Protection of Microgrid Interconnection Lines Using Distance Relay With Residual Voltage Compensations

Protection of microgrids at the Point of Interconnection (POI) is a challenging task. Particularly, single-line-to-ground (SLG) faults on interconnection lines are difficult to detect using the fault current detection relays if the microgrid is ungrounded at utility side of its interconnection transformer; such microgrid contributes very low fault current, which disappears once the utility feeder breaker opens. Other common schemes for protection of microgrid interconnection line against SLG faults include Direct Transfer Trip (DTT) and over-voltage relay (59G). The main challenges associated with these methods are installation and maintenance costs of high-speed communication system, sensitivity of relay settings, and delayed fault clearing time due to selectivity requirements. To address such concerns, this paper proposes the use of a distance relay at the microgrid/LV side of the interconnection transformer to provide protection against SLG faults on the interconnection line at the utility/HV side. The designed distance relay executes an enhanced apparent impedance calculation using residual voltage compensation to correctly detect the fault, properly measure the fault location, and timely isolate the fault. In this paper, various scenarios are analyzed using ASPEN and PSCAD simulation tools to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method for protecting the microgrid interconnection line under different fault scenarios.