Integrated Wide-Area Backup Protection Algorithm During Stressed Power System Condition in Presence of Wind Farm

Stressed power system conditions such as power swing, voltage instability and load encroachment may influence the secure operation of conventional backup protection at their third zone (zone 3). In this paper, a new integrated backup protection algorithm for distance relay is proposed based on wide-area measurements to distinguish the fault-stress conditions in the presence of offshore wind farm (WF). Presence of WF creates problem for distance relay due to varying wind speed and wide fluctuations in voltage and current signal during fault condition. In this work, two criteria are proposed to analyze and to identify the events. The first criterion compares the positive-sequence bus voltages in order to identify the faulty bus. According to second criterion, the absolute positive-sequence impedance angle difference between the lines connected to that faulty bus is computed to identify the faulty line. Numerous test cases with the WSCC 3-machine, 9-bus and IEEE 39 bus power system models have been simulated using EMTDC/PSCAD software. Results for different fault cases, power swing, load encroachment and voltage instability, and various non-fault cases like capacitor switching, demonstrate the efficacy of the wide-area backup protection scheme. Comparative assessment reports with the existing methods are also presented.

Automated summary

This paper proposes a new integrated backup protection algorithm based on wide-area measurements to address the fault protection issue in the presence of offshore wind farms. Through two criteria, the algorithm is able to analyze and identify fault events, demonstrating the efficacy of the wide-area backup protection scheme.