Test of anti-islanding protections according to IEC 62116: An experimental feasibility assessment

One of the main issues concerning the Inverter based Distributed Generators (DGs) is the possibility that inverters could feed parts of the public grid, even when the grid is disconnected from the main power system. Such a condition, that is called unwanted island, is potentially critical both for safety and for consumers' operations. In order to avoid unwanted islands, it's mandatory equipping the generating plant with an Interface Protection (IP) which has to detect the islanding condition and, in this case, to disconnect the generator from the public grid. Several methods for identifying island condition have been proposed, both passive and active, each one characterized by its pros and cons. The standard IEC 62116 was promulgated with the aim of regulating a test procedure to evaluate the IP effectiveness of PhotoVoltaic (PV) inverters independently from the island detection method implemented. The paper discusses the test procedure proposed by the standard IEC 62116 and presents some experimental activities developed by RSE spa, aimed at the assessment of test feasibility and effectiveness.