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In the event of a single line to ground (SLG) fault in a non-effectively grounded distribution network, the faulted current is weak (only a few amperes or less) and the existing devices cannot accurately judge the faulted feeder. In this paper, we proposed algorithms that combine complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise (CEEMDAN) and Hilbert transform to construct a multi-criteria comprehensive voting method. First, CEEMDAN algorithm is used to decompose the zero-sequence current to obtain the IMF1(the first intrinsic mode function) component and the Hilbert transform is used to calculate the instantaneous amplitude and instantaneous phase. Then, according to the three largest instantaneous amplitudes information, we constructed the characteristic instantaneous phase, characteristic instantaneous energy relative entropy and characteristic instantaneous zero sequence current polarity criteria from the phase, energy and polarity, respectively. Finally, we proposed a comprehensive voting method, which is specifically shown as follows: when two or more criteria show that one feeder or the bus has an SLG fault, it is voted that the feeder or the bus has an SLG fault. In contrast, if the judgment results of the three criteria are inconsistent, then we would return to recalculation and then vote. Compared with existing method, simulation tests and field experiments show that the method proposed in this paper has higher accuracy and a faster calculation speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a flexible neutral grounding method based on electromagnetic hybrid Petersen coil (EHPC), which consists of a magnetically controlled reactor and an active power compensator (APC). Under normal conditions, the system's neutral point grounds through a reactor of high reactance. When a single line-to-earth fault occurs, the EHPC can be controlled flexibly to suppress the recovery voltage of faulty phase and to reduce the ground-fault current to almost zero. This paper expounds the two operating modes and corresponding characteristics, the measuring method of insulation parameters of the system (mainly including capacitance to earth and leakage resistance), and the full compensation principle for arc suppression based on the equivalent negative impedance of EHPC. This paper also proposes a compound control method of neutral-to-earth impedance based on neutral-point displacement voltage and a compensating method for the harmonic component of the ground-fault current. Compared to traditional grounding methods, this method can be fast and reliably make the residual current approach almost zero without arc reignition while greatly reducing the output capacity of APC and, thus, decreasing the cost of this device. Simulations and experiments verify the correctness of this measuring method and feasibility of this flexible grounding control strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes an adaptive protection scheme for distribution systems with distributed generations (DGs). To mitigate the influences on the protection devices by DGs, an online calculation method of fault current under various system operation conditions is presented. By sampling local available measurements in the buses, a proposed optimized estimation method is used to calculate the Thevenin equivalent circuit parameters of the system dynamically. Moreover, the short-circuit current can be calculated accurately to set the overcurrent relay protection value considering the behavior of DGs during the fault. To ensure the accurate operation of the protection devices, a coordinated protection scheme, including primary and backup protection is presented. Performances of the proposed method and scheme have been verified by simulations on a sample distribution system based on PSCAD/EMTDC. The sensitivity and selectivity of the coordination between primary and backup protection are satisfied under different system operation conditions, fault locations, and types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the behavior of three-phase transformers in the presence of geomagnetically induced current (GIC) is investigated. The associated phenomena involve very slow transients, in the millihertz range, while representing significant magnitudes of even and odd harmonics of power frequency. As a result, the transformer response involves nonlinear and frequency-dependent effects. This paper considers the impact of variations in the transformer core construction and design parameters on its saturated behavior and the resulting reactive power absorption, when subjected to GIC. A detailed transformer model is described including air-gap and tank effects. The study results highlight significant parameters that can affect transformer reactive power and promote them as being important parameters for GIC studies. Furthermore, the transformer dynamics during the slow transient of the GIC variations and polarity reversal are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper presents a fault tolerant scheme for integrating renewable energy sources to HVDC system using a new modular resonant DC-DC converter. The proposed DC-DC converter consists of many identical low voltage submodules which consist of two controllable switches, one diode and a capacitor. The switches of the proposed DC-DC converter are configured to provide the converter an inherent fault tolerant feature which enables it to isolate itself during DC faults in the HVDC system. Zero current switching (ZCS) is also achieved for all the switches used in the converter. The paper focusses on the integration of renewable energy sources to HVDC transmission system using the proposed tapping scheme. The performance of the proposed scheme to evacuate power from renewable energy sources to HVDC transmission system has been demonstrated using simulation studies done in PSCAD/EMTDC. The performance of the proposed DC-DC converter is also verified with experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new characteristics and phenomena of hybrid AC/DC transmission grids challenge the conventional protection concepts. In hybrid AC/DC overhead line systems, AC and DC systems are located on the same support structure. As a result, electromagnetic and galvanic interactions between the AC- and the DC-line influence the AC-protection and the DC-control in a novel and complex way. This paper presents key findings and solutions from a current 400-kV-hybrid AC/DC overhead line project in Germany. The focus is on AC/DC intersystem faults, i.e. galvanic contact between DC and AC systems. Fault detection and fault response of the AC-protection and the DC-control as well as a proper AC/DC protection coordination are discussed. The paper illustrates the challenges of a secure and dependable fault clearing and indicates solution methods. The findings of this paper are based on EMT simulations with detailed PSCAD-models of the hybrid AC/DC overhead line and the VSC-converters. Laboratory protection tests have been conducted and confirmed the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most critical faults affecting modular multilevel converter (MMC) based bipolar high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) transmission systems is the single-phase-to-ground (SPG) faults between the converter transformer and the valve. However, half-bridge (HB) and full-bridge (FB) based MMCs exhibit a different behavior following such a fault and, thus, converter protection should be addressed in a different manner for each configuration. For HB-MMCs, an SPG fault at the valve-side leads to a severe overvoltage on the submodule (SM) capacitors in the converter upper arms and to grid-side non-zero crossing currents. Although FB-MMCs only exhibit overvoltage, these are more severe than for their HB counterparts. To address this problem, this paper presents a protection strategy considering thyristor bypass branches placed in parallel with upper arms of FB-MMCs. By employing this configuration, the upper arm overvoltage in the faulted converter is mitigated and remote converters can be quickly blocked using their local protection schemes. For completeness, the effectiveness of the strategy is verified through time-domain simulations in PSCAD/ EMTDC. The studies in this paper demonstrate the effectiveness of the presented protection scheme for station internal faults occurring in FB-MMCs in bipolar HVDC systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) produced in power systems during magnetic storms are a function of the electric-field amplitude and direction, and the characteristics of the power system. This paper examines the influence of a number of power system characteristics, which include the resistances and structures of the conductors; the length of the transmission lines; the number, type, and resistances of transformers, the substation grounding resistances, and the topology of the network. It is shown that GIC grows with increasing line length but approaches an asymptotic constant value, and a more relevant parameter than the individual line length is the length of the entire system. This paper also derives the effective GIC for a conventional transformer and an autotransformer, and analyzes the behavior of GIC when the network topology changes illustrated with the GIC-Benchmark Model. The results of these studies provide a guide to estimating GIC impacts on a power network. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a new fault location algorithm for radial distribution networks employing synchronized distributed voltage traveling wave (TW) observers. A robust and accurate fault location algorithm significantly improves the distribution networks reliability and reduces the risk of bush fires and electrocution resulting from sustained undetected faults. The medium voltage distribution networks include numerous junctions and many shunt and series connected devices, such as capacitor banks, transformers and cables, which makes fault location far more complicated. This paper investigates the effect of power system components on the propagation of traveling waves and proposes a method for a fault location in heavily branched radial distribution feeders. Results show that parasitic shunt capacitances in transformers have a significant impact on traveling time of incident waves to the location of the TW observers and compensation for this effect will improve the accuracy of fault location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a testbed for real-time testing of Traveling-Wave Fault Locators (TWFLs). A Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is used as the main hardware platform for conducting the real-time simulation. To accurately reproduce fault-launched travelling waves, the simulated power system is executed at a 500 ns time-step. The fault locating device is the SEL-T400L relay with a sampling rate capability of 1 MHz. The simulated grid is composed of constant parameter (CP) transmission lines (TLs). The paper presents the capabilities and limitations of such an approach and assesses the suitability of the line model for testing TWFL. Firstly, off-line analyses and validation are performed using EMTP. It is found that the CP line model can be incorporated in the double-ended TWFL testing setups. For the single-ended TWFL testing, it is shown that the CP line model can introduce false transients due to ground propagation mode which can affect testing accuracy. Secondly, real-time experimental simulations are done to elaborate the importance of sub-microsecond time-steps for testing of TWFL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing number of offshore wind farms are connected to the public grid with large-scale HVDC links. The electrical transients caused by the energization of the export transformers appear more significant in the converter-driven offshore AC grid with low short-circuit power, than in direct AC grid connections. This may lead to a violation of the 2% voltage dip criterion, thus seriously affecting the production of neighboring wind farms. Additionally, the transformer and the entire insulation system are exposed to mechanical and dielectric stress. This paper investigates the influence of three factors, namely excitation, switching angle, and remnant core magnetization, onto the inrush current. Electromagnetic transient simulations and field measurements show that with a smart use of the on load tap changer, point on wave switching, and a demagnetization of the core by a cable-shunt swing circuit, the three factors above can be used as degrees-of-freedom to effectively mitigate the inrush current phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Harmonic blocking is usually applied by converter transformer differential protection to prevent protection mal-operation during an inrush condition, but it may incorrectly block the protection during an internal fault. This paper first makes an in-depth analysis on factors that lead to differential protection failure to trip for converter transformer internal faults. The main factor responsible for the protection failure to trip is half-cycle saturation of the converter transformer core, which results from the dc component in the fault current. This suggests that harmonic blocking may not be suitable for differential protection of converter transformers to identify inrush conditions. In this regard, this paper proposes a novel method using mathematical morphology to effectively discriminate between the conditions caused by inrush and internal faults. This method implements the waveform symmetry criterion and improved morphological gradient criterion to distinguish between these two conditions. The effectiveness of the proposed method is evaluated based on extensive simulation, and the presented results show that the proposed method can ensure operation for all types of internal faults. Additionally, this method improves the accuracy of inrush identification, even in extreme cases, such as sympathetic inrush and inrush with current transformer saturation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dc cables of the voltage-sourced converter-based HVDC link, including the modular multilevel converter (MMC) configuration, must be protected by surge arresters against transient overvoltages. The selection of the appropriate surge arresters requires a comprehensive understanding of the phenomena that cause the overvoltages and accurate calculation of energy discharged in the arresters. This paper investigates the mechanism that causes transient overvoltages, due to dc-side line-to-ground faults, in a cable-connected MMC–HVDC link. This paper also evaluates the impacts of various system parameters, for example, the prefault power transfer level, the MMC arm inductance, the transformer leakage inductance, the fault location, the ac system short-circuit capacity, the cable inductance, and the MMC blocking delay, on the peak transient overvoltages and the amount of energy discharge in the cable surge arresters. The transient overvoltage studies are also conducted when the dc cable is replaced by an overhead line. The studies are performed in the PSCAD platform. The studies conclude that the prefault power transfer level and the MMC blocking delay have the most significant impacts on the surge arrester energy discharge under dc-side line-to-ground faults in the MMC–HVDC link. The study results also provide essential information for the design of the MMC–HVDC link components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integration of high bandwidth energy-storage systems (ESS) in compact dc electrical power systems can increase the operational capability and overall flexibility of the network. However, the impact of ESSs on the performance of existing dc protection systems is not well understood. This paper identifies the key characteristics of the ESS that determine the extent of the protection blinding effects on slower acting generator systems on the network. It shows that higher fault impedances beyond that of an evaluated critical level will dampen the response of slower-acting generator systems, decreasing the speed of corresponding overcurrent protection operation. The paper demonstrates the limitations of existing protection solutions and identifies more suitable protection approaches to remove/minimize the effects of protection blinding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a simple modulation index-dependent Thévenin equivalent circuit model of the voltage-source converters (VSCs) and the associated anti-parallel diode rectifier. The model derivation uses orthogonal transformation and a transformer analogy to transfer impedances to the dc side of the converter. The paper proposes a switched equivalent representation of a three-phase diode rectifier formed due to the antiparallel diodes when VSC switching is inhibited. The proposed model is implemented in Alternate Transients Program–Electromagnetic Transients Program and simulation results are compared with the switched model. The proposed model is shown to under predict the fault currents for pole-ground (PG) faults and to provide a nearly exact match for pole-pole faults. The rectifier equivalent provides increased accuracy in the transient region with the inclusion of the source inductance. A multiterminal dc (MTDC) system model is used to study effects of aggregation which gives increased accuracy of the equivalent circuit. It is shown that the MTDC system simulation with the proposed Thévenin equivalent is about 3 times faster than full-switched circuit simulation for a time step of 5 \mus. The MTDC system simulation with the Thévenin equivalent circuit is still accurate and 126 times faster when the time step is increased to 750 \mus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to present a 126-kV/40-kA–2500-A single-break vacuum circuit breaker (VCB) and its type test results based on the IEC 62271-100: 2006 and GB1984-2003 standards. A single-break 126-kV vacuum interrupter (VI), with a pair of 2/3 coil-type contacts, is used in the 126-kV VCB. The external insulation of the VI is provided by SF6 at 0.1 MPa. A spring-type operating mechanism is used to provide a closing velocity of 1.15 m/s, which is an average velocity for 4 mm before the moving contact mates with the stationary contact. The opening velocity within 20 mm, which is 1/3 of a full contact stroke of 60 mm, is 3.5 m/s. Two kinds of test circuits are used in the type tests to verify the making and breaking capabilities of this 126-kV VCB prototype. One is a direct test circuit for test duty cycles, such as out-of-phase making and breaking test duties, that is, OP1 and OP2; capacitive current switching test of class C1, that is, CC1/LC1 and CC2/LC2. The other is a synthetic circuit, used for tests, such as the terminal fault test, the short-line fault test, the double earth fault test, and the electrical endurance test of class E2. The dielectric tests of a 230-kV/1 min power frequency voltage withstand test and a 550-kV lightning impulse voltage withstand test were used to verify the dielectric withstand performance of the VCB. Experiment results presented in this paper showed that the 126-kV/40 kA–2500 A single-break VCB passed the type tests according to IEC 62271-100 and GB1984-2003. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) introduced by geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs) can damage transformers, increase reactive power losses, and cause reliability issues in power systems. Finding an optimal strategy to place blocking devices (BDs) at transformer neutrals is essential to mitigating the negative impact of GICs. In this paper, we study and solve the problem of optimal BD placement (OBP), aiming at minimizing the damages of GMDs, subject to various practical constraints. In particular, our approach accounts for the potential impact of BD placement to neighboring interconnected systems; we also consider the time-varying nature of the geoelectric field in BD placement. To the best of our knowledge, neither has been considered in the existing works. Under these constraints, the combined complexity of solving the OBP problem on a large-scale system poses a big challenge. To address this, we developed a simulated annealing-based algorithm that can achieve near-optimal solutions for the OBP problem at a reduced computational complexity, while taking the above constraints into account. More importantly, this paper provides a general mathematical framework that can be used to solve various OBP problems, with different objective functions and constraints. We demonstrated the effectiveness and the efficiency of our method by using power systems of various sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fast dc line protection is one of the key techniques for the multi-terminal flexible dc grid whose main technical difficulty lies in quick and reliable fault identification. The traditional protection principles for the ac system are not suitable for the flexible dc grid, and those for the conventional dc transmission system can also not be applied directly. Therefore, the frequency-domain traveling-wave boundary characteristics after faults are analyzed first in this paper to find the critical condition for distinguishing the internal and external faults as well as the forward and backward faults. And then, a novel single-ended transient-voltage-based protection strategy for flexible dc grid was proposed, which mainly consists of the fault identification criterion and the direction criterion. The protection scheme used wavelet transform to extract transient voltage energy. In order to eliminate the influences of the wavelet transform boundary effect and converter blocking, the principle to select the proper data window was proposed. Compared with the existing traveling-wave-based dc protection, the proposed method has a higher reliability and stronger ability to endure high transition resistance, which was verified by lots of simulation cases based on the PSCAD/EMTDC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The power system planning and protection studies are becoming more challenging due to the rapid increase in penetration levels of converter-interfaced renewables. Type-IV wind turbine generators (WTGs) and photovoltaic panels are interfaced to the grid through a full-scale converter, and their short-circuit current contributions are mainly designated by the converter control and associated current limits. This paper proposes a new phasor domain modeling approach for the wind parks (WPs) with Type-IV WTGs, using the concept of control-based equivalent circuits. The proposed model precisely represents the detailed electromagnetic transient (EMT)-type model in steady state, and is able to account for the fault-ride-through function of the WTG control as well as its specific decoupled sequence control scheme in addition to the traditional coupled control scheme. Although the collector grid and WTGs inside the WP are represented with their aggregated models, the overall reactive power control structure of the WP is preserved by taking the central WP controller into account. The accuracy of the proposed model is validated through detailed EMT simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of voltage-source-converter (VSC)-based high-voltage direct current (HVDC) systems has increased significantly. However, the implementation of VSC-HVDC systems is limited for lacking fast, low-loss, and reliable circuit breakers. Hybrid dc circuit breakers (DCCBs) may help to improve this situation. In this paper, an efficient modular multilevel converter (MMC) HVDC system model based on the Zhangbei–Beijing \pm \text500\,\textkV bipolar MMC-HVDC transmission (overhead line) project is first established. Then, the system transient characteristics are investigated involving permanent line-to-ground faults (LGFs), permanent short-circuit faults (SCFs), temporary LGFs, and temporary SCFs with either ac circuit breakers (ACCBs) or DCCBs in service. Finally, the performances, including the fault clearance and recovery, comparison of DCCBs with two different breaking methods, and comparison of ACCBs and DCCBs, in the MMC-HVDC system are presented. This paper provides a deep understanding of LGF and SCF in the MMC-HVDC systems, operation of DCCB, and comparison of faults clearance and recovery under these faults conditions using ACCB and DCCB, respectively. Results also benefit the application of the DCCB and the operation strategies in high-voltage and high-power MMC-HVDC systems with overhead lines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a fault location method based on the adaptive control of neutral-to-earth complex impedance in a resonant grounded system, whose neutral point grounds are via an electromagnetic hybrid Petersen coil (EHPC). The EHPC can be equivalent to a parallel circuit of a negative resistance and an inductance, both of which can be adjusted. When a permanent single line-to-earth fault occurs, the ground-fault current will be compensated to almost zero, and the capacitance to earth and leakage resistance of system can be measured accurately for subsequent fault location. Then, the complex impedance of EHPC is adjusted, and the faulty feeder and its faulted section can be identified online based on the characteristics that the measurements of zero-sequence admittances of points along the faulty feeder change with the system's neutral-to-ground complex impedance. The detection criterion is certain and unique, without comparing all of the feeders. This paper also proposes an adaptive jitter adjustment and decoupling control of neutral-ground complex impedance by EHPC, which is adaptive to the grounding transient resistance and is repeatable, and can ensure that the magnitude of the zero-sequence parameter is large enough to be measured while without arc re-ignition, including in high impedance fault states. Simulations and experiments verified the feasibility of this fault location method and its control strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Sympathetic interaction between transformers is a quite normal phenomenon in power systems. For the purpose of preventing transformer differential protection relays from malfunction, this paper proposes a morphological method for the identification of sympathetic inrush, which is the first time when mathematical morphology is applied in this field. Since the waveform of differential current is symmetrical in an internal fault case while asymmetrical in a sympathetic inrush case, the proposed method uses a morphological operator to extract the peaks and valleys of the differential current to distinguish sympathetic inrush. Considering the possible current-transformer (CT) saturation conditions, this paper combines a morphological gradient with a weighted mathematical morphological operator to improve the effectiveness of the proposed method. The proposed method is evaluated on data collected from simulation cases established in PSCAD/EMTDC and from laboratory experiments, respectively. Identification results have verified that by comparing with the traditional second harmonic restrain method, the proposed method can distinguish sympathetic inrush from an internal fault current more accurately and more effectively, even when the CT is fully saturated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An online approach based on application of search coil for transformer winding fault detection is presented in this paper. Earlier attempts report use of search coil for the detection of transformer interturn fault. This paper extends application of search coil for detection of winding displacement in addition to interturn fault identification. Experimental results based on specially designed 10-kVA transformer are presented to analyze search coil voltages during healthy and faulty conditions. The algorithm detects phase ($U$ , $V$, $W$), side (LV, HV), and precise location of the fault. Discrimination between interturn fault and winding radial displacement is also achieved by search coil voltage analysis. The results are experimentally verified based on impedance analyzer plots. Experimental analysis indicates that the proposed method is independent of load on the transformer, vector group, nature of winding, balanced or unbalanced source voltage, source voltage harmonics, inrush, and overexcitation conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reliable voltage measurement is a pre-requisite for correct operation of a relay's voltage-dependent functions. The secondary circuit of a relay's voltage transformer (VT) is usually fuse-protected. The blowing of a VT's three-phase fuses prevents correct voltage measurement, commonly referred to as the loss-of-voltage (LOV) condition. Relays are equipped with different methods to detect the LOV conditions and avoid confusing them with grid faults. However, this paper shows that existing LOV detection methods are prone to misoperation in the presence of inverter-based resources (IBRs). The paper's findings are corroborated by hardware-in-the-loop testing of relays with the state-of-the-art LOV detection methods. This paper also develops a new LOV detection method for transmission system relays that addresses the unveiled problem. The proposed method considers the fault behavior of IBRs and detects LOVs by examining certain conditions in three stages, namely phase-voltage-check, phase-current-check, and current-transients-check. Simulation studies are used to verify the dependable and secure operation of this new method for different LOVs, faults, IBRs, and VT configurations. The obtained results demonstrate that this method performs successfully regardless of the type of generation units. Moreover, it is sufficiently fast to prevent relay misoperation during LOV conditions and does not require extra hardware. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phasor-based differential protection is widely used as the main protection function of the power transformer due to its reliability and ability to discriminate internal from external faults and inrush currents. However, these methods present some delays due to phasor convergence during the fault occurrence and can fail during challenging situations, such as transformer energizations with low second-harmonic content and turn-to-turn and turn-to-ground internal faults. This paper proposes a novel time-domain power transformer differential protection based on Clarke and wavelet transforms with only one differential unit and with automatic setting to be used in any power transformer. Considering both actual and simulation data, the performance validation reveals that the proposed method is efficient, ultra-fast, simple, and independent of the fundamental and harmonic components of the differential current. The method was also implemented in a real-time digital simulator to demonstrate its practical feasibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, novel neutral reactor structures are proposed to mitigate the secondary arc current (SAC) in non-conventional Multi-circuit Multi-voltage Transmission lines (MCMVTLs). The parameters of the reactors in the structure are optimized using the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II). The optimization algorithm, coded in Python, regulates the multiple runs of an Electromagnetic Transients (EMT) simulation program to minimize the secondary arc current. The optimization trials are run in parallel on a 64 core computer to minimize the solution time. A detailed arc model was tested on the EMT program (PSCAD). Using this model and optimized parameters in the proposed neutral reactor schemes, the SAC is indeed extinguished in acceptable times. The SAC and TRV for neutral reactors with optimized parameters are up-to 68 and 77%, respectively, lower than the ones with parameters calculated by the conventional approach which ignores inter-circuit coupling. Meanwhile, the extinction times are up-to 46% faster. As a result, single-phase auto-reclosing in MCMVTLs is viable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inevitable voltage sag events cause losses to distributed generation (DG) and sensitive users. Reasonable planning for both of them helps to mitigate the impact of voltage sag. In this paper, a joint optimal planning method is proposed for DG and large sensitive user (LSU) considering the influence of voltage sag. Firstly, the new models of accelerated trip and chain trip for DG under voltage sag are established, to characterize the influence of DG tripping on other DG and sag characteristics during the sag event accurately. Secondly, a new voltage sag frequency assessment method is proposed, which considers models of accelerated trip and chain trip for DG, the tripping characteristics of distance protection (DP), to quantify the voltage sag severity accurately of DGs and LSUs in the gird which is with DP. Lastly, a joint optimal planning model is established considering the losses of DG and LSU under voltage sag, to support the planning of DG and LSU in different scenarios. The method is applied to IEEE RTS-30 for verification, proving that the method can give a direction of the most beneficial solution for the planner, to reduce the losses of voltage sag to both the power system and users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autotransformer (AT) traction network (ATN) expands widely with the rapid development of high-speed railway (HSR). The fault occurrence in ATN will affect the safety and reliability of power supply for electric multiple units (EMUs). However, due to the nonlinear relationship between measured impedance and distance, the accuracy and efficiency of the fault location for ATN is facing serious challenges, especially with the diverse fault types and operation modes. In this paper, the general circuit topology of subsections is given and the characteristics of voltage distribution are analyzed according to the impedance matrix of ATN. Through the decoupling method, a comprehensive equivalent model adopting composite impedance is established, which can illustrate a series of characteristics for all fault types. Furthermore, the fault-location method is proposed to express the mapping between the fault position and the relevant electrical quantities for the subsection, and then a reasonable compensation for the effect of mutual impedance between faulty and non-faulty subsections is provided to improve the accuracy. Consequently, the multi-terminals synchronous information is employed for unified fault-location for ATN. Case studies including simulation and field testing have verified that the method is accurate and quite robust to various fault scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Offshore wind farms (OWF) are being rapidly integrated to the power systems, which can be primarily attributed to saturation of the mainland onshore area, and high wind speed in offshore sites. However, to maintain stable grid operation, OWFs are required to comply with Low Voltage Ride Through (LVRT) capability. OWF during LVRT period should not only stay grid connected, but also support the grid during the disturbance. In this paper, a new communication-independent LVRT control scheme for HVDC connected OWF has been proposed. Under the proposed strategy, OWFs not only successfully ride through a fault induced voltage dip, but also comply with active power recovery ramp rate during the fault recovery period. Besides complying with LVRT requirement and ramp rate limit, the proposed strategy improves voltage dip induced frequency (VDIF) issue by increasing active power injection from the OWF during LVRT period. The proposed LVRT strategy also exploits the stored energy in HVDC link capacitors in order to reduce the impact of VDIF issue. The proposed and the conventional LVRT strategies for HVDC connected OWF have been implemented and evaluated on IEEE 39 bus benchmark system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the protection against earth faults in medium voltage meshed networks with unearthed neutral. A communication-supported protection system is proposed and assessed through numerical simulations. The protection system is based on the use of directional relays installed at both ends of each line of the network. Each relay communicates by sending permissive signals following the so-called directional comparison overreaching transfer trip scheme. Each directional relay implements a new transient fault detection algorithm based on the angle between the zero-sequence voltage and current phasors. The phasors are estimated at the dominant frequency of the network transient-response within the first milliseconds after the fault, which range can be evaluated by means of a simplified circuit equivalent representation. The performances of the protection system and the detection algorithm are evaluated for different network configurations. By using a specifically developed co-simulation tool that interfaces EMTP-RV with Matlab, the influence of the communication latency is also analyzed. A Monte Carlo method is applied to analyze the effects of fault resistance, incidence angle and fault location variations. Results of a real-time simulation obtained in the Opal-RT environment further support the applicability of the algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces an enhanced equivalent model of the half-bridge symmetrical monopole modular multilevel converter (MMC) topology for the analyses of the electromagnetic transients. Compared with the existing MMC models, the proposed model reduces the simulation computational time without compromising accuracy, and contrary to the existing models, it provides accurate representation of the MMC behavior with respect to the dc-side fault. This paper also evaluates and verifies the accuracy of the proposed equivalent model under various operating conditions, that is, startup, dc-side pole-to-pole fault, and ac-side three-phase-to-ground fault. The study results indicate that: 1) in contrast to the existing equivalent models, the proposed enhanced model accurately represents the MMC under various operating conditions; 2) the implemented simplifications to the model do not adversely affect the accuracy of the simulation results; and 3) a reduced-level approximated model of the MMC is also adequately accurate for protection studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional distance relays often mis-operate for high transient resistance in phase-ground faults by measuring apparent impedance. To solve this problem, a novel distance protection algorithm is proposed in this paper. It is deduced in the RL lumped transmission line model and calculates the fault distance from the measuring point to the fault point by solving a linear differential equation. In addition, a protection criteria based on the comparison result between the calculated fault distance and the protective setting margin rather than the protective zone measured by apparent impedance is set up in this paper. As a result, the proposed method can avoid overreach for the given characteristics that the calculated fault distance is greater than the actual fault distance when the fault occurs next to the opposite terminal. Meanwhile, both the fundamental component and one decaying DC component are needed to solve the differential equation for the proposed distance algorithm, therefore it can trip the breaker fast during the fault transient period. Finally, EMTP simulation results verify the validity of the proposed distance algorithm on RL transmission line model. However, to put the proposed method into field use, the problem caused by the distributed capacitance of the transmission line on the proposed method will be further studied and solved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of new technologies in power generation and application, together with the demand for the reliability and capability of power supply has drawn increasing attention to dc distribution and microgrid technology. This paper introduces the renovation project for a single-circuit XLPE cable line being converted into dc operation after its second failure under 35 kV ac. This is the first time ever in China for this type of system conversion, in which the existing XLPE cable line was put into operation in a bipolar voltage-source converter (VSC) dc system of 10 kV voltage and 150 A current to maintain its 3 MW capacity. The test methods for cable performance that were checked under the designed dc scheme were put forward and conducted on sectioned cable samples. After the cable test and equipment installation, the line was put into operation under the VSC dc topology in 2011. It has now been running for four years without any interruption. Compared with other alternatives for ac operation, this proposal shows advantages in aspects of economy, reliability and engineering. Besides, the theoretical evaluation suggests that the system capacity can be further increased by four times, and the first step is underway for that goal. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates the performance of a recently proposed online transformer internal fault detection technique and examines the impact of harmonics through detailed nonlinear simulation of a transformer using 3-D finite-element modelling. The proposed online technique is based on considering the correlation between the instantaneous input and output voltage difference (\Delta \bf V) and the input current of a particular phase as a fingerprint of the transformer that could be measured every cycle to identify any incipient mechanical deformation within power transformers. To precisely emulate real transformer operation under various winding mechanical deformations, a detailed 3-D finite-element model is developed. Detailed simulations with (non)sinusoidal excitation are performed and analyzed to demonstrate the unique impact of each fault on the \Delta \bf V\-\bf I locus. Impacts on harmonic order, magnitude, and phase angle are also investigated. Furthermore, practical measurements have been performed to validate the effect of a winding short-circuit fault on the proposed \Delta \bf V\-\bf I locus without and with the impact of system harmonics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes a stochastic optimization model for preparatory operation of distributed energy resources that enhance the resilience of critical loads against extreme weather events. Adopting hurricanes as a case study of extreme weather events, a high-precision spatio-temporal hurricane impact analysis model is first developed to enhance the situational awareness of automated distribution systems and generate a set of hurricane-induced outage scenarios. A stochastic mixed-integer conic programming model is then developed for co-optimizing the preparatory schedule of distributed energy storage and distributed generation ahead of hurricane along with post-event decisions of restoring services to customers, while minimizing the expected cost of energy not served as the index to measure the resilience. The proposed model prioritizes the service restoration of critical loads by integrating customer interruption cost function, which captures the customer type and outage costs as well as interruption duration in making restoration decisions. Additionally, a conic power flow model is adopted to accurately capture network operation constraints in pre- and post-outage scenarios. Numerical results conducted on the IEEE 33-bus system show that the proposed model can enhance the performance of automated distribution systems in responding to hurricane-induced outages by efficiently utilizing grid resources to improve the resilience of critical loads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new method to select single-line-to-ground (SLG) fault feeder in resonant grounding power distribution system based on compensation characteristic of extinction coil in different frequencies. The proposed method is insusceptible to the influence of device polarity reverse installation. Firstly, through analyzing the zero sequence equivalent circuit under a SLG fault, the difference of zero sequence current share in fundamental frequency and second-harmonic frequency is investigated. And then, according to the change of current share (CCS), fault feeder selection criterion and steps are established. Finally, numerous simulation tests demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in identifying the faulty feeder or the faulty bus. Besides, its reliability is also verified by tests with different system parameters and different fault conditions. Specially, device polarity reverse installation tests and comparisons are also implemented, which shows the advantages of the proposed method in dealing with device polarity reverse installation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residual magnetic flux can cause significant problems in electric power system operation if not taken into consideration. The laboratory setup and experimental procedure for determining the residual magnetic flux value of a single-phase transformer using a minor hysteresis loop are presented in this paper. Using the proposed method, residual magnetic flux could be determined without prior knowledge about the last de-energization of the transformer. Only voltage and current measurements are needed, and any physical intervention in the core or in some other parts of the transformer is unnecessary. Also, a significantly lower voltage than the transformer's nominal is used to determine the residual magnetic flux value in the proposed method. The pros and cons of the proposed method, as well as plans for future research are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geomagnetic Disturbances (GMDs) are the result of solar storms or a high-altitude nuclear detonation. On the power systems, they might lead to the flow of quasi-DC currents referred as Geomagnetically Induced Currents (GICs). These currents cause the AC current offset that may drive the power transformers into saturation. This leads to large draw of reactive power, causes transformer internal heating and increased noise level, damage to shunt capacitors, harmonic filters and maloperation of power system protection equipment. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art of the GIC mitigation and elimination strategies and their respective limitations. It also introduces converter-based strategies as a new avenue of power system protection against GICs by presenting novel strategies that involve the integration of the proposed schemes between the neutral and ground of power transformers. One of the proposed schemes is a contribution to the approaches solely focused towards GIC mitigation, whereas, the other provides a variety of grid-support functions in addition to GIC elimination. The simulations performed in a Controller Hardware-in-the-Loop (C-HIL) environment verify the proposed schemes as a promising alternative to the current GIC mitigation approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modular multilevel converter (MMC) based high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system is one of the important development trends of DC power grid. After fault isolation, the traditional reclosing method of MMC-HVDC system is directly reclosing DC circuit breaker (DCCB). Once the fault point still exists, DCCB will be tripped again. This method will make the DC system suffer from the secondary strike of fault in a short time, and seriously endanger the service life of DCCB. In order to overcome the drawbacks of the traditional reclosing schemes, this paper proposes a novel adaptive reclosing scheme based on pulse injection from parallel energy absorption module. When dc fault current is interrupted by DCCB, the fault energy stored in current-limiting reactors (CLR) and dc lines is transferred to energy absorption module automatically. By switching on IGBTs embedded in absorption module for a short time, a voltage pulse is injected directly into the faulty line without interference from CLR. Then the nature of fault is identified and the fault distance can also be calculated in the case of permanent faults. The simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed reclosing scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DC transformer is an essential equipment for formation of multi-voltage-level DC grid. This paper proposes a novel non-isolated Boost-type alternate arm DC transformer (Boost-AADCT) for medium- and high-voltage level DC grid application. The Boost-AADCT is comprised of three submodule-cascaded arms, two thyristor-cascaded director switches, and two buffer capacitors. Bidirectional power transmission is achieved by alternatively charging and discharging of the intermediate arm following the Boost principle, while the pulsating power component caused by intermittent transmission is actively smoothened by grid-side buffer subcircuits formed by the buffer capacitors and grid-side arms. The active power buffering method increases the tolerance range of voltage ripple of the buffer capacitor, and the required energy storage capacity is resultantly reduced. Circuit configuration, operation principle, and mathematical model are first introduced. Then, the control strategy is proposed, the main circuit parameters are designed, and bidirectional fault-blocking capability is analyzed. Comparison with other DC-DC converters shows that the Boost-AADCT significantly reduces the requirement of semiconductors and has relatively lower synthetic cost. At last, performance of the Boost-AADCT and the proposed control strategies are evaluated by simulation tests conducted in MATLAB/Simulink environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fault detection and location method are two significant techniques to recognize and clear the fault timely. This paper proposes a novel fault detection and location method for mesh-type DC microgrid. The key of this method is to implement similarity analysis on the sampled lines current and the lines current reference by employing an improved Pearson correlation coefficient. Firstly, the fault detection can be implemented by comparing the sampled lines current with steady-state lines current in a movable time window. And the fault line and fault type can be recognized based on the analysis on the correlation coefficient. Secondly, the fault location can be obtained by comparing the sampled lines current with calculation results of transient lines current, which corresponds to the estimated fault location scheme, within a fixed time window. The estimated location scheme, including the fault position and fault resistance, is updated by genetic algorithm, and will be determined when the correlation coefficient is higher than the threshold. Moreover, both numerical simulation and experiment results validate that the proposed method can recognize the fault line and fault type timely, while obtain the fault position and fault resistance accurately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-phase auto-reclosing (AR) scheme is widely employed in extra high voltage (EHV) transmission networks to quench transient faults without completely removing the faulted transmission line (TL). Long EHV TLs are commonly equipped with shunt reactors to reduce the Ferranti effect overvoltages. It is common practice to disconnect these reactors under the heavy load periods during the year. Considering this point, the AR technique should be able to work properly not only when the TL shunt reactors are in service, but also when they are disconnected. This paper puts forward a novel adaptive single-phase AR approach for shunt compensated TLs based on the general mathematical model of faulted phase voltage waveform after the line isolation, which is obtained by analytical analysis conducted on the TL's equivalent circuit. The effect of capacitor voltage transformer (CVT) on the voltage measurement is taken into account using a proper model for the CVT. Performing some data processing on the faulted phase measured voltage, useful features are extracted which are used by the support vector machine classifier to reliably detect the arc extinction instant. The proposed approach performance is evaluated by extensive simulation studies, accounting for different TL compensation schemes, transposition configurations, and arc conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stator ground fault location of large generators can guide rapid maintenance. In this paper, a location criterion without fault transition resistance is constructed by using the fundamental potential and the third harmonic potential of the faulty winding simultaneously. The above potentials of the faulty winding are corresponding to the fault position. To precisely locate the grounding fault, it is necessary to clarify the analytical relationship between the faulty winding potential and the fault position. However, the existing methods often take the coil potential as the unit to analyze the winding potential, which has theoretical errors for the generators with short-pitch winding. Aiming at this problem, a more precise analysis method for winding potential is established by taking the slot conductor potential as the unit. To solve the location criterion, the optimization model for each slot conductor of the faulty phase is constructed. The slot conductor with the smallest optimal objective function value is judged as the faulty slot conductor, and the corresponding decision variable is judged as the fault position. Simulation and experiments verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, which can still meet the needs of engineering applications under multiple adverse conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Harmonic blocking (HB)-based differential relays, generally employed in the transformer protection, are likely to fail to interrupt internal short-circuit faults that occur under geomagnetically induced current (GIC) conditions. This paper proposes a waveform-based approach that enhances the differential protection dependability under the GIC conditions by detecting the GIC and overriding the HB signals for the internal faults. A novel algorithm is developed for the GIC detection, which employs three-phase instantaneous differential current waveforms and recognizes a GIC condition if the waveforms are all asymmetric in one direction. The proposed waveform-based approach also utilizes trip request signals of the differential relay's fault detection module to unblock the relay for the internal faults during the GIC. The results show that the proposed waveform-based approach (i) can successfully unblock the differential protection for the internal faults under the GIC conditions, (ii) does not malfunction for the external faults during the GIC, (iii) discriminates transformer energization cases from the GIC conditions, and (iv) is immune to the measurement noise. The current transformer (CT) saturation is also considered in the studies. The proposed approach's effectiveness is verified for different transformer types, including three-phase and single-phase transformers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the DC fault transient study of a meshed DC grid with high-temperature superconducting (HTS) HVDC cables to integrate offshore wind power. A four-terminal meshed DC grid model with a ±100 kV DC voltage rating is developed. DC circuit breakers (DCCBs) are implemented in the DC grid to deal with DC cable faults. To conduct the fault transient study, the fault scenarios with different fault locations and protection delays are studied. The sensitivity study versus different DC fault locations reveals that the faults on the faulted cable will not cause the quenching of healthy cables. The sensitivity study considering different DC fault protection delays demonstrates that the HTS cables have a current-limiting effect and the long delay of DC fault protection does not result in large fault current and the quenching of healthy cables. Extensive simulations in PSCAD/EMTDC validate the founding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ground faults are the main cause of electrical failure in transmission and distribution systems. In ungrounded distribution networks, it is difficult to detect where a first ground fault has happened as only capacitive currents are available. Also, it is important to trip only the faulty line in order to ensure the system's reliability. Directional residual overcurrent relays are the standard solution for these systems, but their difficult commissioning and high costs make it not trivial. This paper introduces a new selective and directional protection method to determine the faulty line in ungrounded medium voltage networks with three or more feeders. The method evaluates the residual currents in the feeders coupled to the same busbars in combination with a reference current created by the sum of a combination of residual currents of all feeders. Both simulation and laboratory results validate this new method, which is easy to start up, as it does not need previous configurations for its implementation, and it presents an economical solution to this problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The single-phase to ground fault (SPGF) is very common in power grids. To decrease the fault’s influence on the power supply’s reliability, the neutral point is usually grounded via the Petersen coil, significantly reducing the outage rate. Nevertheless, this coil would weaken the fault current and make the faulty line identification much more difficult. To address such an issue, an identifying method for the faulty line is proposed in this paper based on the detection of an extremely low frequency current(ELFC), after analyses are made on the electrical signal’s characteristics when the fault exists based on a common physical model of a medium-voltage distribution system. Then, to coordinate with this method, a set of devices are developed to accurately measure the ELFC and ensure feasibility. At last, a simulation and an experiment are conducted, and the results prove this method’s validity in the identification of a faulty line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new single ended fault location method for transmission line based on positive sequence superimposed network during auto-reclosing. The proposed method only requires local measurement data and can not only eliminate but also quantify the negative effects of fault resistance, fault distance, and unknown remote end source impedance, which are marked as the most challenging problems in single ended fault location algorithms. In this paper, by analyzing the operation of auto-reclosing, the transmission line model using positive sequence superimposed network during both fault time section and reclosing time section has been developed to establish the system equations regarding fault position and local measurement data of each discrete time section. In order to retrieve converged and accurate fault location from resulting nonlinear equations, the trust-region reflective algorithm is applied in this paper. Various case studies and evaluations based on EMTP/ATP and RTDS simulations have been carried out to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The proposed new fault location method is also potentially economical as it can be relatively straightforward to implement in the standard protection hardware platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DC ice melting is an effective technical method against ice disaster on transmission lines. To satisfy the demand for simultaneous de-icing and reactive power compensation for substations, this paper proposed a large-capacity low-cost DC deicer with reactive power compensation, which is mainly composed of rectifier transformer, Static Var Generator (SVG) and diode rectifier. In the proposed topology, SVG and diode rectifier share the rectifier transformer, but rectifier transformer capacity is not increased compared with a single deicer. This paper firstly presents the proposed topology and analyzes its advantages. Then, the rectifier transformer design is introduced, and the SVG control strategy is presented. Simulation results for the proposed device are presented, and an engineering devices with a capacity of 21.8 MVA developed for the 220 kV Fuchong substation is described. The simulation and application results indicate that the proposed devices work well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a fast dc short-circuit fault detection method for HVdc grids, which relies on the voltage across the dc fault-current-limiting reactor. In the proposed approach, primary detection uses only the single-terminal dc reactor voltage information and is shown to be able to identify the faulted line as well as the faulted pole within 1 ms. The backup detection is primarily required for high resistance faults and uses communication between the two sides of the line. Its speed is dependent on the travel time of signals between the two ends, but will operate, as shown in the paper, typically in 2 ms or less. The approach is justified using analytical calculations and exhaustively validated via electromagnetic transient simulation for pole-to-pole and pole-to-ground faults, different fault resistance, fault locations, and dc reactor values. The validation shows that the method is able to identify all genuine dc line faults, but is not prone to misoperation with ac line faults, different loading levels, and so on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]