Search

Premium Membership ♕

Limited Time Offer: Save 15% on PRO Plan with discount code: LRN15 and study specialized LV/MV/HV technical articles and studies.

Home / Download Center / Electrical Engineering Books and Technical Guides / Power substation guides / Power Plant Horror Stories – The Loss Of a Generator

Complete failure of the generator

Generators are the most expensive piece of equipment in a power system. The cost of a major generator failure to a utility or IPP (Independent Power Producer) owner is not only the cost of repair or replacement of the damaged machine, but also the substantial cost of purchasing replacement power when the unit is out of service.

Power Plant Horror Stories - The Loss Of a Generator
Power Plant Horror Stories – The Loss Of a Generator (on photo: Surveying the damage within Bold Power Station after a turbine explosion; credit: suttonbeauty.org.uk)

An alert and skillful power plant operator, at manned locations, can sometimes avoid removing a generator from service by correcting an abnormal condition.

In the vast majority of cases, however, the event will occur too rapidly for the operator to react and automatic detection and isolation is required. Operators have also been known to make errors and create abnormal conditions where tripping to avoid damage is required.

Inadvertent energization and overexcitation are examples of such events.

Several power plant events within the last two to three years substantiate the premise that generators can, and do, sustain internal short circuits and abnormal operating conditions that require tripping. The following in-service events are described:

  • Multi-phase generator faults
  • Stator ground faults
  • Accidental off-line generator energizings
  • Overexcitation
  • Loss-of-field
  • Generator breaker failure (breaker flashover)
Title:Power Plant Horror Stories – Charles J. Mozina Beckwith at Electric Co., Inc.
Format:PDF
Size:282 KB
Pages:18
Download:Right here | Video Courses | Membership | Download Updates
Power Plant Horror Stories – Charles J. Mozina Beckwith at Electric Co., Inc.
Power Plant Horror Stories – Charles J. Mozina Beckwith at Electric Co., Inc.

Premium Membership

Get access to premium HV/MV/LV technical articles, advanced electrical engineering guides, papers, and much more! It will help you to shape up your technical skills in your everyday life as an electrical engineer.
50% Discount 💥 - Save 50% on all 90+ video courses with Enterprise Membership plan.

More Information

One Comment


  1. Franklin Ferreira de Lima
    Apr 07, 2021

    fora Da pesquisa de um pouco da distância

Leave a Comment

Tell us what you're thinking. We care about your opinion! Please keep in mind that comments are moderated and rel="nofollow" is in use. So, please do not use a spammy keyword or a domain as your name, or it will be deleted. Let's have a professional and meaningful conversation instead. Thanks for dropping by!

  ⁄  3  =  one

Learn How to Design Power Systems

Learn to design LV/MV/HV power systems through professional video courses. Lifetime access. Enjoy learning!

Subscribe to Weekly Newsletter

Subscribe to our Weekly Digest newsletter and receive free updates on new technical articles, video courses and guides (PDF).
EEP Academy Courses - A hand crafted cutting-edge electrical engineering knowledge