A new simple and accurate method for fault detection in wide area protection.

• The simplicity of the algorithm. • A simple and efficient trip zone. • Independency of the trip zone on the line length or its losses. • Fault classification capability. • Operation during symmetric and asymmetric power swings. Wide area protection (WAP) utilizes multiple information for faults identification. The use of several information sources leads to fault detection in a wider range and fault discrimination from other network conditions. But these methods are usually complex and require a lot of calculations. A novel WAP algorithm is proposed in this paper. The method is based on comparing active and reactive power flow directions on both sides of the related line. Active and reactive power flow directions are used for the detection of low- and high-impedance faults respectively. The polarity of active power fluctuations on both sides of the line is adopted to identify very high-impedance faults. The suggested approach benefits low computational burden and can detect and classify various faults, in addition to discriminating faulty and stress conditions. The simulation results by scientific and powerful software on the standard IEEE 39-bus system represent the capability of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]