A practical method to test the safety of HV/MV substation Grounding Systems

The adequacy of a Grounding System (GS) to the safety conditions has to be periodically tested by measurements. The test methods and techniques used to verify the electrical characteristics of the GS include the measurements of step and touch voltages. The goal of the test is to verify that touch voltage and step voltage remain below a safe value in all the zones of the installation. The measurements can present some operational difficulties. The purpose of this paper is to present the procedure, step-by-step, of a practical method of measuring touch/step voltages in grounding systems located in urban or industrial areas with reduced accessibility. The suggested method uses auxiliary current electrodes located at short distances. This paper demonstrates by test measurements done in a real case that the method provides conservative results.