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In this paper, fault location on three-terminal and tapped transmission lines without requiring line parameters is presented, which mitigates the effect of line parameter variations due to weather and loading conditions on fault-location accuracy. For three-terminal lines, a fault-location method is presented, which utilizes postfault measurements of all three terminals. For tapped lines, two methods are presented. The first one uses postfault measurements of the main two terminals. The second one needs one cycle of prefault measurements at the main terminals as well. Synchronized transient-based measurements are used in methods proposed in this paper. In all of the presented methods, the fault-location problem is converted to an optimization problem and then solved to find the line parameters and the accurate location of the fault. The simulations are carried out by alternative transients program/electromagnetic transients program (ATP/EMTP) software, and the presented algorithms are executed by MATLAB. Simulation results assess the effects of fault resistance, type, and inception angle on the accuracy of the presented methods. Further discussion is also provided on the impacts of synchronization errors, noisy measurements, and nonresistive faults.

Power-electronic sources, such as Type 3 wind turbine generators and static synchronous compensators (STATCOM), interface to the grid through, partial- or full-scale, and power converters that have inherently fast switching capability to control their output current during short circuits. The short-circuit current is a function of the specific converter control algorithm and differs significantly from the conventional rotating machine sources without converter interfaces. Therefore, if a transmission-line protection scheme is designed for conventional sources, (not taking into account these differences in short-circuit current characteristics), reliability can be at risk. Using real-life short-circuit currents on lines supplied by sources having a power converter interface, this paper illustrates the reliability risk to conventional line protection schemes, in particular, to those which use negative-sequence quantities for the detection of unbalanced faults. This paper discusses the protection schemes, adopted by BC Hydro–a large Canadian Electric Utility, for transmission lines interconnecting Type 3 wind turbine and STATCOM sources. Their application for ground faults is independent of the converter control algorithm as long as the source is interconnected to the grid via a transformer which is a source of zero-sequence current.

Locating a fault in a series-capacitor-compensated transmission line (SCCTL) is a challenging task due to the action of a metal-oxide varistor a nonlinear element present as a part of the protection system of the series capacitor. In this paper, an accurate fault-location algorithm that uses synchronized measurements from both ends of the SCCTL is presented which provides fault-location results without using the model of MOV or natural fault loop for single-phase-to-ground, and double-phase-to-ground faults. Another salient feature of the proposed technique is that the subroutines for locating faults in different sections transmission line yield almost identical fault-location results regardless of which section the transmission line is faulted. The proposed technique could also be extended to the double-circuit transmission lines. First, the proposed technique is introduced and its features are elaborated through detailed mathematical analysis. Thereafter, a 500- $\text{kV}$ system with an SCCTL is designed in PSCAD, while the fault-location algorithm is modeled in MATLAB. The proposed algorithm is tested through simulations covering various fault scenarios in an SCCTL. For performance evaluation, the comparative analysis of the proposed technique with a well-known existing technique is performed in this paper.

Series compensated transmission lines challenge legacy protection schemes. In this paper, a dynamic state estimation based protection (EBP) method is proposed to address these challenges. The method requires GPS synchronized measurements at both ends of the line and a high-fidelity model of the protection zone. The paper presents the dynamic model of the protection zone and its impact on the performance of the protection scheme. Numerical simulations show that the method can correctly identify faults, independently of position and type. The paper also compares the proposed method versus legacy protection functions such as distance protection and line differential protection. The comparison shows faster detection of internal faults, immunity to current inversion caused by series capacitors (SCs) and improved detection sensitivity for high-impedance faults.

In this paper, a new adaptive single-phase reclosing method for high-voltage transmission lines is proposed. This method employs local voltage magnitude and angle of the faulted phase. It is shown in this paper that the proposed method is able to quickly identify the fault type and the arc extinction if the fault is transient. This method is effective for various system configurations, including ideally and partially transposed transmission lines, untransposed lines, as well as transmission lines with or without a shunt reactor. Superior performance of the proposed method has been verified using 550 case studies simulated in PSCAD and Matlab and a real case related to a 765-kV transmission line.

In this paper, typical strengths, fault levels, and source impedances are thoroughly analyzed and calculated for the study of quality of supply in 230/400 V 50 Hz distribution systems. Considering all the disparity in distribution network design, this study is based on a comprehensive database containing typical arrangements and equipment in U.K./European systems, as well as on fully documented generic network models supplying four residential load subsectors in the U.K., i.e., from metropolitan to rural areas. Thus, this paper proposes an alternative method for determining reference values of network supply impedances and short-circuit fault levels at different points and locations of the medium-to-low voltage distribution system. The aim of this study is to provide a wider range of benchmark values than those stipulated in the IEC 60725 Standard, which only defines a single-reference threshold of public supply impedances for all types of distribution systems and residential customers. In order to assist network operators in the planning and design of their distribution systems, these values are further disaggregated and classified in this paper according to network/demand type.

This paper presents a new approach for locating short-circuit faults on untransposed transmission lines. Various fault-location algorithms have been proposed previously for transposed lines, which may not always be the case in practice. Existing methods usually require measurements recorded from one or two terminals of the faulted line, which may not be always available. To complement existing methods, this paper proposes a novel, general fault-location method for untransposed lines using sparse wide-area measurements, which is also applicable to transposed lines. Phasor measurement units are utilized to obtain the sparse wide-area synchronized measurements, which may be captured from buses far away from the faulted line. This method fully considers inherent unbalances of untransposed lines, and fully models shunt capacitances of lines based on a distributed parameter line model. Optimal estimation theory is exploited to make the most of available measurements for enhanced estimation. The method is able to locate faults on single-circuit and double-circuit line configurations, and is immune to fault resistances. Another feature of this method is that it does not require the fault type to be known. Extensive simulation studies using the Electromagnetic Transients Program have been performed, and quite accurate results have been achieved.

With the integration of intermittent renewable generation, transmission voltage problems have become more dynamic. The deployment and tuning of numbers of VAr compensators at various locations may not be cost-effective. This paper presents an alternative method, which utilizes existing parallel transformers in distribution networks, to provide reactive power absorption services for transmission systems with low demands. The operation of parallel transformers in small different tap positions, that is, with staggered taps, can provide a means of absorbing reactive power. The aggregated VAr absorption from many pairs of parallel transformers could be used to provide voltage support to the upstream transmission network. This paper focuses on the economic and technical analyses of using the tap staggering method. For the economic analysis, the associated costs of applying the tap staggering technique are investigated through static load-flow studies. The IEEE Reliability Test System is used to carry out the studies and the results are compared with the installation of shunt reactors. In the technical studies, the dynamic impacts of tap staggering or reactor switching on transmission voltages are analyzed. From the results, the tap staggering technique has more economic advantages than reactors and can reduce the voltage damping and overshoots during the transient states.