Loss of Coordination in a Protection Scheme due to DG assessed by means of Reliability Analysis

This paper proposes a method to evaluate the effect of Distributed Generation (DG) on a protection scheme coordination of a distribution network. The protection scheme includes configurations as fuse-fuse and recloser-fuse. DG integration, simulated in OpenDSS, includes 16 scenarios with different penetration and spread levels. Results, after faults, show reactions of protection devices, such as Unexecuted trip, Trip ahead and False tripping; causing a deviation from the expected protection coordination behaviour. Reliability index Energy Not Supplied is used to measure the impact of faults. In summary, scenarios with spread in all nodes present the best performance for medium penetration levels, although scenarios with generation only in 2 nodes are preferred for high penetration levels.