Detection of fault using local measurements at inverter interfaced distributed energy resources

High proliferation of Inverter Interfaced Distributed Energy Resources (IIDERs) into the electric distribution grid results in failure of the traditional overcurrent based fault detection at the point of interconnection (POI) of IIDERs. This paper focuses on other strategies of detection, namely, 1) using the transient content at the inverter output, 2) using zero sequence current magnitude at the high side of interconnecting transformer, and 3) using voltage drop at the POI. These strategies are tested by simulating a 100 kW three-phase Voltage-sourced Inverter connected to the IEEE 13-node distribution feeder in PSCAD environment. Performance of the selected strategies to various faults in the system is documented and evaluated.