Optimization-Based Fault Location Algorithm for Series-Compensated Power Transmission Lines

This paper presents an optimization-based fault location algorithm applicable to series-compensated power transmission lines. The presented method determines the fault location minimizing the errors between measured and calculated post-fault voltage and current phasors through a dynamic differential evolutionary optimization algorithm. This fault location solution may be advantageous over existing approaches found in the literature as it can locate any fault regardless of the series compensation’s design, impedance, and positioning. To validate the proposed algorithm, the authors tested it against more than a thousand and six hundred faults on a 500 [kV] series-compensated double-circuit transmission line simulated in ATP/EMTP. The results indicate that the presented method yields accurate fault location estimates, with errors within the 1% magnitude using post-fault steady-state and transient data. In addition, the proposed algorithm is robust even in situations featuring high-resistance faults, errors in the line’s parameters, in the system equivalents connected to and between the line’s terminals, and in phasor extraction, configuring it as an accurate and reliable alternative to locate faults within series-compensated lines.