THE DIRECTIONAL REACTIVE POWER UNDERVOLTAGE

PROTECTION ± A PROTECTION CONCEPT FOR

CONNECTING DECENTRALIZED RENEWABLE ENERGY
SOURCES
O. Janke*

*OMICRON, Germany oliver.janke@omicron.at

Keywords: decentralized energy resources, power system high value. In many cases, this development is driven by
protection, power system stability, smart grids. society and subsidized by the state.

Abstract
With their increasing number, it is getting important that
decentralized and renewable energy sources are supporting
the stabilization of the system voltage after short voltage
dropouts. Often, in the past, these generators were
disconnected during network faults. This is not adequate
anymore, as it would lead to a loss of a considerable amount
of feed-in power. However, if the generators stay connected,
it must be ensured that they are not receiving reactive power,
as this would lead to a collapse of the grid.
In Germany, a number of legal requirements and grid codes
are regulating the connection of such generators. These
documents also stipulate the use of Directional Reactive
3RZHU 8QGHUYROWDJH 3URWHFWLRQ 4ĺ  8 SURWHFWLRQ  WKDW
would disconnect such energy sources if they received
reactive power during faults on the network. Figure 1: Installed Power of Wind Turbines worldwide
This paper gives an overview about the legal documents and (source [8])
an introduction to the protection function mentioned above.
7KH EDVLF SULQFLSOH RI WKH 4ĺ  8 SURWHFWLRQ LV H[SODLQHG Those small or medium sized generators are often connected
by means of its requirement specifications. to the medium voltage network. Fig. 2 shows a typical
Furthermore, the paper will show up standardized test example of a wind farm with multiple generators that are
methods evalXDWLQJWKH4ĺ 8SURWHFWLRQ,WZLOOGHVFULEH connected to a 20kV medium voltage busbar.
how to test the releasing functions, the reactive power
direction determination and also all binary inputs and outputs
that are necessary for the protection function.

1 Nomenclature
CB Circuit Breaker
GCP Grid Connection Point
MV Medium Voltage
XRIO extended Relay Interface by OMICRON

2 Introduction
Decentralized and renewable energy sources are contributing
an increasing amount to the electrical power mix in many
regions of the world. Fig. 1 shows the growth of installed
power from Wind Energy stations worldwide. During the past
5 years there has been an enormous rise in many countries
while Germany observed a slight increased from a relatively Figure 2: Wind farm connected to MV busbar (source [1])