Coordination of directional overcurrent relays in meshed power systems using hybrid genetic algorithm optimization

This work presents a Hybrid Genetic Algorithm (HGA) for directional overcurrent relays coordination in a real meshed power system, which is part of the Brazilian power transmission system. The HGA combines linear programming and genetic algorithm to find the correct relay settings that enable system coordination. The coordination is achieved by minimizing the relay operating time. The power system was simulated via CAPE (Computer-Aided Protection Engineering) software for short circuits studies. Solutions calculated by the HGA are compared with those obtained from the Discrete Particle Swarm Optimization (DPSO) technique which is a modified version of the classical particle swarm optimization. Finally, HGA provides good results for coordination of the considered overcurrent relays in the test system, according to the results given by the DPSO.