Electric Power System

Introduction
An electric power system is a network of electrical components deployed to
supply, transfer, store, and use electric power.

example- grid ( provides power to an extended area)

Electrical powers system is growing in size and complexity in all sectors

such as generation, transmission, distribution and load systems. Types of
faults like short circuit condition in power system network results in severe
economic losses and reduces the reliability of the electrical system.

An electrical grid power system can be broadly divided into

the generators that supply the power, the transmission system that carries
the power from the generating centres to the load centres, and
the distribution system that feeds the power to nearby homes and
industries. Smaller power systems are also found in industry, hospitals,
commercial buildings and homes.

Faults in Electrical Power System

Electrical fault is an abnormal condition, caused by equipment failures
such as transformers and rotating machines, human errors and
environmental conditions. Theses faults cause interruption to electric flows,
equipment damages and even cause death of humans, birds and animals.

Types of Faults
Electrical fault is the deviation of voltages and currents from nominal
values or states. Under normal operating conditions, power system
 equipment or lines carry normal voltages and currents which results in a
safer operation of the system.

1) Transient fault
2) Persistent fault

3) Symmetric/Balanced fault
4) Asymmetric/Unbalanced fault

5) Bolted fault

6) Ground fault (earth fault)

7) Arcing fault

Fault limiting devices

It is possible to minimize causes like human errors, but not environmental
changes. Fault clearing is a crucial task in power system network. If we
manage to disrupt or break the circuit when fault arises, it reduces the
considerable damage to the equipments and also property.

Some of these fault limiting devices include fuses, circuit breakers, relays,
etc. and are discussed below.

• Fuse: It is the primary protecting device. It is a thin wire enclosed in a

casing or glass which connects two metal parts. This wire melts when
excessive current flows in circuit. Type of fuse depends on the voltage at
which it is to operate. Manual replacement of wire is necessary once it
blowout.
Protecting devices
• Circuit breaker: It makes the circuit at normal as well as breaks at
abnormal conditions. It causes automatic tripping of the circuit when fault

occurs. It can be electromechanical circuit breaker like vacuum / oil circuit

breakers etc, or ultrafast electronic circuit breaker.

• Relay: It is condition based operating switch. It consists of magnetic coil

and normally open and closed contacts. Fault occurrence raises the
current which energizes relay coil, resulting in the contacts to operate so
the circuit is interrupted from flowing of current. Protective relays are of
different types like impedance relays, mho relays, etc
MICROGRID

A microgrid is a small-scale power grid that can operate independently or

collaboratively with other small power grids. The practice of using
microgrids is known as distributed, dispersed, decentralized, district or
embedded energy production. Any small-scale, localized power station that
has its own generation and storage resources and definable boundaries
can be considered a microgrid. If it can be integrated with the area's main
power grid, it is often referred to as a hybrid microgrid. These are typically
supported by generators or renewable wind and solar energy resources
and are often used to provide backup power or supplement the main power
grid during periods of heavy demand. A microgrid strategy that integrates
local wind or solar resources can provide redundancy for essential services
and make the main grid less susceptible to localized disaster.

Simplified Model of a Small Scale Micro-Grid

Description
The micro-grid is a single-phase AC network. Energy sources are an
electricity network, a solar power generation system and a storage battery.
The storage battery is controlled by a battery controller. It absorbs surplus
power when there is excess energy in the micro-network, and provides
additional power if there is a power shortage in the micro-network. Three
ordinary houses consume energy (maximum of 2.5 kW) as electric
charges. The micro-array is connected to the power network via a
transformer mounted on a post which lowers the voltage of 6.6 kV to 200
V. The solar power generation and storage battery are DC power sources
that are converted to single-phase AC. The control strategy assumes that
the microarray does not depend entirely on the power supplied by the
power grid, and the power supplied by the solar power generation and
storage are sufficient at all times.

Protection Strategy
One of the most drastic changes that the electric power system is
undergoing is the integration of small-/medium-scale distributed resources
(DRs) into electric distribution networks. An emerging and promising
philosophy of operation to mitigate the technical issues associated with
widespread proliferation of DRs, and to offer additional values, is to
designate relatively small areas of a distribution network that embed DRs
and loads, and to operate them in a deliberate and controlled way. Such
sub-networks, referred to as microgrids, should be able to operate
independently, as well as in conjunction with the rest of the distribution
network; they are expected to enhance the continuity of service and to
offer superior power quality, higher reliability, and operational optimality.
Adoption of the microgrid concept results in a cellular structure within low-
voltage (LV) distribution networks, and warrants a revision of the traditional
philosophy of protection which assumes a radial network structure with a
unidirectional flow of power.

The protection scheme of a microgrid must ensure safe operation of the

microgrid in both modes of operation, that is, the grid-connected mode and
the islanded mode. In the grid-connected mode, fault currents are large
due to the contribution of the host grid. This allows the employment of the
conventional overcurrent relays, despite the fact that the protection
coordination may be compromised or even entirely lost in some cases, due
to the existence of DRs. In the islanded mode, however, fault currents may
be significantly smaller than those experienced in the grid-connected
mode, due to the limited current contribution of EC-DRs.

Adaptive strategy for protecting distribution systems with high penetration

of DRs is based on communications amongst the equipment, does not
accommodate the islanded mode of operation, and is applicable only if the
penetration of DRs is high.
Characteristics of Low-Voltage Distribution
Networks and Assumptions Made

A. Structure
An LV microgrid is based on a designated area of a secondary distribution
network which is supplied by a step-down transformer. By assumption, the
designated area embeds sufficient amount of generation and is thus able
to operate in isolation from the rest of the network. Microgrid loads are
supplied by a number of radial secondary mains, which may be branched
by one or more laterals, and that the presence of single-phase loads
and/or DRs makes the LV microgrid an inherently unbalanced network.

B. Conventional Protection
In general, simple overcurrent devices, most commonly in the form of
fuses, are employed in secondary distribution networks to protect
equipment and ensure safety. Secondary network conductors are typically
protected by limiters. The step-down transformer is protected by a network
protector, which is an LV air circuit breaker with a tripping/closing
mechanism controlled by a self-contained relay.

C. Grounding Practices
An LV microgrid is subject to the same safety requirements and standards
as those set for a conventional secondary distribution network. In a
microgrid, a fault incident may result in a substantial ground voltage, even
if the DRs operate at low voltages. Moreover, the neutral grounding
practice in a microgrid can affect protection. Therefore, the grounding
strategies of the equipment in an LV microgrid must be adopted
judiciously.

Fig. TN-C-S grounding configuration in an LV network.

D. DR Interface Mechanisms
The DRs of an LV microgrid can be of the single-phase or three-phase
type, based on rotating machines or interfaced through power-electronic
converters of the voltage-sourced converter (VSC) types.

E. DR Control Strategies
droop-based voltage/frequency regulation strategy has been employed for
the DRs. It is also assumed that the control scheme of each DR embeds a
respective synchronization mechanism for safe reconnection of the
islanded microgrid to the utility grid.

Protection Strategy for the Grid-Connected

Mode of Operation

Fig - Traditional coordination of fuses and relays in a typical distribution network.

The figure indicates that the devices are coordinated in such a way that for
all fault currents between Ifmin and Ifmax , the minimum melting time (MMT)
curve and the total clearing time (TCT) curve of the fuses lie below the
characteristic curves of the relays to ensure that the fuses will operate
before the relays intervene. In addition, coordination must also be made
between the fuses. If the fuses fail to operate for a fault, the main relay will
back them up by operating according to its inverse-time characteristic. The
backup relay will operate only if the main relay and the fuses fail to act.
Hence, to maintain the coordination, one has to ensure that the fault
current passing through the devices has a value between Ifmin and Ifmax.

A. External Faults
For a fault taking place outside of the microgrid jurisdiction, a low fault
current may be contributed by the (grid-connected) microgrid, which does
not guarantee the operation of the overcurrent protection scheme of the
relay that is located at the microgrid interface point (i.e., IMPR). To address
this shortcoming, the IMPR must also employ the islanded-mode protection
strategy.

B. Neutral Voltage Displacement Protection

Although the neutral grounding of the LV microgrid is preserved due to the
LV-side star winding configuration of the step-down transformer, the MV
side of the step-down transformer, which is still energized, becomes
ungrounded in the islanded mode of operation. Therefore, over voltages
may be experienced if a ground fault impacts the ungrounded MV side of
the step-down transformer. To address this issue and to detect such faults,
neutral voltage displacement protection function in the IMPR can be used.
Microgrid Protection Relay (MPR)

Fig - Simplified schematic diagram of the proposed MPR (or IMPR).

The protection strategy proposed can be implemented through a

microprocessor-based relay. The present-day digital relays typically offer
standard overcurrent, overvoltage/under-voltage, and over-
frequency/under-frequency protection functions. In addition, they are self-
metering, have oscillographic event reporters and communication links,
and offer logic programming capabilities. It illustrates a simplified block
diagram of the proposed MPR, showing the relay functional modules and
that the MPR consists of three distinct phase modules which
independently protect the corresponding phases of the host SM. This
ensures a continuous supply for the single-phase loads that are connected
to sound phase(s), enhancing the security of supply. It also indicates that
an additional module, the three-phase protection module, is employed to
provide a redundant protection based on zero-/negative-sequence
components. Further, an interface module is included in the IMPR to
enable reconnection of the islanded microgrid to the utility grid. In addition,
a module has also been dedicated to negative-sequence directional
function. It further shows that three different blocks, namely, the islanded-
mode protection block, the grid-connected-mode protection block, and the
HIF protection block, are included in a phase module. A synchronism-
check relay is also used in the IMPR, to ensure safe reconnection of the
(islanded) microgrid to the utility grid.