An Adaptive Microgrid Protection Scheme Based on a Wide-Area Smart Grid Communications Network

Microgrid operation schemes have evolved dramatically because of the recent changes in electrical networks. Coupled with Smart Grid concepts, microgrids are required to be more intelligent and establish communication with its components. In order to support reliable and sustainable power delivery amidst rising deployments of Distributed Generations (DGs), the existing protection schemes have to be replaced with the next generation dynamic ones. At any point in time, microgrid may disconnect from the utility grid and continue its operation under islanding conditions. Furthermore, some microgrids may have changing topology with alternative paths due to time-varying nature of both power generation and consumption in the system. To address the above challenges, in this paper the authors propose an adaptive microgrid protection scheme that utilizes the benefits of bi-directional communication capability of the Smart Grid. A wide-area wireless communications network based on WiMAX technology has been used as a proof of concept for proposed microgrid protection scheme. Simulations were conducted using OPNET and the initial results indicate that a WiMAX network meets the latency requirement of the proposed microgrid protection scheme.