IEEE 80-2013 PDF Download

The IEEE 80-2013 standard primarily focuses on outdoor AC substations, including distribution, transmission, and generating plant substations. It also provides guidance for indoor portions of such substations. The standard does not cover the grounding issues specific to DC substations.

The purpose of this guide is to establish safety limits for potential differences under fault conditions between points in a substation that may come into contact with the human body. It reviews grounding practices and develops safety criteria for design. It also provides a procedure for designing practical grounding systems based on these criteria and offers analytical methods for understanding and solving voltage gradient problems. The standard also includes benchmark cases for comparing results obtained from the IEEE Std 80 equations to commercially available software programs.

The standard's scope primarily covers safe grounding practices for power frequencies in the range of 50 Hz to 60 Hz. It does not address the grounding problems specific to DC substations or provide a quantitative analysis of the effects of lightning surges. Nevertheless, a grounding system designed according to the guide will offer some protection against steep wave front surges passing through the substation and discharging into the ground. Additional supporting material is provided in the annexes.