Superimposed Positive Sequence Impedance for Detecting Unintentional Islanding in Microgrid

Abstract

Incorporation of environmentally friendly energy sources (RESs) into the electricity grid has many benefits, including economic, technological, and environmental. However, excessive renewable energy sources (RES) in the power grid provide technical problems, including equipment protection, DG operation, and islanding detection. One of the most serious challenges is the islanding phenomenon. Islanding can cause several problems, such as frequency instability and voltage fluctuations resulting in damage to electrical equipment or threatening utility workers who may be working/accessing the equipment. This research proposes an efficient islanding detection algorithm to lessen the impact of such threats. This novel passive islanding detection scheme is based on superimposed positive sequence impedance (SPSI). For calculating the superimposed positive sequence impedance (SPSI), the voltage and current signals are obtained from targeted DG points. The scheme’s performance is tested on multiple bus systems across islanding and non-islanding conditions using a MATLAB/Simulink environment. It is shown that even in the presence of noise, the algorithm can determine an islanding decision with high accuracy and a short detection time of 84 ms. In comparison to other algorithms, it operates at zero power mismatch (ZPM) and does not affect power quality.