An Adaptive Protection Scheme based on Fault Location for Smart Micro-Grids

Abstract

The traditional distribution systems are radial and have unidirectional power flow. The overcurrent protection system of these networks is negatively affected by Distributed Generation (DG) units. The time and current coordination of protection devices of these systems is the most important concern in the case of high DGs penetration. Actually, DGs connection and disconnection change the short circuit level of feeders and disturb the coordination of protection devices. So, new protection schemes should be proposed which must not to be affected by DGs and should work properly in both islanded and grid connected operation modes of the micro-grid. In this paper, an adaptive protection scheme, based on fault location, is proposed for smart micro-grids. The functionality of each protection device is adaptively selected based on detected network topology and fault type. The proposed solution is simulated in the SimPower software. The results show the efficiency of the proposed protection scheme which cannot be affected by DGs.