Dynamic protection of power systems with high penetration of renewables: A review of the traveling wave based fault location techniques

Governments set more ambitious goals about CO₂ emission reductions and increasing the share of clean energy in the overall generation portfolio. A natural outcome of this trend is more deployment of renewables both at transmission and distribution networks. In addition to well-known environmental benefits, introduction of these non-conventional technologies changes the operation of power systems: e.g. reduced inertia, less stability and more unpredictability. Since most of these novel generation technologies are inverter-interfaced, their behavior under fault conditions are much different than conventional rotating machines. This creates novel challenges in power system protection. Accurate determination of location and type of a fault provides faster system restoration, increased reliability and cost benefits. There are various methods utilized for power system protection. Travelling wave-based fault location methods are preferred due to high accuracy and ultrafast detection capability. This paper reviews the latest developments in traveling wave-based fault location techniques. Signal processing methods hold a key role in information extraction since traveling wave transients have high frequency. A critical review of these methods reported in literature is presented. Application of travelling wave-based protection techniques is examined and special focus is given to distribution systems with high penetration of renewable energy-based generators. Traveling wave-based protection techniques have tremendous potential for future protection applications in smart grid scenarios viz. microgrids and active distribution systems. Being able to detect a fault under different current and voltage conditions make them a very strong candidate for achieving adaptive protection in power systems with high penetration of renewables. Finally, implementation of travelling wave-based fault location system based on IEC 61850 standard is also investigated. Having a standardized implementation is a solid step towards achieving plug-and-play (PnP) in dynamic power networks.