Impact of Grid-Forming Inverters on Protective Relays: A Perspective for Current Limiting Control Design

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Li, Yifei, Wu, Heng, Wang, Xiongfei
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Li, Yifei
Wu, Heng
Wang, Xiongfei
author_facet Li, Yifei
Wu, Heng
Wang, Xiongfei
contents Grid-forming (GFM) inverters can significantly alter the fault characteristics of power systems, which challenges the proper function of protective relays. This paper gives a holistic analysis of the interaction between GFM inverter-based resources (IBRs) and the supervising elements in protective relays, including directional and phase selection elements. It is revealed that the current limiting control (CLC) that is based on the current reference saturation method, adversely affects the performance of supervising elements that rely on the negative-sequence quantities. In contrast, adopting highly inductive virtual impedance in the CLC enables a reliable operation of such elements. This finding provides insights into the design of CLC for GFM IBRs from a protection perspective. It is further found that even with a highly inductive virtual impedance, the altered virtual impedance dynamics introduced by the CLC can still lead to malfunctions of the incremental quantity-based supervising elements. These theoretical findings are corroborated by simulations and controller hardware-in-the-loop (CHIL) tests.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_04177
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Impact of Grid-Forming Inverters on Protective Relays: A Perspective for Current Limiting Control Design
Li, Yifei
Wu, Heng
Wang, Xiongfei
Systems and Control
Grid-forming (GFM) inverters can significantly alter the fault characteristics of power systems, which challenges the proper function of protective relays. This paper gives a holistic analysis of the interaction between GFM inverter-based resources (IBRs) and the supervising elements in protective relays, including directional and phase selection elements. It is revealed that the current limiting control (CLC) that is based on the current reference saturation method, adversely affects the performance of supervising elements that rely on the negative-sequence quantities. In contrast, adopting highly inductive virtual impedance in the CLC enables a reliable operation of such elements. This finding provides insights into the design of CLC for GFM IBRs from a protection perspective. It is further found that even with a highly inductive virtual impedance, the altered virtual impedance dynamics introduced by the CLC can still lead to malfunctions of the incremental quantity-based supervising elements. These theoretical findings are corroborated by simulations and controller hardware-in-the-loop (CHIL) tests.
title Impact of Grid-Forming Inverters on Protective Relays: A Perspective for Current Limiting Control Design
topic Systems and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.04177