Abstract:
Protection performance is characterized by qualities
that include selectivity, speed, sensitivity and stability. Generally,
selectivity and speed present conflicting requirements on the
protection design, as do sensitivity and stability requirements. The
integration of distributed generation (DG), in particular at the
distribution level, further compromises satisfactory achievement of
these performance qualities. A recent paper by the authors
introduced a protection algorithm based on active power
differential and sensitivity analysis (APdSA) for the protection of
active distribution systems and microgrids. This paper investigates
the performance characteristics of this algorithm with respect to
selectivity, sensitivity, stability, and speed. It is shown that, with
an important modification to the protection zoning arrangement,
the APdSA algorithm is able to selectively clear faults in a DGintegrated
distribution system with high sensitivity, stability, and
speed, with more than 95% reach over a wide range of fault
resistances. The algorithm is also tolerant to
communication failure.
