Change in Sum of Power Based Fault Detection Method for Microgrid Utilizing μPMU

Abstract

This article presents a method to detect the short-circuit faults in the microgrid by processing and analyzing $\mu$ PMU data. The $\mu$ PMUs are placed in the network for fault observability, and the network is divided into monitoring zones. Thereafter, a fault detection index is developed that computes the change in the per-unit sum of positive sequence active power entering the zone. Extensive test scenarios are simulated on a microgrid system for the grid-connected and islanded mode of operation to verify the proposed scheme. Besides that, validation on several no-fault scenarios such as capacitor and load switching, distributed generator tripping, microgrid islanding, and resynchronization is performed. Across the wide range of operating conditions, the test results indicate that the proposed method reliably detects faults in the microgrid.