Optimal coordination of overcurrent relays in the presence of distributed generation using an adaptive method

Abstract

The installation of distributed generation (DG) in the electrical networks has numerous advantages. However, connecting and disconnecting of DGs (CADD) leads to some problems in coordination of protection devices due to the changes in the short circuit levels in the different points of network. In this paper, an adaptive method is proposed based on available setting groups (SG) of relays. Since the number of available SG is less than possible CADD states, a classifying index (CI) is defined to categorize the several states in restricted setting groups. Genetic algorithm (GA) with a suitable objective function (OF) is used as an optimization method for the classification. After grouping, a modified coordination method is applied to achieve optimal coordination for each group. The efficiency of the proposed technique is demonstrated by simulation results.