Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and

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Protection challenges and mitigation techniques

of power grid integrated to renewable energy
sources: A review

Hinal Shah, Jaydeep Chakravorty & Nilesh G. Chothani

To cite this article: Hinal Shah, Jaydeep Chakravorty & Nilesh G. Chothani (2023) Protection
challenges and mitigation techniques of power grid integrated to renewable energy sources:
A review, Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, 45:2,
4195-4210, DOI: 10.1080/15567036.2023.2203111

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ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
2023, VOL. 45, NO. 2, 4195–4210
https://doi.org/10.1080/15567036.2023.2203111

Protection challenges and mitigation techniques of power grid

integrated to renewable energy sources: A review
a a b
Hinal Shah , Jaydeep Chakravorty , and Nilesh G. Chothani
a
EE Department, Indus University, Ahmedabad, India; bEE Department, Pandit Deendayal Energy University,
Ahmedabad, India

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Recently, there has been a noticeable contribution from renewable energy Received 25 March 2022
sources to enhance sources of electricity generation. The annual increase in Revised 27 February 2023
energy consumption, the negative impacts of unsustainable energy sources, Accepted 3 March 2023
and the worldwide deterioration of fossil fuels like coal and oil are the causes KEYWORDS
of this. Solar and wind energy sources are the most often used renewable Protection issues;
energy sources because of its minimal adverse environmental effects, negli­ transmission and distribution
gible operating costs, and straightforward operational requirements. network; smart grid;
Simultaneously, renewable energy sources (RES) bring new challenges for microgrid; islanded
protective measures. The dynamic response of RES, which is mostly con­
trolled by inverters, is not taken into consideration while designing protec­
tion systems because rotating machines tend to behave dynamically as
generating units. The magnitude and phase angle comparison, amount of
negative-sequence, and short-circuit current level are all impacted by the
RES, which presents difficulties for various pertinent transmission and dis­
tribution lines protection algorithms. This article is focused on ‘Smart Grid
Concept’, known as the future power grid, which uses bidirectional flows of
electricity and information to build an automated energy delivery network
that is broadly distributed. Protection challenges and their feasible solutions
for grid integrated RES are addressed in this review paper.

Introduction
Socioeconomic growth has always been an essential component of human nature from the beginning of
human life on earth. Natural energy resources can be harnessed by humans in an amazing way to benefit
daily life. Carbon dioxide (CO2) and other harmful gases were released uncontrollably due to the
excessive usage of coal and petroleum. It is necessary to find alternate sources of energy to avoid adverse
effects on humans, animals, plants, and the environment. Also the deployment of cutting-edge technol­
ogy in the electric power sector is undergoing a significant change as it attempts to create a smart grid
that can successfully address the issues of the present and the future. Alternative sources of energy are
Geo-thermal, biomass, hydro, solar, wind, etc. In India, the target to use RES for electricity generation is
set to 175 GW as mentioned in a report of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). Out of
which 100 GW is planned from solar energy, 60 GW through wind, 10 GW from small hydro plants, and
5 GW through biomass as shown in Figure 1. Solar and wind are the most prominent and appropriate
solution to meet upcoming energy demand with less impact on the environment.
Many of the protection problems due to RESs integrated into conventional grids and different methods
to overcome these issues are discussed in the following literature. The main grid did not interconnect with
RESs until the voltage, frequency, and phase angle of both systems must be within acceptable boundaries.

CONTACT Hinal Shah [email protected] EE Department, Indus University, Ahmedabad, India

© 2023 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
4196 H. SHAH ET AL.

Figure 1. Contribution of RESs in 2022 at India.

There must be a protection system that can identify problems in the island system and quickly isolate the
problematic area from the rest of the system, minimizing generation loss and load interruptions.
In the modern era of electrical power systems, sustainability, dependability, reliability, availability,
and maintainability have taken on a significant role. With greater dependency on the usage of IT and
computers in the field of electrical engineering, the arduous and difficult work of an electrical engineer
has become considerably easier in the current era. With the aid of various software and communica­
tion approaches, modern power systems can improve availability, reliability due to better fault
avoidance, and efficiency by almost 100% practically Reddy (2019). This review paper highlights the
various protection issues of the power system at transmission, distribution, and microgrid level when
integrated with renewable energy sources and potential solutions put forth by different scholars have
been compiled. The entire article is divided into the following sections: 1) literature survey, which was
done based on integrative traditional methods, 2) Mentioned different protection challenges at
transmission, distribution, and micro-grid level, and 3) Discussed possible mitigation techniques.

Literature review
Non-synchronous and inverter-connected generating plants are increasing due to rise of RES in the
electricity generation. This RES plants differs from conventional plants in that it uses active control systems
or complex software to manage disturbances. The facts are given in the black out reports of a few regions of
different countries. i.e. Black System in South Australia in 2016. AEMO (Investigation report 2017) report
has presented following factors to avoid blackout−1) significant inertia to limit the rate of frequency change
and allow automatic load shedding to balance the island system within the first few seconds. 2) Adequate
frequency control services to regulate the frequency of the island system over time. 3) A strong enough
system to regulate voltages, secure the proper operation of grid protection devices and maintain the proper
operation of inverter-connected facilities like wind farms. The abrupt, unexpected trip of PV inverters that
 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 4197

caused the southern California blackout cost roughly 1200 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) power (unde­
fined). The most essential requirement is uninterrupted, high-quality power. The publication (Shahzad,
Kahrobaee, and Asgarpoor 2017) has mentioned the main issues that might be encountered while devel­
oping protection schemes for distribution networks connected to RESs, including fluctuations in short
circuit levels, blinding of protection, unsynchronized re-closing, single-phase connection, change in fault
impedance, reverse power flow, and loss of mains. Additionally, few potential remedies are also listed. In
order to address concerns with distance protection, the article (Pazoki, Yadav, and Abdelaziz 2019) provides
a general overview of pattern recognition. The review of the literature demonstrates that pattern recognition
functions are useful for power swing detection, symmetrical fault detection during power swing, high
impedance fault detection, fault classification, and fault location identification. To accomplish proper relay
coordination under abnormal circumstances, various optimization strategies were explored. In article
(Katyara, Staszewski, and Leonowicz 2018), optimal sizing and DG location are covered. Review article
(Telukunta et al. 2017) discussed benefits and drawbacks of different current protection schemes with the
integration of RES in existing power network. The 30% or higher solar PV penetration levels in power
networks may be faced the issues like false tripping of feeders, nuisance tripping of protective devices,
blinding problem, rise or decay in fault current levels, and undesirable islanding etc (Namangolwa and
Begumisa 2016). In order to achieve the aims of large-scale DG integration and dependable microgrid
operation, protection systems must be able to adequately address the problems which has occurred to
distribution network by DGs. Article shows the adaptive protection scheme (Brearley, Prabu, and
Ramachandran 2017; Muda and Jena 2017). An electrical network’s power swing is caused by abrupt
changes in load or configuration, which may cause the distance relay to trip unintentionally. In order to
minimize instability in the power network caused by incorrect distance relay operation, it becomes essential
to quickly and accurately distinguish between true fault and power swing conditions. The (Patel, Chothani,
and Bhatt 2018) article suggests a novel technique for separating a failure from a power swing based on the
rate of voltage change and reactive power measured at the relay position. Nowadays, there is a growing
market for smart grid technology. An embedded system and DSP processor are used to illustrate a transient
fault protection technique in the article (Zhang, Hao, and Bo 2016). A coordinate phasor measurement unit
(PMU) based adaptive distance protection technique was proposed in a research work (Lin, Guerrero, et.al.
2015). To test the algorithm, a distribution system model comprising a combined cycle power plant, three
gas turbines, and three wind farms was used. Using a modified full cycle discrete Fourier transform with
adaptive dead time control, an auto-reclosing technique is demonstrated and put into practice. The distance
relay’s R-X diagram’s impedance trajectory is monitored as part of the fault detection logic (Patel et.al. 2019).
In contrast, the impedance reach of a numerical distance relay is represented in research articles (Patel,
Chothani, and Bhatt 2018; Patel et al. 2018), which is significantly impacted by different transmission-line
characteristics. This study demonstrates that by varying load switching and load fluctuation, adaptive
settings of quadrilateral characteristics are chosen to avoid the effects of high fault resistance, DC compo­
nent, and power swing. For quick and precise phasor estimation of fault impedance for adaptive relay
setting, the Modified Full-Cycle Discrete Fourier Transform (MFCDFT) algorithm was implemented,
followed by the SVM Classifier approach for power swing conditions. Mho-type distance relay, the fault
resistance compensation method, and its MATLAB simulation have been presented (Idris et al. 2013).
Researchers have demonstrated that when a relay is used to protect a short transmission line, a low fault
resistance value can cause it to be under-reached. When the fault is near the terminal of a remote substation,
the relay may possibly be under-reached. When a PV plant is linked to the grid, the performance of
a conventional distance protection scheme is shown in the article (Mohammed Saeed, Abdelwahid, and Jia
2019). Additionally, it demonstrates how the distance relay and the PV plant’s inverter work together when
there is a faulty condition. A simulated system with a PV plant was used in the paper to accomplish precise
fault location using “Fault ride through,” also the FRT feature will control inverter operation during faulty
conditions. The distribution power grid integration of PV systems has been presented in an article (Zhang
et al. 2016). However, the article (Sun, Wang, and Zhu 2016) has mentioned the effects of PV plants on
distribution networks and transmission lines. Distribution network simulations using the IEEE 13 bus
system integrated RES are used to study power flow and test the effectiveness of distance protection under
4198 H. SHAH ET AL.

a variety of load and fault conditions (Mortazavi et al. 2015). Research papers examine the issues and
methods for protecting microgrid networks (Anilkumar, Shankar, and Nagaraju 2013; Lin et al. 2015;
Memon and Kauhaniemi 2015; Sudhakar, Malaji, and Sarvesh 2014). In (Singh 2017) article, various
protective coordination methods for distribution and sub-transmission systems with and without distrib­
uted energy resources (DER) are examined. The author has also covered how DG sources affect the
distribution network and potential solutions.

Protection challenges with RES-integrated power network

Different protection issues in the micro grid, distribution, and transmission network are addressed
below due to grid-integrated solar and wind energy systems.

Coordination issues with renewable energy sources

Simple unidirectional radial networks have been transformed into complex bidirectional networks by the
inclusion of RES in distribution systems. As a result of the fault current, the network is no longer radial and
has become bidirectional. In a radial network, coordination for protection between relays, reclosers, and
fuses is well-established. Due to the connection and disconnection of renewable energy sources, distribution
and microgrid networks may become out of sync, increasing or decreasing the level of fault current.

Increase/Decrease in fault current level

When many small-capacity PV or wind energy sources are connected to the transmission and
distribution network, the fault current level may change.
Over current relays to operate properly, when the fault current value must be at least 5–10 times the
nominal rated current. However, inverter-based RES in islanded mode restricts the fault current to around
twice the rated current. According to Figure 2, when RES is connected to the main grid, fault current is
higher than it is in the islanded mode. The factors that affect the fault current value such as the position of the
RES connection, the location of the fault, the fault impedance in both grid linked and island modes, as well as
the amplitude, direction, and duration of the fault current (Barker and Mellow 2000). As seen in Figure 2, if
the RES is not present, the relay will detect low fault current. Therefore, a decrease in fault current leads to
a relay not operating. This is referred to as a blind relay operation (Telukunta et al. 2017).

False tripping
For faults outside of the protection zone, relay operates. This happens due to fault current flowing in
both directions in most of the lines. Referring to the protection scheme in Figure 3, the RES
contributes to the fault, therefore relay R2 works in the opposite direction from R1, reflecting the
fault as a result of improper functioning of the protective system. Relay R2 subsequently operates for
a fault on some other line without being required (Sudhakar, Malaji, and Sarvesh 2014).

Figure 2. Short circuit current variation.

 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 4199

Figure 3. False tripping or sympathetic tripping.

The relay receives current from both the main grid and the RES, as shown in Figure 4 as another case. As
a result, the relay receives more current. The presence of RES causes the relay to trip significantly earlier as
the RES contribution to the fault current may be greater than the relay’s pick-up level. That leads the healthy
feeder to trip before the actual fault has been addressed. This problem is also known as a selection problem

Island mode issues

Islanding serves as a small-scale model of the future interconnected of multi-RES grid. An autonomous
microgrid cannot function well without the islanding control techniques. One of the two islanding control
methods is applied through an inverter (Lopes 2005). When a fault occurs in the network as given in
Figure 5, relay R2 detects the fault and a section of the distributed network with RES is islanded. If the
generator keeps supplying electricity despite the utility being disconnected, it could cause an imbalance of
power in an isolated network.

Single phase connection

PV sources sometimes supply single-phase power to the grid, which causes an imbalance in the three-
phase supply current and an increase in neutral conductor current. Therefore, the amount of stray
current that reaches the earth rises. To prevent the system from being overloaded, this current needs to
be reduced.

Figure 4. Selection problem.

4200 H. SHAH ET AL.

Figure 5. Islanding problem.

Unsynchronized reclosing
If the fault persists for a long time, the recloser is designed to perform three open-close cycles before
locking out. According to Figure 6, the fault current supplied by the grid is sufficient for the R1 relay to
identify the fault, causing the breaker to open. A small quantity of current from a PV or wind source
will keep feeding the fault. Current will eventually flow from the RES whether the fault clears up or
persists in the network. Circuit breaker at relay R1 will close after a certain time interval, with PV
continuously feeding after the fault cleared. The two systems’ synchronism will be lost as a result. The
system will be affected by a mismatch in voltage, frequency, and phase.

Selectivity issue
The current will become bidirectional after RES is integrated with the main grid. Due to variations in
the fault current level of renewable energy resources, it can sometimes be challenging to distinguish
between a healthy line and a faulty line. Maximum current on a healthy line may trip it, although
a faulty line with minimal current may not.

Figure 6. Unsynchronized re-closer.

 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 4201

Loss of mains
At the point of common coupling or a higher level, the microgrid is disconnected from the main grid.
As a result, the microgrid works in islanded mode. RES is unable to provide enough power to support
local loads. This will create voltage dip and frequency instability issues during LOM. Also, how to
minimize main outages is presented in the article (Senarathna and Hemapala 2019).

Device discrimination
Fault current decreases with increasing distance as the impedance increases in a power network when
power sources are only located at one end of the system. The variation in the fault current’s level is
used for discriminating. Fault current is limited to a substantially smaller value in the case of an
islanded distribution grid with an inverter-interfaced RES than the value attained with directly
integrated to RES. This scenario restricts the use of the conventional current protection technique,
which uses the differential technique of fault current magnitude for discrimination (Kin, B., et al.
2003).

Distance protection reach issues

The performance of transmission lines is impacted by many factors, which also contribute to false
tripping. The factors shown in Figure 7 may contribute to transmission line (TL) under reach or over
reach protection issues. The short circuit behavior of various DGs, such as induction generators and
conventional synchronous generators, differs and has an impact on the settings for distance protec­
tion. Additionally, the penetration level of RES systems may cause TL relays to malfunction. The
performance of transmission-line distance protection may be affected by RES plant capacity, size, and
network density. Another factors that affect how well distance protection works whether the fault
occurs close to or far from the bus, fault location, whether it is transient or steady state type of fault, the
fault inception angle, the power swing, the voltage level, the fault level, the frequency matching, the
mutual coupling, the compensation techniques, and the FACTS devices that are used in transmission
lines to transfer the maximum power.

Mitigation techniques if protection challenges of power network integrated to RES

Micro-grid and distribution system protection techniques
The literature focuses on developing sensitive and precise protection schemes for small-scale and
medium-scale power generation systems that correctly distinguish between load current and small
fault current. Many of the techniques listed in Table 1, which are simulated and analyzed using
PSCAD/EMTDC, MATLAB, and other development tools. The protection strategies described below
are frequently preferred for microgrid and distribution protection sys.

Differential protection scheme

Comparing the magnitude of the fault current across the protected element is a differential protection
technique. The method is based on the differential current measurement at the point of common
coupling. Signal processing can be used to set differential relay settings for both on-grid and off-grid
small fault current detection, as well as to send trip signals to isolate the faulty part.

Fault current limiter based protection scheme

This approach can be used for distribution systems that include renewable energy sources as well as
microgrids. To reduce the fault current, FCL is connected in series with power lines or at an optimum
position in an interconnected network. The FCL’s size will rely on the number of small capacity RES
availability in the system or fault current level. The size, location, and tuning of FCLs are difficult
4202 H. SHAH ET AL.

Figure 7. Parameters affected to transmission line protection.

aspects of the power network. The main function of FCL is to limit high fault current and minimize
mis-coordination. Superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) and solid-state fault current limiter
can also be used for rapid blocking of higher values of fault current.

Directional overcurrent protection

When there are more RES available, reverse current flows in the micro grid and distribution system,
creating a mesh network. A directional device is needed to prevent relay malfunction caused by the
bidirectional current. The magnitude of the asymmetrical fault is determined by the angle and
amplitude of the negative sequence impedance. For symmetrical fault, current and torque angle of
negative sequence impedance are utilized, although it might not work for different network topologies.

Relay coordination techniques

Curve fitting technique, Graph theory, Analytical technique, multi layer, multi agent, optimization
technique, and many more are used to resolve coordination issues. In curve fitting technique,
normal inverse current relay schemes are mathematically modeled. This technique does not work
for the current setting 1.3 times less than pick-up current. Graph theory technique is used for
interconnected or mesh distributed networks in which the computational time of solving OC relay
coordination is higher. Analytical methods take a large number of iterations and are not able to
provide optimal relay settings in distributed networks to solve relay coordination issues. The
multi-agent algorithm also works in mesh networks as well as in radial networks. It provides dual
setting of relay coordination. Grid connected settings and island mode settings are different. Dual
settings are used for forward and reverse directions.

Optimization techniques
Optimization techniques are also used to provide relay coordination and optimal relay settings.
Optimization technique is broadly classified into two categories - Mathematical based optimization
techniques: Simple linear programming technique to complex techniques for nonlinear networks are
used for fixed as well as variable distributed power systems. Another optimization technique is based on
 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 4203

Table 1. Summary of the distribution and microgrid protection issues and its mitigation techniques.
Development
Type of Network Impact on Network Methods used to mitigate the impact Tools
Grid connected PV i)Power reversals change in fault current Inject scheduled amount of real and MATLAB
(Sudhakar, level of the network, reactive powers in to the grid while Simulink
Malaji, and ii)Possibility of sympathetic tripping, iii) maintaining the balance between input
Sarvesh 2014) Reduction in reach of distance relays, iv) and output powers
Loss of relay coordination, v)
Unintentional islanding, vi) Harmonic
distortion
Grid Integrated PV i)Fault current level of the network, i)Adaptive micro grid protection system, ii) -
(Anilkumar, ii)False Tripping, iii)Reduction in reach of Protection based on symmetrical
Shankar, and Distance Relays, components and differential
Nagaraju 2013) iv)Loss of Relay Coordination, v) components of currents
Unintentional Islanding
220 KV IEEE-5 Bus i)backup protection system was Backup protection method using MATLAB
System without one of the main causes of unwanted synchronized PMU in a Wide Area Simulink
DG cataract trips, ii)Detect Fault Type Protection
(Karpe and iii)Identify Fault Location
Kalgunde 2016)
IEEE 6 BUS with/ Exact Critical Fault Point instead of Modifies the impedance matrix of the MATLAB
without DER empirical CFP for coordination of over network using the analytical approach. Optimization
(Alkaran et al. current Relay Used GA method. Toolbox
2015)
IEEE 30 BUS with i)Radial network distribution system i)Voltage-current based inverse relay MATLAB
Solar DER converted to meshed network, ii)Fault model, ii)considering the logarithmic
(Tejeswini, et al. Current fed by DER from multiple side, iii) function rather than exponential
2019) Relay coordination calculation will function to improve in service time to
become complex overcome the low fault magnitude level
110kV Bus i)Short circuit current phase difference i)modified Adaptive distance protection DIgSILENT/
connected to PV between system side scheme to avoid unwanted trip of Power Factory
(Sun, Wang, and and PV power station side is diff-erent transmission line with PV, ii)To avoid
Zhu 2016) when fault occurs, ii)Phase selection wrong phase selection, Voltage based
failure, iii)malfunction of transmission Phase selector instead of current based
line distance relay protection. suggested
IEEE 13 node with Various locations, Different fault incident Wigner distribution (WD) index and MiPower &
PV Integrated angles, Fault impedance, sampling Alienation (ALN) index used and it gives MATLAB
(Ola et al. 2020) frequencies, hybrid line consisting of better performance compare to DWT,
over head line and underground (UG) WPT and Stockwell transform
cable sections, different types of
transformer winding and the presence of
noise

Figure 8. Distance protection.

4204 H. SHAH ET AL.

Figure 9. MHO Relay characteristics for L-G fault at Fault Resistance 1Ω.

Artificial Intelligence. To find a global optimal solution of relay setting of interconnected power systems,
different techniques like Genetic Algorithm, PSO, BBO, artificial bee’s colony, etc., have been proposed by
many researchers.

Transmission line protection scheme

Distance protection scheme
Compared to over-current relays, distance relays are less impacted by dynamic network changes. The
quadrilateral element is then used in place of the high set instantaneous overcurrent element and the
MHO element is used in place of the low set instantaneous overcurrent element. The relay character­
istic is inherently directional in nature, which allows for protection against reverse fault current. Three
zones of protection are offered by distance protection. The fault occurs at point F in Figure 8. The bus
3 connections of RES will also supply the fault current. The impedance seen by R1 will be larger than
the set impedance because the impedance of the RES line will be added to the line impedance. False
tripping will occur in the network if the measured impedance is higher than the set impedance. The
established impedance value needs to be updated by the network in order to reduce the effects of RES
upstream and downstream. Selectivity and setting of the relay parameter should therefore adjust
dynamically as needed (Patel, Chothani, and Bhatt 2015).

Adaptive protection scheme

This model is applicable to microgrid, distribution, and transmission-line network. It operates
according to programmable logic. Different relay setting options are offered for varying situations.
The relay communication protocol is used to communicate between the slave relays in the field and
the master relay in the control station. Based on the micro grid’s structure, the master relay sets various
relay settings. Depending on the degree of RES penetration into the electrical grid, a greater number of
dynamic faults will occur in the future.
 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 4205

Table 2. Protection methodology features and its limitation.

Protection Operational
Protection Scheme Features Offered For Condition Limitation
Adaptive protection i)Compatibility relay setting with Micro-grid, Relay Setting Complex, need to take care of
Technique power system conditions, Distribution changes multiple parameters.
(Alsafasfeh et al. highlights the abnormalities and according to Requires to have prior
2019; Online system Large scale network state knowledge of power network
Chandraratne ii)Less complicated PV integrated configurations in order to
et al. 2020) approaches with reasonable to TL perform power flow and
implementation of cost. short circuit calculations
iii)provides performance
indications for various faults
and reduction techniques.
Differential i)It is more suited to detect Islanded Mode, Comparison i) Cannot be suited for upstream
Protection downstream earth faults and Lower fault (Difference) of faults.
Technique (Lei immune to current flow current input and output ii)Problems due to unbalance
et al. 2019) direction and magnitude Network will current of a zone and transients
variations. prefer
ii)High performance for high
impedance fault
Voltage based i)Applicable for Internal and Micro grid Voltage i)May not be viable with re
Protection external Fault. symmetrical configuring networks.
ii)Perform abc-dq0 component ii) Voltage drops can create
transformations on voltage errors, may malfunction in
waveform to identify the any voltage disturbances.
short circuit fault type and iii)High impedance fault
location. cannot be detected, Poor
iii)Designing load shedding accuracy
and preventing blackout
system
Current-Based Over-current relay can modify Micro-grid, Symmetrical i) Requirement of infrastructure
protection with direction element. Islanded, current upgrade, including
Distribution components. communication channels.
system ii) Backup protection is
required for safe operation
during communication
failure.
iii)Costly compare to
conventional system
Impedance based To identify the fault location of Micro-grid, Measured i) Relays are equipped with an
Protection radial systems Distribution impedance with impedance and directional
(Distance network threshold values element to identify the
Protection) occurrence and direction of
the fault.
ii)Accuracy affected by
harmonics and transients
iii)Errors due to the fault
impedance and not effective
with short-range line.
Wide-area Employ supervisory control and Micro-grid, SCADA & IED device Adaptive or Multi Agent
protection data acquisition and Distribution used. protection method is
Intelligent Electronic Devices system required as a backup
to collect measured values in protection method in case of
a wider area and perform a communication failure.
protective actions.
SVM Classifier (i) Bulk penetration of DG Distribution and Operate by decision More costly
iii)Intelligently differenti­ Transmission boundary that
ate between mal opera­ line with DG best separates
tion and Fault the data points
into classes
PNN i)Multilayer feed forward Fault Using the parent PNN are slower than multi-layer
network with four layers classification probability perceptron networks at
ii)PNN networks generate and analysis function of each classifying new cases. Require
accurate predicted target of TL class more memory space to store
probability scores. the model
(Continued)
4206 H. SHAH ET AL.

Table 2. (Continued).
Protection Operational
Protection Scheme Features Offered For Condition Limitation
ANN (Avagaddi et i)Distributed parameters of the Distribution, Artificial neurons i)Require Large storage space
al. 2018) transmission Transmission configured to requirement.
line is considered Line(TL) perform specific ii)Impacts of fault resistance
ii)Wind farm loading level tasks have not been taken into
iii) Fast, accurate and adaptive consideration
in nature.
Decision Tree i)Very low fault current UPFC Differential Feature Communication wire is
include Fuzzy rule contribution by DFIG connected Extraction required.
based on ii)Focused on speed of with TL
differential operation
protection iii)Reliable for complex
network
Fuzzy based A fuzzy logic can continuously Distribution and Fuzzy rules and i)The identification of all
Technique. monitor the status of the RES transmission select proper potential network typologies
source, voltage phasor based system membership are difficult
on DFT technique and update function ii)Approach suitable for
the pickup & TDS settings limited network Topology
based on the network
changes.

ML and DL technique for fault classification and detection

Numerous machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) methods can significantly aid in resolving
the protection challenges (Ozcanli, Yaprakdal, and Baysal 2020). In article (Yu et al. 2017), a combined
strategy using wavelet transform-based Deep Neural Network (DNN) is described for the detection of
microgrid faults, including the categorization of fault types, the identification of fault phases, and the
detection of fault locations. The line trip fault is predicted for operational dependability and the
stability of a power system using LSTM (Long short-term memory network) and SVM algorithms
(Zhang et al. 2017). According to extensive findings, DNNs are used in this industry for both the

Figure 10. MHO relay characteristics for L-G fault at fault resistance 20 Ω.
 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 4207

protection of electrical equipment such as wind turbines, wind turbine gearboxes, transformers, and
fuel cells, as well as the protection of power systems. The authors (Wang et al. 2017) created a feed-
forward DNN-based framework to monitor and detect wind turbine gearbox faults using lubricant
pressure information from SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition). In comparison to
different benchmarking data-driven methodologies, the DNN method produces more accurate pre­
diction results. For the drive train gearboxes of the wind turbines, the authors have (Cheng, Wang, and
Qu 2018) proposed the Stacked auto encoder and SVM algorithms employing a rotor current signal. In
this article (Zheng et al. 2017) introduce an unique wide and deep CNN-based electricity pilfer
detection model to protect the smart grid. The deep CNN component is trained on two-
dimensional energy consumption data because it can accurately distinguish between the periodicity
of normal electricity use and the non-periodicity of electricity theft. A comparative analysis of many
currently used fault classification and detection techniques by researchers is given in Table 3.

Conclusions and future directions in field of power system protection with RES
The following discussion of this review article is to present research gaps and upcoming power system
protection challenges in the context of renewable energy sources.

(1) Tables 1 and 2 summarize articles on microgrid, transmission-line protection, and distribu­
tion-line protection in the presence of RES.

Table 3. Comparison of ML and DL techniques for fault classification and detection.

Classification
Technique Strength Limitation
ANN (Artificial Good to detect Fault type, Easy to implement, ANN Training process is quite complex for high-dimension
Neural learns and no need for reprogramming & many real problems, Offers slow convergence in the BP
Network) time applications. algorithm, Convergence is dependent on the
selection of the initial value of weight.
PNN Determination of initial weights of the network is not It requires high processing time for large networks,
(Probabilistic needed,No correlation of the recalling process and Large memory space is required to save the model.
Neural learning process, PNN shows fast learning time.
Network)
Fuzzy Simple “if-then” relation is used to solve uncertainty Robustness is not observed. Experts are mandatory to
problems. determine membership function and rules, for large
training data.
ANFIS (ANN + Parameters are tuned properly by the hybrid learning ANFIS is highly complex in computation.
Fuzzy) rule, faster convergence, The search space
dimension is reduced, ANFIS is smooth and
adaptable.
SVM (Support High accuracy, SVM works well even for non-linearly Demands for more size and speed for the testing and
Vector separable data in base feature space, Probability of training
Machine) misclassification is very low, reduces error bound &
it maximizes the margin.
DT (Decision Easy interpretation and understanding, For high uncertainty or a number of outcomes are
Tree) Compatible with other available decision methods, involved, calculations are very complex, Information
Rules can be set easily gain in DTs is biased in favor of those features which
have more levels.
RF (Random RF is capable of performing Classification and Not more suitable for Regression tasks.
Forest) Regression tasks, Handling large datasets with high
dimensionality. Enhances the accuracy of the model
and prevents the overfitting issue.
CNN Faster, More accurate compared to ANN due to Graphic Processing Unit is required
(Convolution convolution and pooling layer. Applicable for large
Neural scale images and dataset.
Network)
4208 H. SHAH ET AL.

(2) A huge number of small-scale PV installations in the network have made the distribution
system non-radial. Complex networks are consequently having trouble with relay coordination
and also malfunction of backup protection. Direction element-based relay is required in the
system in order to prevent bidirectional coordination issues
(3) The fault level has changed because of the unpredictable behavior of renewable energy sources
and large-scale penetration of RES. Relay may malfunction if fault current setting is not altered.
(4) Protection against unintended islanding was found to be adequate in resolving some high­
lighted problems. Local networks may be powered by renewable resources. This configuration
is known as the island mode. When compared to fault levels in transmission and distribution
systems, fault current levels in islanded mode are different. Therefore, correctly identifying and
categorizing faults is the biggest problem, and a lot of research is being done in this area.
(5) It has been noted that widespread use of renewable resources may have an impact on
transmission-line distance reach settings, which requires adequate attention as mentioned in
Figure 9 and Figure 10. IEEE 9 BUS system integrated to with and without PV system in
PSCAD software with variation of fault type, load angle, fault resistance, fault inception angle,
and many more parameters. For the reference MHO relay characteristic of line to ground fault
at 70% line length with fault resistance 1Ω and 20Ω are represented in Figure 9 and 10.
(6) It is demonstrated from the research (Javadi, Mousavi, and Khederzadeh 2013; Lee, Son, and
Park 2011; Lim et al. 2012; Zhang et al. 2016) that multiple over current relay or adaptive relay
settings are required for limited penetration of PV or large-scale integration of wind or any
other DG to prevent the issues of overreach and underreach.
(7) Intelligent techniques like ANN, PNN, DT, Fuzzy, RF, SVM, and CNN based are used for fault
detection and classification at transmission lines. All methods have their own strengths and
limitations as discussed in Table 3. Identifying the best suited methods out of different
classification techniques is a challenging task, especially when renewable sources are integrated
in network or series/shut compensated lines.

This paper provides an overview of protection challenges and suggested protection techniques for
transmission, distribution, and microgrid system interconnected to RES. To achieve reliability, to reduce
maloperation and to protect the device, proper technique or algorithms are required to implement. In the
presence of solar and wind energy, variation of parameters like fault resistances, fault inception angles, load
angles, types of fault, fault location, and penetration level of RES make existing protection systems not
effective. To verify the effect of the above parameters on transmission and distribution-line distance
protection scheme using IEEE 9 BUS system analyzed for all various conditions in PSCAD software.
Variation of fault resistance in line to ground faults with and without RES at 70% of line length are
mentioned in Figures 9 and 10, which shows that adaptive settings are necessary in grid connected and
islanded mode. Modified distance protection, adaptive protection, or artificial intelligence-based techniques
are preferred to address protection challenges due to insertion of renewable energy sources.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors
Hinal Shah Assistant Professor in Electrical Engineering Department, Indus University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.
Research domain includes Power System protection, Signal Processing, Optimization Techniques, Smart Grid, Micro
grid.
Dr. Jaydeep Chakravorty Associate Professor, Head of Electrical Engineering Department and Deputy Controller at
Indus University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. Research domain includes Power System protection, Signal Processing,
Optimization Techniques, Smart Grid, Micro grid.
 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 4209

Dr. Nilesh G. Chothani Assistant Professor. Department, Electrical, School of Technology, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India.
Research domain includes Power System protection, Signal Processing, Optimization Techniques, Smart Grid, Micro
grid.

ORCID
Hinal Shah http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6667-2510
Jaydeep Chakravorty http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0892-0453
Nilesh G. Chothani http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9936-1687

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