Grounding (HRG) systems limit the fault current when one
phase of the system shorts or arcs to ground, but at lower levels than low resistance
systems. In the event that a ground fault condition exists, the HRG typically limits the
current to 5-10A. HRG’s are continuous current rated, so the description of a particular
unit does not include a time rating. Unlike NGR’s, ground fault current flowing through
a HRG is usually not of significant magnitude to result in the operation of an over
current device. Since the ground fault current is not interrupted, a ground fault
detection system must be installed.
These systems include a bypass contactor tapped across a portion of the resistor
that pulses (periodically opens and closes). When the contactor is open, ground fault
current flows through the entire resistor. When the contactor is closed a portion of the
resistor is bypassed resulting in slightly lower resistance and slightly higher ground
fault current. To avoid transient over-voltages, an HRG resistor must be sized so that
the amount of ground fault current the unit will allow to flow exceeds the electrical
system’s charging current.
As a rule of thumb, charging current is estimated at 1A per 2000 KVA of system
capacity for low voltage systems and 2A per 2000KVA of system capacity at 4.16kV.
These estimated charging currents increase if surge suppressors are present. Each set
of suppressors installed on a low voltage system results in approximately 0.5A of
additional charging current and each set of suppressors installed on a 4.16kV system
adds 1.5A of additional charging current.
A system with 3000KVA of capacity at 480 volts would have an estimated
charging current of 1.5A. Add one set of surge suppressors and the total charging
current increases by 0.5A to 2.0A. A standard 5A resistor could be used on this system.
Most resistor manufacturers publish detailed estimation tables that can be used to more
closely estimate an electrical system’s charging current.

Advantages:
• Enables high impedance fault detection in systems with weak capacitive
connection to earth.
• Some phase-to-earth faults are self-cleared.
• The neutral point resistance can be chosen to limit the possible over voltage
transients to 2.5 times the fundamental frequency maximum voltage.
• Limits phase-to-ground currents to 5-10A.
• Reduces arcing current and essentially eliminates arc-flash hazards associated
with phase-toground arcing current conditions only.
• Will eliminate the mechanical damage and may limit thermal damage to
shorted transformer and rotating machinery windings.
• Prevents operation of over current devices until the fault can be located (when
only one phase faults to ground).
• May be utilized on low voltage systems or medium voltage systems up to 5kV.
IEEE Standard 141-1993 states that “high resistance grounding should be
restricted to 5kV class or lower systems with charging currents of about 5.5A

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or less and should not be attempted on 15kV systems, unless proper grounding
relaying is employed”.
• Conductor insulation and surge arrestors must be rated based on the line to-line
voltage. Phase-toneutral loads must be served through an isolation transformer.

Disadvantages:
• Generates extensive earth fault currents when combined with strong or
moderate capacitive connection to earth Cost involved.
• Requires a ground fault detection system to notify the facility engineer that a
ground fault condition has occurred.

6. Resonant earthed system

Adding inductive reactance from the system neutral point to ground is an easy
method of limiting the available ground fault from something near the maximum 3
phase short circuit capacity (thousands of amperes) to a relatively low value (200 to
800 amperes). To limit the reactive part of the earth fault current in a power system a
neutral point reactor can be connected between the transformer neutral and the station
earthing system. A system in which at least one of the neutrals is connected to earth
through an:

a) Inductive reactance.
b) Petersen coil / Arc Suppression Coil / Earth Fault Neutralizer.

The current generated by the reactance during an earth fault approximately

compensates the capacitive component of the single phase earth fault current, is called
a resonant earthed system. The system is hardly ever exactly tuned, i.e. the reactive
current does not exactly equal the capacitive earth fault current of the system. A system
in which the inductive current is slightly larger than the capacitive earth fault current
is over compensated.
A system in which the induced earth fault current is slightly smaller than the
capacitive earth fault current is under compensated. However, experience indicated that
this inductive reactance to ground resonates with the system shunt capacitance to
ground under arcing ground fault conditions and creates very high transient over
voltages on the system. To control the transient over voltages, the design must permit
at least 60% of the 3 phase short circuit current to flow underground fault conditions.

Petersen coil

A Petersen Coil is connected between the neutral point of the system and earth, and is
rated so that the capacitive current in the earth fault is compensated by an inductive
current passed by the Petersen Coil. A small residual current will remain, but this is so
small that any arc between the faulted phase and earth will not be maintained and the

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fault will extinguish. Minor earth faults such as a broken pin insulator, could be held
on the system without the supply being interrupted.
Transient faults would not result in supply interruptions. Although the standard
‘Peterson coil’ does not compensate the entire earth fault current in a network due to
the presence of resistive losses in the lines and coil, it is now possible to apply ‘residual
current compensation’ by injecting an additional 180° out of phase current into the
neutral via the Peterson coil. The fault current is thereby reduced to practically zero.
Such systems are known as ‘Resonant earthing with residual compensation’, and can
be considered as a special case of reactive earthing. Resonant earthing can reduce EPR
to a safe level. This is because the Petersen coil can often effectively act as a high
impedance NER, which will substantially reduce any earth fault currents, and hence
also any corresponding EPR hazards (e.g. touch voltages, step voltages and transferred
voltages, including any EPR hazards impressed onto nearby telecommunication
networks).

Advantages:
• Small reactive earth fault current independent of the phase to earth capacitance
of the system.
• Enables high impedance fault detection.

Disadvantages:
• Risk of extensive active earth fault losses.
• High costs associated.

7. Earthing Transformers

For cases where there is no neutral point available for Neutral Earthing (e.g. for a delta
winding), an earthing transformer may be used to provide a return path for single phase
fault currents. In such cases the impedance of the earthing transformer may be
sufficient to act as effective earthing impedance. Additional impedance can be added
in series if required. A special ‘zig-zag’ transformer is sometimes used for earthing
delta windings to provide a low zero-sequence impedance and high positive and
negative sequence impedance to fault currents.

8. Conclusion

Resistance Grounding Systems have many advantages over solidly grounded systems
including arc-flash hazard reduction, limiting mechanical and thermal damage
associated with faults, and controlling transient over voltages. High resistance
grounding systems may also be employed to maintain service continuity and assist with
locating the source of a fault. When designing a system with resistors, the
design/consulting engineer must consider the specific requirements for conductor
insulation ratings, surge arrestor ratings, breaker single-pole duty ratings, and method
of serving phase-to-neutral loads.

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9. References

David Shipp, Frank Angelin,Characteristics of Different Power Systems Neutral

Grounding Techniques: Fact & Fiction
Johnson Gerald, Schroeder Mark, Dalke Gerald. A review of system grounding
methods. Proceedings of the Protective Relay Engineers 61st Annual
Conference; 2008.
Siming Hua, Hua Zhang, Feng Qian, Chunjie Chen, Meixia Zhang. The research on
neutral grounding scheme of Fengxian 35 kV and 10 kV power grid, Energy and Power
Engineering. 2013;
GloverTM Post. Grounding for electrical power systems (low resistance and high
resistance design). IEEE Baton Rouge. 2012 May;
C. L. Wagner, “Grounding Report II, Effect of Grounding Impedance on the Magnitude
of Transient Overvoltage Due to Arcing Grounds”, Westinghouse Transmission and
Distributions Systems, 1960.
Electrical Transmission and Distribution Reference Book, Westinghouse Electric
Corp., 1964.
Industrial Power Systems Data Book, General Electric Company, 1956.
“System Neutral Grounding and Ground Fault Protection Guide”, (PRSC-4E), ABB
Corp., Coral Springs, Fl., Feb., 1986.

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