A comprehensive distance protection strategy for solar-powered textile microgrid

Abstract

The power demand in textile industries is fulfilled by the utility grid and diesel generators. However, due to the low reliability and high cost of power from these resources, the industries now install solar-powered microgrids on their premises. The issues such as bidirectional power flow and changing fault current level are obvious with PV installations. The protection system in traditional textile grids employs overcurrent relays, but these relays are not suitable for PV integrated systems. Furthermore, in industrial microgrids sensitivity and selectivity are two essential requirements, which are not available in overcurrent relays. To overcome these challenges, this paper proposes a comprehensive distance protection strategy for PV-powered textile microgrids. The proposed scheme utilizes a backward and forward configuration of distance relays, tested for different types of faults and variable fault currents in different scenarios. It is observed that the designed strategy gives the best performance for any kind of fault, and there is no overlapping of protection zones during the operation. The paper also presents the distance relay setting criteria to provide the full-proof protection of textile microgrids.