The Use of Fault Current Limiters for Adaptive Protection of Distribution Networks Equipped with DGs

Nowadays, DGs are used increasingly in power networks; this increases the penetration of Distribution Generations (DGs) in power networks. The main protection in power distribution networks is overcurrent protection. Due to the reliance of overcurrent protection for the network current, DG connections and topology variations can undermine the Directional Over-Current Relays’ (DOCR) coordination. The use of Fault Current Limiters (FCLs) are a way to restore DOCR’s coordination. In this paper, a novel adaptive protection method has been proposed where DOCRs’ coordination is preserved in the presence of DGs employing FCLs. Furthermore, DOCR’s coordination is maintained when the network topology varies. This means that the proposed method is robust for different topologies. Besides, the operating time of DOCRs has been decreased as much as possible by optimizing the values of FCLs. Finally, the proposed method is applied on a power system and the obtained results show the efficiency of the proposed method in presence of DG and topology variations.

Nowadays, DGs are used increasingly in power networks; this increases the penetration of Distribution Generations (DGs) in power networks. The main protection in power distribution networks is overcurrent protection. Due to the reliance of overcurrent protection for the network current, DG connections and topology variations can undermine the Directional Over-Current Relays’ (DOCR) coordination. The use of Fault Current Limiters (FCLs) are a way to restore DOCR’s coordination. In this paper, a novel adaptive protection method has been proposed where DOCRs’ coordination is preserved in the presence of DGs employing FCLs. Furthermore, DOCR’s coordination is maintained when the network topology varies. This means that the proposed method is robust for different topologies. Besides, the operating time of DOCRs has been decreased as much as possible by optimizing the values of FCLs. Finally, the proposed method is applied on a power system and the obtained results show the efficiency of the proposed method in presence of DG and topology variations.