A zero-sequence impedance-based fault location method for MV distribution feeders with sparse measurements

This paper presents a fault location method developed for medium voltage (MV) radial distribution feeders using zero-sequence components and a limited number of measurement nodes. The method exhibits promising results in simulation with unsynchronized measurements and can be further enhanced with the use of synchronized measurements such as the ones coming from phasor measurement units (PMUs). Using synchronized measurements, the method has been able to reach its full locating potential on all simulated faults occurring on the most challenging distribution feeder reconstructed. Finally, the presented method is cost effective since the fault is located with only voltage measurements on all the chosen secondary substations and can locate all types of earth faults.