Protection coordination of DOCRs for different modes of microgrid operation

Abstract

The present study is focussed on solving the relay coordination problem. Protection of microgrids is performed through the placement of directional overcurrent relays (DOCR). The efficacy of microgrid protection depends on coordination of all the DOCRs placed in the system. For this purpose, a number of optimization techniques have been employed by the power system researcher. In this paper, Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO) is proposed for the protection coordination of DOCRs for different modes of microgrid operation. The proposed method is tested and validated on a 7-bus mesh system and a 9-bus radial test system. The proposed method has been compared with other meta-heuristic optimization approaches, namely Genetic Algorithm (GA), Artificial Bee Colony (ABC), Gravitational Search Algorithm (GSA), and Hybrid Particle Swarm Optimization Gravitational Search Algorithm (PSOGSA). Based on the obtained results, the GWO-based approach is very efficient in mitigating the problem of relay coordination as compared to other optimization techniques.