Microgrid Protection

Abstract

The proliferation of distributed energy resources is setting the stage for modern distribution systems to operate as microgrids, which can avoid power disruptions and serve as resources for fast recovery during macrogrid disturbances. Microgrids are, therefore, major assets to improve the grid resilience. However, the offered resilience is seriously undermined if microgrids are not properly protected in the event of faults within their own boundaries. Distribution protective devices cannot reliably protect microgrids due to the variable and often limited short-circuit capacities of microgrids. Moreover, the research on microgrid protection has not led to a commercially available microgrid relay to date and has little prospect of reaching that level in the near future. As a result, the existing options for reliable microgrid protection remain effectively the subtransmission and transmission system protective devices, e.g., directional overcurrent, distance, and differential relays. Although years of operation in macrogrids support these relays, their performance for microgrids is yet to be analyzed. This paper presents such analysis for different relay types by considering various fault and generation conditions in a microgrid. Time-domain simulations are used to identify the scenarios where the relays function correctly as well as the problematic conditions, on which future research should focus. This paper also presents a short review on direct current (dc) microgrids and their protection requirements.