Proceedings of the IEEE 2017 International Conference on Computing Methodologies and Communication

(ICCMC)

Relay Coordination in Microgrid

Pallavi P.Bagul#1,Prof.Sonali M.Akolkar*2
K.K.Wagh Institute of Engineering

Education & Research Nasik 422003,India

1
[email protected]
2
[email protected]

Abstract
Microgrids has many environmental and and an optimal DG placement to maximize the
economic benefits but their implementation has great penetration level of DG in distribution networks
technical challenges in protection, energy management without changing the original relay protection schemes.
and control. MG consist of a number of distributed Based on the impact analysis of the number of DGs,
generators (DGs).Distribution system protection is the their locations and capacities upon short circuit
most important technical aspects in the microgrid. currents, different levels of faults conditions are seen in
Distributed Generation (DG) is used to supply the local this paper. Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used for
loads. The insertion of distributed generation in the optimization of the objective function in the distribution
microgrid leads to violating the relay coordination in systems. Simulation is done in ETAP software on a
the distribution system. The continuous connection and standardized IEEE 9 bus system to obtain load flow and
disconnection of DG affects coordination of distribution short circuit analysis.
system protection, as the generator has the ability to
contribute large fault currents to the fault point which Keywords: Microgrid, Distributed Generation,
causes changes in magnitudes and directions of short Genetic Algorithm, Interconnected System, Directional
circuit currents that leads to false trip or fail to trip Overcurrent Relays.
over-current protection relays in the system and thus
inaccurate operation of the existing protection system. Acronyms:
Thus, coordination between the primary and the MG MICROGRID
backup relays fails and has an adverse impact on DG DISTRIBUTED GENERATION
protection coordination. The adaptive protection OCR OVERCURRENT RELAY
algorithm is used for optimum operating time and GA GENETIC ALGORITHM
coordination between the primary and the backup relay CTI COORDINATION TIME INTERVAL

1. INTRODUCTION severely affected and the coordination between

As the need for the power is increasing there is primary and backup relay may fail [1], [3].
tremendous introduction of distributed generation at Overcurrent relays (OCRs) is commonly used as they
distribution level with various benefits [1], [2]. are slow to trip at low current and faster to trip at
Protection of the system againsts fault current is main high fault current for protection of sub-transmission
motive as operating mode of the system changes and distribution system or as a secondary protection
when the distribution generation is grid connected, of transmission system as it is the only economical
islanding mode, changes in the number of DGs, its alternative [4].
capacity, its location, nature of DG and fault types Based on the impact of the number of DGs, their
[1],[3]. locations and capacities upon short circuit currents,
The level of short circuit current caused by the different levels of faults conditions are considered in
fault changes with various conditions, thus current this paper. This paper proposes the new adaptive
sense by relay changes, if relay setting is not updated protection algorithm for inverse-time to ensure
with changing operating mode system may be

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 Proceedings of the IEEE 2017 International Conference on Computing Methodologies and Communication
(ICCMC)

minimum operating time and protective coordination protection zone while other two OCRs are necessary
of relays. used if the bi-directional flows of fault current
ETAP software is used for simulation studies in occurred. When the fault occurs the fault current is
which a widely used IEEE-9-bus is designed to passed through a current transformer (CT) between
obtain load flow and short circuit results so that the distribution line and OCR. It is then measured by the
proposed adaptive protection algorithm is designed CT and then given as an input to OCR to calculate its
that can keep the proper operating time and provide operating time.
the protective coordination time interval with fast
response. It also decrease the computation time the
relay required to calculate the operating parameters
of OCRs such as time dial setting and pick up
current. The proposed algorithm is evaluated by
performing various case studies in a radial
distribution system by using the simulation software
ETAP (Electrical Transient and Analysis Program).

2. METHODOLOGY
The inverse-time OCR has protection function
that it operates by observing the magnitude of fault
current and the direction of fault current. Whenever
fault occurs in the system and it exceeds a pick-up
current the OCR sends a trip signal. It has inverse- Fig.1. OCRs to a Radial Distribution System
time current characteristic is expressed as (1) and (2),
which represents the dynamics of induction disk As several protective devices have been installed
OCR [7]. must have the specified operation sequence as shown
in fig. 1. The protective devices is said to be
∫ =1 (1) coordinated among each other. Whenever the
( )
minimum fault occur in the system the primary relay
must operate first depending on the location of the
( )= [ + ] (2)
fault, and then the backup relays must trip only when
the primary relays are not operated correctly. As
shown in fig.1, if a fault occurs at the location
Where, I is the fault current seen by the OCR, T0 is between the bus 2 and the bus 3, the OCR-2 must
the operating time, M is the ratio of I/I pick-up, TDS operate as the primary relay than the OCR-1.
is the time dial setting. Also, A, B, and p are Even, the OCR-1 must serve as the backup
coefficients which represent inverse, very inverse, protection when the fault occur if the OCR-2 cannot
and extremely inverse types of OCR. operate properly. The proper time interval between
the primary and backup protection is the important
Characteristic A B p factor. This is called the coordination time interval
Moderately inverse(MI) 0.15 0.1141 0.03
Very inverse(VI) 13.6 0.490 1.0 (CTI) [9-10], which is usually considered as 0.2 s to
Extremely inverse(EI) 79 0.1216 1.0 0.5 s. This CTI can be applied to all protection
devices such as fuses and reclosers as well as relays
Table No.1. IEEE characteristics of OCR in a distribution system. Its standard equation is given
as in (3).
It is observed from eq. (1) and (2) that t(I) the trip
time. Therefore, the value of t(I) also changes
according to the time. Thus t(I) is integrated from − ≥ (3)
zero to the fault current is reduced below the pick-up
current[5-6]. The OCR issues a trip command to the where t backup and t primary are the operation times
OCR, when the integrated value becomes 1. of backup and primary protections. In any system the
In most cases, the OCRs are applied to a radial operating time of the backup protection is always
distribution system. As the current flows only in one larger than that of the primary protection. Thus, the
direction from the substation to downward, the OCR difference between them should exceed the CTI as
is connected to the radial line right behind the related (3), which has 0.2 - 0.5 sec value. When the
bus. In the system only one OCR is used as a introduction of DG is there in a system, it increases

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 Proceedings of the IEEE 2017 International Conference on Computing Methodologies and Communication
(ICCMC)

the fault current and reverses the direction of power relays. Hence, the coordination time is reduced as the
flow. As shown in fig.2 the introduction of DG at bus available fault current increases. This results in
2 causes fault current to flow in reverse direction. miscoordination. Thus if the fault current is increased
Therefore there is increase in the fault current as again the pre-determined value of primary relay, it is
compared to without DG in case 1. As again, when unable to coordinate with the backup relay, thus
the fault occurs at the fault location, F2, it is also resulting in possible disoperation [8]. Therefore, the
increased due to the DG even though there is no operating parameters of OCRs must be correctly
reverse flow of the fault current. Therefore, the adjusted and that is carried out by the adaptive
operating parameters are arranged properly so that algorithm implementation [4].
OCR-n function correctly [2, 4, 10].

3. MODEL DESCRIPTION
System used is a standardized IEEE 9 bus system,
the effect of DG in the system fault current is
observed. Proper location of DG and its capacity
require a careful analysis and development that
depends on many factors. The set up in study case
are- Wind Generator 25 MW at 230kV, Fault on
transformer winding, Change in DG capacity and its
location. When DG exist in the system there is a lot
of configuration on the power grids, in this work
following topologies: 1) Power Grid without DG. 2)
Power Grid with all DG. 3) Power Grid with different
capacity of DG. 4) Power Grid with different fault
location.
Fig 2.Increase in fault current level and reverse power flow
due to DG Using ETAP software the protection coordination
is checked, viewing TCC curves, sequence and time
of units operation for faults in different buses.
Therefore, verify the protection coordination, the DG
were introduced to identify the impact it produces on
fault current and necessary action to implement.
Various case studies have been carried out to study
the impact of DG on the system. The IEEE 9 Bus
system is shown below

Fig3.Coordination relation between Primary and Backup relay

Thus, the effect of fault current on the operating

time of OCRs is shown in fig.3.It is seen that when
the fault current is increased the OCR operating time
is decreased. The OCRs have the inverse time-current
characteristics. Thus larger the magnitude of fault
current becomes, the fast the OCR will operate.
However, the relay should not operate very fast also
that may cause to unnecessary removal of a larger
portion of the system. As shown in Fig. 3, when the Fig 4. Study case system IEEE 9 Bus system without DG
fault current is increased the primary relay might
have difficulty in coordinating with the backup

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 Proceedings of the IEEE 2017 International Conference on Computing Methodologies and Communication
(ICCMC)

To carry out simulation the Relays are selected

according to the parameters, application, and
requirements. The parameters and relays are selected
based on the primary and backup relays coordination
time interval. Different values are given to each
component present in the system. Thus considering
various cases simulations were carried out [11-13].

4. DESIGN METHODOLOGY,
SIMULATIONS AND EFFECTS OF DG
The load flow simulation on the system and its
result is noted before carrying out the proposed
adaptive algorithm for the system OCR. It becomes
mandatory to know the maximum and minimum
current that flows through the system. By performing
the load flow the values of currents are calculated and
from that TMS and PS of OCR are calculated as
shown in eq. (4).Thus the operating time of relay is
Fig 6 .Fault at Bus 6 with no DG connected
calculated.

. ∗
When the fault is created at Bus 6, Relay 6 is
= . (4) operated first i.e. it acts as a primary relay and sends
a trip signal to the CB6. Then the Relay8 is operated
as secondary and sends a trip signal to CB8.The TCC
Top- Operating time of relay curve shows the operation of relays. Again different
IF - Relay current condition is shown in fig.8 the impact of DG when
PS - Plug settings connected to the system.
TMS - Relay time multiplier setting
Thus the load flow data performed on the system
besides its results are shown in Fig.5. Using ETAP
software the sequence of operation of relays,
protection coordination is checked, TCC curves is
obtained, for faults in different buses at various
locations.

Fig 7.Protection coordination when fault at bus6

Fig 5. Load Flow of the system without DG

Therefore, to verify the protection coordination

and operating parameters, DG’s were included to
identify the impact it will produce. The following
fig.8 shows the impact of introduction of DG in the
system on the fault currents.

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 Proceedings of the IEEE 2017 International Conference on Computing Methodologies and Communication
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circuit analysis study, the maximum fault current is

calculated. The introduction of DG and continuous
switching of DG causes the system protection to
hamper the relay coordination and hence
maloperation of relay occurs. Hence the need for
adaptive protection emerge. It helps to give proper
time of operation of relay operating parameters and
coordination of relay. Hence the relay setting in the
system and operating time of relay is evaluated and
maloperation is avoided.

6. FUTURE SCOPE
In future, the adaptive protection algorithm can be
applied to ring main and interconnected distribution
systems for bi-directional flows of fault currents.
Thus the new adaptive protection algorithm for
Fig 8. Fault at Bus6 when DG is present in the system
inverse-time overcurrent relays (OCRs) is required
As DGs are introduced in the system the fault for their proper operating parameters, operating time
current level is increased in the system and current and protective coordination with minimum time. The
reverse flow is started. The simulation result shows remaining future work can be extended to use various
that the current contributed by DG affect the system algorithm technique like Genetic Algorithm,
operation and false trip starts, it is important to note Nonlinear Programming to optimize the operating
the parameters or circumstances of the introduction time and protection coordination with minimum time.
of DG before providing any protection hence study The balance work is to use the Genetic Algorithm
have been carried out and it is found that the and to synchronize the programming in Matlab with
parameters are hampered and it is shown in the Short ETAP for optimum coordination of OCRs.
Circuit Report fig.10 provided by ETAP.

Fig.9.Sequence of Operation of relays when fault present

Fig.10. Short Circuit Report with DG

5. CONCLUSION
In this paper, results are carried out in ETAP
software and the effectiveness of the proposed
algorithm is seen and various effects of DG, their
location and fault location are observed. Result that
we have obtained from load flow analysis, the value
of pickup current is calculated and from the short

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 Proceedings of the IEEE 2017 International Conference on Computing Methodologies and Communication
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