Improvement of Protection Coordination for a Distribution System Connected to a Microgrid using Unidirectional Fault Current Limiter

The presence of distributed generation (DG) units in distribution systems increases the fault current level, which disrupts the existing coordination time interval of the protective overcurrent relays. One of the ways for decreasing DG effects on the coordination of protective devices is re-coordination of the relays by installing unidirectional fault current limiter (UFCL) between the main grid (upstream network) and the microgrid (downstream network). The UFCL does not limit fault current contribution of the upstream network when fault occurs in downstream but limits fault current contribution of the downstream network when fault occurs in the upstream. Moreover, it preserves the coordination between all of the relays. Several case studies are carried out for illustrating the performance of the UFCL in maintaining the relay coordination.