Impact of distributed generation on distance protection performance - A review

Early power systems were comprised of centrally dispatched conventional power generation facilities, delivering power to customers via transmission and distribution networks. With the changes in utility structures, development in technologies, increased attention on environmental concerns, increase in electricity demand coupled with attractive advantages offered by small to medium generation sources have led to increasing use of Distributed Generation (DG). However, high penetration of DG will have an adverse impact on the power system operation & protection. In this paper an extended review is done to identify the impact of fault current contribution from DG on the line protection performance. The disturbing factors for proper operation of distance protection and further the impact of fault currents on those disturbing factors are identified.