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Most of the available directional relaying schemes use the phase angle information of sequence components of voltage and current with a cycle or more as the decision time. Converter interfaced solar photovoltaic plants are subjected to follow grid codes, leading to significant voltage and current modulation compared to conventional synchronous machines based sources. This may result in malfunction of existing directional relaying. This paper presents a high-speed time-domain directional relaying method using only phase fault current for distribution systems in the presence of solar plant. The method proposes a fault direction discrimination function, and its sign provides the direction of fault. The proposed method is tested for various control options embedded in solar plant, fault parameters, and noisy signals in CIGRE 14-bus distribution system integrating solar plant. Results validate the ability of the proposed method to decide within one-fourth of a cycle following fault detection for both PV plant side as well as grid end. Comparative assessment reveals the superiority of the proposed current based direction relaying method over the existing technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distribution lines are generally protected by overcurrent relays. With the integration of an inverter-interfaced solar photovoltaic (PV) plant having a current-limiting feature, the fault current seen by the relay on the PV side of that feeder becomes comparable to the load current. The conventional overcurrent relaying principle is not suitable for distribution line protection. Distance relay may be a viable option for protection of distribution lines connecting the solar PV plant. However, positive- and negative-sequence source impedances of the PV plant depend on an inverter controller, which results in limited performance of fixed setting distance relay. This article proposes an adaptive distance relay setting to protect distribution line connecting the PV plant, using prefault voltage and current data at the relaying point. The method calculates positive- and negative-sequence PV source impedances for boundary setting of distance relay at the PV side. The proposed trip boundary is modified adaptively with the change in prefault conditions of the PV plant. Performance of the proposed method is tested for different control strategies and operating capacities of the PV plant and variation in the grid source impedance on a 34-bus distribution system. Real-time application of the proposed method is validated in hardware-in-the-loop using OPAL-RT simulators with IEC 61850 as the communication protocol and found to be accurate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maloperation of the zone 3 element of distance relays during stressed system conditions, such as power swing, load encroachment, or voltage stressed condition is one of the main reasons for large disturbances in power systems. The improved protection technique for zone 3 can help to prevent such maloperation and, thus, more reliable power systems can be envisaged. This paper proposes an algorithm that utilizes two new criteria: 1) the maximum value of the transient monitoring function obtained from three-phase currents and 2) the phase angle of the positive-sequence impedance to support zone 3 of the distance relay. The technique is tested for various power system events, such as the three-phase fault during the power swing, load encroachment, voltage stressed conditions, and current-transformer saturation during the three-phase fault using data simulated through EMTDC/PSCAD in the IEEE 39-bus New England system. The simulation results show that the zone 3 protection scheme using the proposed technique can correctly discriminate the three-phase fault from stressed system conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a synchronized phasor measurement-based wide-area backup protection scheme which compares the magnitude of sequence voltages of buses at a system protection center to identify the bus closest to the fault. Then, the sign of cosine of the angle between voltage and current at both ends of all lines connected to this bus are compared to identify the faulted branch. The technique is tested for various faults resulting in voltage/current inversion in a series-compensated line and during load encroachment and power swing conditions using data simulated through EMTDC/PSCAD for a nine-bus, three-machine power system. The scheme is found to be accurate and fast. With today's synchronized phasor measurement technology and communication system, the proposed scheme can overcome the limitations of the conventional backup protection scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]