Challenges and recommendations for fault location in series compensated transmission lines

Various fault location algorithms have been proposed recently for series capacitor compensated transmission lines (SCCTLs). In most of the proposed techniques, the role of series capacitor protection unit (SCPU) and its impact on current signal characteristics and fault location has not been fully considered. In this paper, the functionality and operating modes of SCPU are described along with the procedure to properly size MOV for use in SCPU. First, a brief introduction to phasor-based fault location algorithm is presented. Then the impacts of SCPU operation and series capacitor location on fault location are investigated along with the analysis. Various challenges and considerations are discussed and solutions are recommended to improve the performance of fault location algorithms. The presented analysis has been verified through comprehensive simulations in PSCAD and Matlab.