Performance Evaluation of Islanding Detection for Distributed Energy Resources With Grid Support Functions

Islanding detection is a mandatory function for grid-connected converters. The popular slip mode frequency shift (SMS) and auto phase shift active islanding detection methods are investigated and an improved (IM)-SMS strategy is proposed in this study. In the proposed method, additional phase shift is introduced to help in stimulating the action of the islanding detection and the algorithm is simplified as well. When the utility grid is disconnected, the algorithm keeps the frequency of the converter output voltage deviating until the frequency protection relay is triggered. The working principle of the method is introduced and the guidance of parameters selection and optimisation is also provided. The islanding detection performance is evaluated through theoretical analysis and verified by digital simulation and experimental results. The IM-SMS method exhibits features of simplicity, easy implementation and high reliability.

Grid codes around the world are requiring grid-support functions (GSFs) and standardized interoperability interfaces for distributed energy resources (DERs) to address the rapid increase of renewable energy. However, these new GSFs need to be assessed to ensure the desired power and communication capabilities exist in the field. The IEEE 1547.1 standard outlines the conformance test procedures for DER devices and is currently undergoing a major revision to align it with IEEE 1547–2018. Once it is published (anticipated in mid-2020), GSFs in commercial PV inverters in USA and Canada will be certified to the IEEE 1547.1 conformance test procedures. Several international research laboratories are collaborating to develop a versatile open-source DER testing platform that performs automated testing of DER devices. This community of laboratories is developing open-source IEEE Std. 1547.1 test scripts to lower barriers to DER vendor internal equipment evaluations, ease product compliance testing at certification laboratories, and provide research institutions a tool to study DER behaviors. In this work, test scripts were used for test verification of GSFs, including limit active power, constant reactive power, active power-reactive power (watt-var), and prioritization of GSF response for several DER devices. Sample test results for these DER GSFs and test protocol recommendations are presented in this paper.

The high penetration of utility interconnected photovoltaic systems is is leading to a need for inverters to include grid support functions, to minimize the negative impact these variable distributed energy resources may have on system voltage and frequency. Unfortunately, grid support functions may interfere with island detection algorithms; specifically, it may be difficult for an island detection scheme to detect voltage and frequency deviations if that converter and other converters on the same bus actively modulate their real and reactive power outputs in response to voltage and frequency deviations while also tolerating greater deviation. This report provides analysis and simulation evidence to investigate the effect of advanced inverter functions on the performance of island detection schemes. A mitigation scheme is also presented and shown to be effective in simulation.

Due to the increased penetration in Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), especially in Photovoltaic (PV) systems, voltage and frequency regulation has become a topic of interest. Utilities have been requesting DER voltage and frequency support for almost two decades. Their request was addressed by standards such as the IEEE Std 1547-2018. With the continuous improvements in inverters’ ability to control their output voltage, power, and frequency, a group of advanced techniques to support the grid is now required by the interconnection standard. These techniques are known as Grid Support Functions (GSF), and they allow the inverter to provide voltage and frequency support to the grid as well as the ability to ride-through abnormal events. Understanding how a GSF behaves is challenging, especially when multiple GSFs are combined to help the utility to control the system voltage and frequency. This paper evaluates the effects of GSF’s on the IEEE Std 1547.1-2020 Unintentional Islanding Test 5B by comparing simulation results from a developed PV inverter model and experimental results from a Power Hardware-in-the-Loop platform.

Study PQ control mode of the inverter-based distributed energy resources(DER), and analyses its system characteristics while DER operating connected with distribution network. When the point of common coupling (PCC) between DER and distribution network is broken and the island formed, analyzed change characteristics of frequency and voltage phase and the influence of unbalanced power in islanding system, especially remarkable phase difference changes will occur between large power bus side and DER side voltage. Based on this the islanding detection and islanding protection method based on WAN phase comparison is proposed, the islanding detection criterion is the voltage phase difference between distribution network bus side and DER side, the synchronous measurement and calculation of voltage phase on both sides are completed by the feeder automation terminals (FTU), and realize information exchange through the rapid communication system. Based on Matlab, established the islanding detection simulation model, experimental results verify the reliability and applicability of the method‥

Multi grid-connected inverters islanding detection methods include two categories: passive islanding detection and active islanding detection. Firstly, an active islanding detection method based on negative sequence current disturbance is analyzed. Aiming at the shortcomings of this method, a novel passive islanding detection method is proposed in this paper. The proposed islanding detection method uses wavelet transform to extract signal features, and then according to the extracted signal features adopts the neural network to judge whether or not the islanding occurs. The simulation results show that the passive multi grid-connected inverters islanding detection method has good islanding detection performance, and does not affect the stability and power quality of the system.

Distributed energy resources (DER) such as photovoltaic (PV) systems, when deployed in a large scale, are capable of influencing significantly the operation of power systems. Looking to the future, stakeholders are working on standards to make it possible to manage the potentially complex interactions between DER and the power system. In 2009, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) initiated a large industry collaborative to identify and standardize definitions for a set of DER grid support functions. While the initial effort concentrated on grid-tied PV inverters and energy storage systems, the concepts have applicability to all DER. A partial product of this on-going effort is a reference definitions document (IEC TR 61850-90-7, Object models for power converters in distributed energy resources (DER) systems) that has become a basis for expansion of related International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards, and is supported by US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP). Some industry-led organizations advancing communications protocols have also embraced this work. As standards continue to evolve, it is necessary to develop test protocols to independently verify that the inverters are properly executing the advanced functions. Interoperability is assured by establishing common definitions for the functions and a method to test compliance with operational requirements. This document describes test protocols developed by SNL to evaluate the electrical performance and operational capabilities of PV inverters and energy storage, as described in IEC TR 61850-90-7. While many of these functions are not currently required by existing grid codes or may not be widely available commercially, the industry is rapidly moving in that direction. Interoperability issues are already apparent as some of these inverter capabilities are being incorporated in large demonstration and commercial projects. The test protocols are intended to be used to verify acceptable performance of inverters within the standard framework described in IEC TR 61850-90-7. These test protocols, as they are refined and validated over time, can become precursors for future certification test procedures for DER advanced grid support functions.

This paper proposes a novel hybrid approach for islanding detection of inverter-based distributed generations (DG) based on combination of the Slip mode frequency-shift (SMS) as an active and rate of change of frequency (ROCOF) relay and over/under frequency relay as passive methods. This approach is utilized to force the DG to lose its stable operation and drift the frequency out of the allowed range of the frequency threshold. Performance of the proposed approach is evaluated under the IEEE 1547, UL 1741 and multiple-DG operation. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach for detection of islanding, especially for loads with high quality factor. It operates accurately under the condition of load switching and does not interfere with the power system operation during normal condition. In other words, not only it holds the benefits of both SMS and ROCOF, but also it removes their drawbacks by having less non-detection zone and faster response.

An Islanding Fault Detection Method with CFDF-SVM Based RPV Approach under Pseudo Islanding Phenomenon

Distributed energy resources (DERs) and microgrids have seen tremendous growth and research activities in recent years. Flexible DERs and asynchronous microgrids (ASMG) can have many system-level benefits over fixed DERs and conventional microgrids. The key enabler for flexible DERs and ASMG is a power converter based power conditioning system (PCS) as the interface between DERs/microgrids and the medium voltage (MV) distribution grid. High voltage (HV, >3.3 kV) silicon carbide (SiC) based MV converter is now a promising solution for the PCS. This article presents development and testing of a 10 kV SiC MOSFET based MV PCS for 13.8 kV ASMG. MV PCS converter design addressing high dv/dt issue generated by fast switching of the 10 kV SiC MOSFET is presented. The developed PCS is successfully tested at 25 kV dc 13.8 kV ac voltages and 100 kVA power. Grid support functions are also demonstrated with the developed PCS prototype and hardware tests beds, validating HV SiC converter benefits for ASMG.

In this paper, a new investigation on islanding detection method is presented for PV-based VSC system. The proposed PV-VSC is represented as one of the distributed energy resource (DER) for a microgrid environment. A new multivariable dynamic model is presented in terms of two stage conversion with a dc–dc converter for the proposed PV-VSC system. The proposed VSC system is controlled primarily by a positive sequence P–Q loop, at the PCC. A new backstepping fast sliding mode control (BFSMC) is proposed for primary PWM control of VSC system. During sudden grid disconnection an islanding protection loop based on rate of change in voltage harmonic profile injection is proposed. A binary tree (BT) threshold filter is designed for the proposed hybrid islanding protection loop, to avoid false detection during other grid operational issues. UL 1741 (section 46) standard is followed for the PV-VSC system to consider the worst-case scenario. Performance of the proposed hybrid islanding protection scheme is investigated for IEEE 9 bus system with multiple DERs, implemented in MATLAB/Simulink environment. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is determined by result analysis, where no significant effect on power quality is recorded during nominal grid operation.

This paper proposes an autonomous unified var controller to address the system voltage issues and unintentional islanding problems associated with distributed photovoltaic (PV) generation systems. The proposed controller features the integration of both voltage regulation (VR) and islanding detection (ID) functions in a PV inverter based on reactive power control. Compared with the individual VR or ID methods, the function integration exhibits several advantages in high PV penetration applications: 1) fast VR due to the autonomous control; 2) enhanced system reliability because of the capability to distinguish between temporary grid disturbances and islanding events; 3) negligible nondetection zone (NDZ) and no adverse impact on system power quality for ID; and 4) no interferences among multiple PV systems during ID. As the VR and ID functions are integrated in one controller, the controller is designed to fulfill the requirement of VR dynamic performance and ensure small ID NDZ simultaneously. The interaction among multiple PV systems during VR is also considered in the design procedure. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed controller and the controller design method is validated with simulation using a real-time digital simulator and a power hardware-in-the-loop testbed.

Nowadays, distributed generation (DG) has become an indispensable part for meeting the growing power demand in electrical power generation and distribution. However, one of the drawbacks of DG is unintentional islanding phenomena, which has become a safety issue for both human and equipment connected to the system. To prevent this hazardous condition, according to IEEE 1547 standards, this islanding condition must be detected within 2 s. This paper proposed an approach to develop a hybrid islanding detection method (IDM) to prevent the damages caused by this islanding condition. The proposed hybrid IDM is a combination of three different IDMs, two passive and one active; that is, rate of change of active power (ROCOAP) and rate of change of reactive power (ROCORP) are passive IDMs where load connecting strategy (LCS) is active. To differentiate islanding conditions with similar occurrences, different case studies are taken into account with photovoltaic (PV) and synchronous generator (SG) working as distributed generators on PSCAD/EMTDC platform. The simulation results confirm that proposed IDM is more favorable compared to other IDMs due to simplicity and fast islanding detection time when its performance is tested on the 11‐kV Malaysian distribution system for various cases.

This paper has introduced an algorithm for the identification of islanding events in the remotely located distribution grid with renewable energy (RE) sources using the voltage signals. Voltage signal is processed using Stockwell transform (ST) to compute the median-based islanding recognition factor (MIRF). The rate of change in the root mean square (RMS) voltage is computed by differentiating the RMS voltage with respect to time to compute the voltage rate of change in islanding recognition factor (VRCIRF). The proposed voltage-based islanding recognition factor (IRFV) is computed by multiplying the MIRF and VRCIRF element to element. The islanding event is discriminated from the faulty and operational events using the simple decision rules using the peak magnitude of IRFV by comparing peak magnitude of IRFV with pre-set threshold values. The proposed islanding detection method (IDM) effectively identified the islanding events in the presence of solar energy, wind energy and simultaneous presence of both wind and solar energy at a fast rate in a time period of less than 0.05 cycles compared to the voltage change rate (ROCOV) and frequency change rate (ROCOF) IDM that detects the islanding event in a time period of 0.25 to 0.5 cycles. This IDM provides a minimum non-detection zone (NDZ). This IDM efficiently discriminated the islanding events from the faulty and switching events. The proposed study is performed on an IEEE-13 bus test system interfaced with renewable energy (RE) generators in a MATLAB/Simulink environment. The performance of the proposed IDM is better compared to methods based on the use of ROCOV, ROCOF and discrete wavelet transform (DWT).

The importance of considering integrated transmission and distribution (T-D) system planning and operation has been increasingly recognized. Most research focuses on steady-state analysis, yet the dynamic behaviors of T-D systems have not been thoroughly studied, especially with deeper penetration of distributed energy resources (DERs) largely altering system dynamic characteristics. In this paper, we attempt to investigate the impacts of aggregate DERs on transmission side dynamic stability. Time domain simulations are performed for dynamic stability assessment. Simulation results demonstrate how the grid-connected DERs affect overall system dynamics under different scenarios. Furthermore, smart inverters with grid-support functions have also been examined via simulations to mitigate the adverse impacts on stability caused by DERs.