Active Fault Current Limitation for Low-Voltage Ride-Through of Networked Microgrids

With the continuously increasing penetration of networked microgrids (MGs) on the local utility grid (UG), MGs face the challenge to avoid increasing system fault currents during low-voltage ride-through (LVRT). To solve this challenge, an active fault current limitation (AFCL) method is proposed with three parts: 1) a novel phase angle adjustment (PAA) strategy is conducted to relieve the impact of MGs output fault current on system fault current; 2) the current injection (CI) strategy for LVRT is formulated to fit the function of PAA; 3) a novel converter current generation (CCG) strategy is developed to achieve a better voltage support ability by considering network impedance characteristics. The proposed AFCL method is applied to the back-to-back converter, as a connection interface between MGs and UG. Extensive tests and pertinent results have verified the improvements of proposed AFCL method with better LVRT performance, while the networked MGs output fault current does not increase the amplitude of system fault current.

Automated summary

This study proposes an active fault current limitation (AFCL) method to reduce system fault currents during low-voltage ride-through (LVRT) by adjusting phase angles and injecting currents. The method also takes into account network impedance characteristics to enhance voltage support ability. Extensive tests have shown that the proposed AFCL method improves LVRT performance without increasing system fault currents.