{"id":8349,"date":"2026-10-08T16:20:30","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T19:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ufrgs.br\/ppgee\/?p=8349"},"modified":"2026-10-08T16:20:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T19:20:31","slug":"27-10-2026-defesa-de-dissertacao-de-mestrado-diego-enrique-castro-calderon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ufrgs.br\/ppgee\/27-10-2026-defesa-de-dissertacao-de-mestrado-diego-enrique-castro-calderon\/","title":{"rendered":"27\/10\/2026 – Defesa de Disserta\u00e7\u00e3o de Mestrado – Diego Enrique Castro Calderon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Defesa P\u00fablica da Disserta\u00e7\u00e3o de Mestrado do Engenheiro Eletr\u00f4nico Diego Enrique Castro Calderon

Data: 27 de outubro de 2026 – ter\u00e7a-feira
Hor\u00e1rio: 13h30min (hor\u00e1rio de Bras\u00edlia)

Local: A defesa ser\u00e1 realizada por videoconfer\u00eancia, com acesso \u00e0 sala virtual atrav\u00e9s do link: Link principal:
https:\/\/teams.microsoft.com\/meet\/218686333085434?p=zvzH0y5FmFR69oV71H<\/a>

Link alternativo (em caso de falha do principal): https:\/\/conferenciaweb.rnp.br\/sala\/daniel-485<\/a>

Banca Examinadora:
Prof. Dr. Benedito Donizeti Bonatto – Instituto de Sistemas El\u00e9tricos e Energia – UNIFEI
Prof. Dr. Rafael de Souza Salles – Engineering Sciences and Mathematics – Lule\u00e5 Tekniska Universitet Prof. Dr. Paulo Roberto Eckert – PPGEE – UFRGS Presidente da Banca\/Orientador: Prof. Dr. Daniel da Silva Gazzana – PPGEE – UFRGS
Coorientador: Prof. Dr. Arturo Suman Bretas – University Grenoble Alpes, Fran\u00e7a \/ Sandia National Laboratories, EUA

Title: “MITIGATION OF GEOMAGNETICALLY INDUCED CURRENTS IN POWER SYSTEMS BY LOGICAL-DRIVEN NEUTRAL CAPACITOR SWITCHING”

Abstract:
“Geomagnetically induced currents (GIC), originating from geomagnetic disturbances (GMD), flow through the grounded neutrals of power transformers and cause half-cycle saturation of the core, resulting in increased reactive power consumption, harmonic distortion, localized heating in structural components, and degradation of the system voltage profile. In this context, the dissertation proposes and evaluates an adaptive GIC mitigation method based on the insertion of a high-impedance capacitor at the neutral of the stepup transformer, operated by a Logic Control Block (LCB) that enables mitigation only when two conditions are simultaneously satisfied: the detection of GIC at the transformer neutral and the violation of the voltage limits established by the regulatory agency. The methodology combines two computational tools for the mitigation study: PowerWorld software, employed for the steady-state calculation of GIC and of the reactive power losses in each transformer based on the geographical coordinates of the substations, the induced electric field, and the grounding resistances; and PSCAD software, where the electromagnetic transient model of the system, the representation of GIC as a direct current Source at the neutral, and the LCB logic are implemented. The method was applied to a nine-bus test system (Western System Coordinating Council), divided into six substations and six transmission lines. The studies were conducted considering the locations of three countries with distinct geoelectric conditions \u2014 Brazil, the United States, and New
Zealand\u2014under induced electric fields ranging from 0.25 to 2 V\/km in the northward and eastward directions. The performance of the mitigation strategy was quantified through two indicators: the Relative Reactive Power Loss Deviation and the Load Bus Voltage Deviation Index. Without mitigation, the results revealed reactive power loss deviations exceeding 3000% and voltage drops of up to 57% at the load buses, configuring scenarios close to voltage collapse. With mitigation activated, both indicators were reduced to negligible values (below 0.41% and between 0% and 2%, respectively) across all evaluated scenarios, confirming the effectiveness of the method and its robustness against different topologies, induced field orientations, and regulatory frameworks.

Keywords: Geomagnetically induced currents, geomagnetic disturbances, neutral blocking capacitor, logic control block, power systems. “<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Defesa P\u00fablica da Disserta\u00e7\u00e3o de Mestrado do Engenheiro Eletr\u00f4nico Diego Enrique Castro Calderon Data: 27 de outubro de 2026 – ter\u00e7a-feiraHor\u00e1rio: 13h30min (hor\u00e1rio de Bras\u00edlia) Local: A defesa ser\u00e1 realizada por videoconfer\u00eancia, com acesso \u00e0 sala virtual atrav\u00e9s do link: Link principal:https:\/\/teams.microsoft.com\/meet\/218686333085434?p=zvzH0y5FmFR69oV71H Link alternativo (em caso de falha do principal): https:\/\/conferenciaweb.rnp.br\/sala\/daniel-485 Banca Examinadora:Prof. Dr. Benedito… Continue a ler »27\/10\/2026 – Defesa de Disserta\u00e7\u00e3o de Mestrado – Diego Enrique Castro Calderon<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-eventos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ufrgs.br\/ppgee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ufrgs.br\/ppgee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ufrgs.br\/ppgee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ufrgs.br\/ppgee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ufrgs.br\/ppgee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8349"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ufrgs.br\/ppgee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8350,"href":"https:\/\/www.ufrgs.br\/ppgee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8349\/revisions\/8350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ufrgs.br\/ppgee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ufrgs.br\/ppgee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ufrgs.br\/ppgee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}