Ground systems efficiency in areas with reduced accessibility

Efficiency of grounding systems has to be verified periodically in the operational time. With urban development and buildings growth adjacent to power systems as HV/MV substations, it is very rare to have area around with sufficient accessibility for installing the potential and current electrodes. This paper discusses a safety criterion to verify the efficiency of a grounding system. By means of this criterion, conservative tests are suggested for both ground potential rise and touch voltage and step voltage that allow to verify the grounding systems efficiency in areas with reduced accessibility and also to monitor its evolution in the time.Efficiency of grounding systems has to be verified periodically in the operational time. With urban development and buildings growth adjacent to power systems as HV/MV substations, it is very rare to have area around with sufficient accessibility for installing the potential and current electrodes. This paper discusses a safety criterion to verify the efficiency of a grounding system. By means of this criterion, conservative tests are suggested for both ground potential rise and touch voltage and step voltage that allow to verify the grounding systems efficiency in areas with reduced accessibility and also to monitor its evolution in the time