An Adaptive Overcurrent Protection Technique for Microgrids

Abstract

This paper discusses a method to perform overcurrent protection in distribution networks with the presence of distributed energy resources (DER), including renewable energy and battery energy storage systems. As a result of this method, an adaptive protection scheme is proposed, which describes how the overcurrent protection settings are adjusted for different fault scenarios, DER penetrations, and changes in the configuration of the network. The main problem to be solved is having a methodology that can identify the appropriate protection settings when a significant change occurs in the microgrid.