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High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) systems enable utilities to move more power further, efficiently integrate renewables, interconnect grids, and improve network performance. HVDC systems utilize power electronics technology to convert AC and DC voltage and are ideal for supporting existing systems or building new power highways.

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GE Vernova provides solutions that offer grid operators the ability to provide reactive power support, enhance controllability, improve stability and increase power transfer capability of AC transmission systems.

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The energy landscape today is changing, this is being led by the current industry trends of Decarbonization, Digitization, Decentralization and Electrification. Discover how GE Vernova is working with utility, consumer and industrial customers to design and deploy tailored Microgrid and Distributed Energy Resource (DER) Management solutions.

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Innovations to Decarbonize the Electrical Grid. GRiDEA is our portfolio of decarbonization solutions that empower grid operators to address their net-zero objectives.

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GE Vernova offers a wide range of transformer solutions for the utility, industrial, commercial, residential and energy markets. These solutions feature flexible, reliable and robust designs to support a wide range of applications. With units operating in some of the most demanding electrical environments around the world, We design and delivers transformer solutions that provide among the highest level of performance and reliability to meet rigorous operating requirements.

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GE Vernova provides GIS solutions from 50 kV to 800 kV, along with secondary products to maximize switchgear and network operation. The portfolio includes a full range of SF6 GIS as well as g3 (SF6-free) GIS at 145 kV and 420 kV voltage levels for utilities and industries worldwide.

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GE Vernova is one of the top circuit breaker suppliers in the world. Our products include a range of live tank circuit breakers (up to 800 kV), dead tank circuit breakers (up to 550 kV), as well as hybrid and compact switchgear assemblies. We also provide solutions for power generation applications with our generator circuit breakers for installations up to 1,500 MW.

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GE Vernova is a global market leader for disconnectors (disconnect switches) since 1960, with 8 product facilities in 7 countries and hundreds of thousands installations in more than 130 countries around the world. The portfolio includes disconnectors for AC applications (up to 1,200 kV), for DC applications (up to 1,000 kV) and for railway applications. We also offer power connectors to connect two or more conductors for a continuous electrical path.

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GE Vernova is an industry leader in the design and manufacturing of high, medium and low voltage instrument transformers. With more than 100 years of experience, We offer a broad array of standard and high accuracy models for revenue metering and system protection applications. The portfolio of instrument transformers ranges from low voltage at 600 V suitable for industrial and high accuracy revenue metering, all the way up to high voltage at 1,200 kV. The portfolio also includes line traps and digital instrument transformers.

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For a century, utilities have relied on us to deliver electrical products and services to meet their quality, durability and performance needs. Our capacitor and reactor product lines are an integral part of our portfolio. GE Vernova provides power capacitors that meet ANSI, IEEE and IEC standards, and our low voltage capacitors are UL listed. Ratings range from 1 kvar to 500 MVAR, and from 240 volts to 500 KV.

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GE Vernova provides a broad range of bushings and surge arresters to help protect electrical assets. The bushings portfolio includes AC and DC solutions that enable long life, high reliability and installation flexibility. GE’s Tranquell surge arresters are ideal for distribution and EHV applications up to 612kV, and are available as polymer and porcelain station and intermediate class IEEE/ANSI C62.11.

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Our SF₆-free switchgear range features the same ratings and same dimensional footprint as the state-of-the-art SF₆ equipment, with a drastically reduced carbon footprint.

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The collection of required asset condition data from the field on a large scale for GE Vernova and 3rd party electrical equipment is a key step in building a robust Asset Performance Management strategy. Grid Services specialists are constantly evaluating and implementing new innovative inspection technologies applying strict processes and methods. The digital inspections methods are designed to improve the efficiency of data collection, oil analysis and online monitoring. All new approaches to capture data are integrated into the EnergyAPM ecosystem for automatic data transfer.

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Energy costs are significant expenses for utilities and industries at large, particularly those that are energy-intensive or operate heavy machinery. Between 5% and 25%* of the expenses in these organizations are allocated to energy payments, with up to 15%** of this energy consumption being wasted during operations.

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GE Vernova offers a wide range of solutions to monitor and manage critical assets on the electrical grid, detect and diagnose issues and provide expert information and services to customers. Our asset monitoring and diagnostics portfolio includes solutions for single- and multi-gas transformer DGA, enhanced transformer solutions and switchgear monitoring, as well as software and services.

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GE Vernova's Grid Solutions business electrifies the world with advanced grid technologies and systems, enabling power transmission and distribution from the grid to homes, businesses, and industries effieciently and reliably.

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GridBeats™ is a portfolio of software-defined automation solutions for grid digitalization. The portfolio is designed to enable utilities and industrial customers to ensure a stable, efficient energy supply amidst the growing integration of renewable energy sources and aging infrastructure.

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GE Vernova's Critical Infrastructure Communications solutions deliver comprehensive networks that are designed to be secure, flexible, and tailored to meet customers' objectives and unique geographic requirements.

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GE Vernova's comprehensive portfolio of solutions for implementing and managing a substation.

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GE Vernova's Asset Lifecycle Management services combine a large set of methodologies to collect condition data off and online, consulting and asset optimization services using digital technology to improve the monitoring, recording and analysis of asset operations and predict asset behavior.

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GE’s innovative and high-quality services help maintain and optimize high-voltage electrical assets throughout their entire lifecycle. Leveraging the design and manufacturing knowledge of our engineers, the customized service solutions ensure substations and networks perform as planned. Experts deliver services for applications across the power system, keeping assets up-to-date, safe, reliable and efficient while improving customers’ return-on-investment.

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GE Vernova provides a full range of services & support tailored to meet a broad range of power system needs across utility and industrial applications. With deep domain knowledge and industry expertise GE’s service application engineers and technical specialists can help plan, design, operate, maintain, and modernize your protection, control, monitoring and automation systems.

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GE Vernova provides comprehensive services throughout the systems lifecycle. The services can be provided by our local team and with the support of our global Competence Centers when the equipment is installed, during the warranty period and beyond.

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Our technical experts are ready to equip customers with the knowledge needed to effectively manage their critical assets and systems, and increase their return on product investments. Our training courses are offered in a variety of ways, including online, onsite at customer locations, and in our state-of-the art training centers around the world.

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GE Vernova's Grid Solutions' Testing Laboratories enable manufacturers and end users to test their primary equipment by leveraging deep domain expertise and testing facilities, to develop enhanced high voltage products and certify their capabilities before market introductions.

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GE Vernova delivers materials and eco-design studies for high voltage solutions to accelerate insulation and environmental innovation. GE’s services provide the expertise and methods that enable new value to support customer engineering, sourcing, quality control and EHS activities.

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With the rapid digitalization of the grid, utility, power generation and industrial operators require cybersecurity solutions to monitor and protect grid asset and systems from increased severity and frequency of cyber attacks. GE Vernova adopted a “defense in depth” approach, providing innovative cybersecurity solutions designed to increase operational integrity, comply with regulations and control costs of security.

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Utilities today seek to create and connect new sources of power generation to meet growing global demand, while also managing grid reliability, costs and regulatory factors.

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Water is central not just to the economy, but to life. As a result, water treatment systems demand secure, dependable power to ensure process uptime. From the grid-connected substation to reliable electrical protection, control, and power quality metering, GE Vernova offers tailored solutions to keep critical plants operational and meet the unique needs of the water and wastewater industry.

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As power systems become increasingly interconnected and complex, utilities need solutions that optimize energy transmission and management while improving reliability.

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Data centers – and the information they store – are becoming increasingly integral to the way we live our lives every day. With rising demand also come rising costs. And more importantly, the information in these centers must remain secure while simultaneously accessible. We provide data centers with electrical infrastructure solutions from the input utility source to the IT server racks. This includes high-voltage switchgear and transformers, medium and low voltage electrical equipment, automatic transfer switches, switchboards, UPS systems, critical power PDUs, static transfer switches, and overhead busway. This chain of electrification products provides high quality and reliable products and services for the entire lifecycle of a data center.

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The oil and gas industry is evolving at a rate never seen before, facing shifting pricing levels, ever-changing regulatory requirements, and increased environmental consciousness. Through reliable, safe, and innovative solutions and a holistic service offering, GE Vernova can help the energy sector thrive in this changing reality.

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Modernizing and digitizing the distribution grid is imperative for utilities and customers to enhance power system stability and safety, while increasingly integrating distributed power and demand response.

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The industry is changing. Simultaneously, so are your utility’s needs. Operational effectiveness, power stability, and critical asset management are key priorities – whether in pulp and paper, steel, or data centers. GE’s holistic portfolio of products and services are designed with reliability, innovation, and sustainability at the forefront, helping you face the energy transition with ease.

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Mining companies require secure communications, efficient asset performance management, and dependable, innovative technology to protect their critical assets. GE Vernova offers a broad product portfolio to help you through each step of the mining process – safely and reliably.

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GridNode
High-Speed Falling Conductor Protection

Home > Services > Automation & Protection Services > Automation Services > GridNode HFCP

  
GridNode High-Speed Falling Conductor Protection

GE’s GridNode High-Speed Falling Conductor Protection provides a reliable solution to detect and isolate broken overhead line conductors using secure wide-area measurements.

When an overhead power line breaks, the energized conductor falls to the ground or surrounding objects causing a high-impedance fault and/or arcing. For over 20 years, the industry has relied on negative-sequence current (I2/I1) principles to detect a broken conductor. However, with the increasing penetration of Distributed Energy Resources(DERs) and depending on the number of loads and/or presence of single-phase loads connected to a line, this solution is no longer an efficient method of protection.

GE’s GridNode High-Speed Falling Conductor Protection offers an evolution to falling conductor monitoring and protection by delivering enhanced reliability, speed, and performance needed for today’s distribution networks.

To learn more about GE’s GridNode High-Speed Falling Conductor Protection (HFCP), read our 2-part interview series as we answer important questions about the risks of broken conductors and the advantages of HFCP. We also explore HFCP system architecture and study the testing phases of this solution.

Key Benefits

  • Reliably identify broken overhead lines and trip corresponding breakers or block a recloser under 500ms prior to the conductor touching the ground
  • Easy deployment with no coordination required with existing protection settings
  • Minimize customer impact with coordinated operation to isolate the broken line
  • Increased flexibility through the ability to accommodate high DER penetration
  • Prolong asset life by preventing potential damage caused by unnecessary reclosing
  • Increased reliability with the capability to detect broken conductors in low load branches as well as feeder end
  • Enhanced reliability through real-time adaptive settings
  • Low implementation costs by leveraging existing digital protective relays
Explore the Solution
Overview
Architecture
Services
Components

Discover GE's solution with the interactive app

GE’s GridNode High-Speed Falling Conductor Protection provides a reliable solution to detect and isolate broken overhead line conductors prior to the conductor touching the ground for both transmission and distribution networks. This is a substation centric based solution that is based on the rate of change of impedance.

Typical Broken Falling Conductors take 1.3 seconds to touch the ground on a distribution system.

Network Benefits

  • Increased Safety through quick detection and isolation of broken overhead lines
  • Risk Reduction in fire ignition caused by a down conductor
  • Reduced damage caused by unnecessary network reclosing
  • Increased customer reliability by minimizing the number of customers interrupted through coordinated protection
  • Ability to accommodate a high and growing number of distributed energy resources on your network without impacting broken falling conductor protection
Normal State

Normal State

Traditional Protection

Broken Falling Conductor

Broken Falling Conductor

GridNode High-Speed Falling Conductor Protection

Benefits

  • Operates in under 500ms prior to the conductor touching the ground
  • Up to 8 times better sensitivity at detecting broken conductors than conventional I2/I1 methods for distribution networks
  • Works in areas with high penetration of DERs
  • No coordination required with existing protection devices
  • Scalable to multiple feeders and beyond the substation and has the ability to isolate and coordinate the trip to the faulted line section
Broken Down Conductor

Broken Down Conductor

Down Conductor Technology

Benefits

  • Ability to detect down conductors under certain circumstances

Drawbacks

  • Safety and fire concerns as conductor has already touched the ground
  • Applicability depends on ground surface type

Architecture

GE’s GridNode High-Speed Falling Conductor Protection Solution is scalable system that provides reliable and fast detection of broken falling conductors in the distribution or transmission system. The solution can connect to devices inside the substation as well as along the feeder.

architecture diagram

Substation Based Solution

  • Increased detection capabilities on low load branches
  • Ability to coordinate and sectionalize the line closest to the fault
  • Requires V&I measurements from IEDs
  • Supports up to 10 Feeders
  • Vendor agnostic
  • Utilizes standard communication protocols

Substation + Line Devices Solution

  • Increased detection capabilities on low load branches
  • Ability to coordinate and sectionalize the line closest to the fault
  • Requires PMU data for connected IEDs
  • Supports industrial standard communications (fiber optic, radio (licensed or unlicensed) or cellular

Services

GE’s Advanced Application Services team provides the following engineering and consulting services as part of the High-Speed Falling Conductor Protection solution.

CONSULTING
PMU placement assessment and support
Deployment strategy
COMMUNICATIONS
Network and communications system design
Hardware specification
ENGINEERING
System configuration; Settings development
Cybersecurity
FACTORY TESTING
Factory acceptance testing including Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing and validation
INSTALLATION & SITE INTEGRATION
Field services; Site integration services
Communications, network, and I/O testing
TESTING & COMMISSIONING
Site acceptance testing and performance validation
TRAINING & SUPPORT
Master service agreement to help maintain the accuracy of the operation following network topology changes

Components

GE’s GridNode High-Speed Falling Conductor Protection Solution includes the following:

GPG Controller

GridNode High-Speed Falling Conductor Protection Solution - Hardware specifications

  • Certification: IEC 61850-3, IEEE 1613, CE, FCC Class A, UL, CCC
  • Mounting: 2U/19” Rack mount
  • System Design: Fanless, with no internal cabling
  • OS Support: Windows and Embedded RTOS VxWorks for critical real time
  • Power Consumption: 19W/220VAC or VDC (Typical)
  • Power Supply: Redundant 100 ~ 240 VAC (47 ~ 63 Hz) DC: 100 ~ 240 VDC DC: 48VDC with isolation protection
  • PRP & HSR Ethernet redundancy
  • Two expansion slots to increase serial and Ethernet port types and quantity
GPG Controller

GridNode HFCP HMI

GridNode HFCP HMI

GridNode HFCP Configurator

GridNode HFCP Configurator

Solution Components

UR

Protective Relays

S20

Communication Switches

RT430

Time synchronization clock