Publications Details

Hardware-in-the-loop Testing of Network Protectors for Low-Voltage Networks with Distributed Energy Resources

Cheng, Zheyuan; Holbach, Juergen; Udren, Eric A.; Hart, David G.; Reno, Matthew J.; Ropp, Michael E.

In this report, we developed and validated a network protector relay digital twin model and interfaced a commonly used network protector relay hardware with our real-time simulation system. Hardware-in-the-loop protection studies are performed to assess the impact of distributed energy resources (DER) and benchmark a rate-of-change-based mitigation strategy. Simulation results suggest that the network protector reverse trip and auto-reclose functions are negatively impacted by the high distributed energy resource penetration. To accommodate DER backfeed while remaining secure and reliable for faults on primary feeders, we recommend options for a rate-of-change-based blocking scheme and a protection setting change. Finally, future mitigation ideas and standard revisions are discussed.