Integration of wind turbines in distribution systems and development of an adaptive overcurrent relay coordination scheme with considerations for wind speed forecast uncertainty

Abstract

The integration of renewable energy (RE)-based distributed generation (DG) with electric power distribution systems (DSs) in association with smart grid technology has numerous benefits, however, due to their intermittent nature, the utilisation of RE-based DG may pose threats to the proper operation of conventional overcurrent (OC) protection schemes. The resulting threats, malfunctions, and non-selective actions could occur by relays within the DS, and the development of efficient protection schemes is necessary. The objective of this study is to propose and simulate an adaptive OC protection scheme in DSs in the presence of doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) wind turbines based on wind speed forecast data with considerations for wind speed forecast uncertainty and a low-voltage ride-through requirement for wind turbines. In each time interval and possible operating mode, the output power of DFIG-based wind turbines and relay setting parameters are determined offline. The results show that the proposed protection scheme prevents malfunctions and non-selective operations of relays, and also provides faster fault isolations, as compared to the conventional OC protection scheme.