Enhanced fault location algorithm for smart grid containing wind farm using wireless communication facilities

Modern smart grid (SG) should efficiently accommodate the renewable resources such as wind energy under different operation conditions. High level of wind energy penetration into SG results in operation constraints to avoid any tripping out of wind generators from the grid during fault conditions. Therefore, following the fault occurrence, the utility has to restore power as quickly as possible. This requires accurate and efficient fault location algorithms to have appropriate action for rapid service restoration. This study presents two fault location algorithms taking into account the dynamic behaviour of wind farm generation. In the first conventional algorithm, fault location is estimated using the recorded voltage and current signals at one end of the line. While second algorithm is two-end fault location based on the synchronised voltage and current signals from the line ends. Calculations are carried out in time domain within half cycle using movable windows for recorded signals. The obtained results of two-end algorithm are superior and more accurate compared with the conventional one-end fault location algorithm. This is attributed to SG facilities with modern communication links and data synchronisation technology. The proposed algorithms are tested through grid and wind farm simulations to justify their effectiveness.