Coordination of dual setting overcurrent relays in microgrid with optimally determined relay characteristics for dual operating modes

Fault current magnitude in a microgrid depends upon its mode of operation, namely, grid-connected mode or islanded mode. Depending on the type of fault in a given mode, separate protection schemes are generally employed. With the change in microgrid operating mode, the protection scheme needs to be modified which is uneconomical and time inefficient. In this paper, a novel optimal protection coordination scheme is proposed, one which enables a common optimal relay setting which is valid in both operating modes of the microgrid. In this context, a common optimal protection scheme is introduced for dual setting directional overcurrent relays (DOCRs) using a combination of various standard relay characteristics. Along with the two variables, i.e., time multiplier setting (TMS) and plug setting (PS) for conventional directional overcurrent relay, dual setting DOCRs are augmented with a third variable of relay characteristics identifier (RCI), which is responsible for selecting optimal relay characteristics from the standard relay characteristics according to the IEC-60255 standard. The relay coordination problem is formulated as a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem, and the settings of relays are optimally determined using the genetic algorithm (GA) and the grey wolf optimization (GWO) algorithm. To validate the superiority of the proposed protection scheme, the distribution parts of the IEEE-14 and IEEE-30 bus benchmark systems are considered.