20 I 0 China International Conference on Electricity Distribution

The Self-healing Technologies of Smart Distribution Grid

LI Tianyou
1
,
3
xu Bingyin
2
,
4
(1. North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China;
2. Shandong University of Technology, Zibo 255012, China;
3. Fujian Electric Power Company Limited, Fuzhou 350003, China;
4. Kehui Power Automation Co., Zibo 255087, China)
Abstract: The basic concepts of the self-healing of the smart
distribution grid are introduced. The major fault self-healing
technologies of the smart distribution grid are presented.
Suggestions on the research and application of self-healing
technologies of smart distribution gird are given.
Keywords: smart distribution grid; self-healing; fault
self-healing
1. Introduction
"Smart Grid" IS featured by reliable, self-healing,
effcient, compatible and interactive characteristics, and is
the trend of moder power grid development. Self-healing
is the key fnction for the reliable and high-quality power
supply and one of key research subject of smart grid
teclology. The studies to the self-healing have drawn wide
attentions of power system academics and a lot of papers on
self-healing of transmission network have been published
[1
-
6]
. However, there are few reports on the study on the
self-healing of distribution network
[7
.
8]
. Distribution
network directly faces consumers, and its ability of self
healing has critical impact on supply quality. The basic
concepts of the self-healing of the smart distribution grid
are introduced. The major fault self-healing teclologies of
the smart distribution grid are presented. Suggestions on the
research and application of self-healing teclologies of
smart distribution gird are given.
2. The Basic Concept of Self-healing
fom "Complex Interactive Networks/System Initiatives"
launched by EPRT and United States Department of Energy
in 1999
[1]
. Later on, "Intelligrid" of EPR! and "Moder
Grid initiative" of United States Department of Energy take
the self-healing as the one of main research areas
[2
,
3]
. As
the key teclology to ensure the grid stability and improve
the supply quality, self-healing is now a hot research subject
of smart grid.
The self-healing of smart grid can automatically avoid
or mitigate power outages, power quality problems, and
service disruptions using real-time information fom
embedded sensors and automated controls to anticipate,
detect, and respond to system problems. Like the immune
fnction of human body, self-healing can make the grid
withstand and mitigate any interal or exteral hazard
(fault), and ensure the gird stability and supply quality. It is
the new development and the extension of traditional relay
protection technology. Its ultimate goal is to provide users
with always-ideal power.
The research on self-healing can be divided into two
areas, transmission grid and distribution grid. Due to the
differences i their roles, network confgurations and
operation manner, the requirements on the self-healing
fnctions of transmission grid and distribution grid are
different. Transmission network tansmits the power fom
the large power plant to the major load centers. It is a
meshed network fed with multiple generation plants. The
cutoff of one or several elements will not affect the
operation of network. Therefore, the self-healing of
transmission grid is to continuously monitor the condition
The concept of the self-healing grid was originated of electric apparatus in tansmission grid, detect and
2 20 I 0 China Interational Conference on Electricity Distribution
mitigate the apparatus's problems, isolate the faulted
apparatus by fast protection. Other fnctions are on line
securit
y
assessment, early waring and corrective control of
system stabilit
y
to prevent the system fom cascaded
blackouts.
3. Self-healing of smart distribution grid
Distribution network directly faces consumers, and any
faults or disturbances on it will affect the supply qualit
y
.
The fast development of economy leads to higher
requirements to supply qualit
y
. The supply qualit
y
involves
two aspects: reliability and power qualit
y
. Reliability refers
to the continuit
y
of power supply to the consumers. It is
measured by the system average interruption duration index
(SAIDI) and the system average interruption fequency
index (SAIFI). According to the u.s. department of
energy's report [9], the reliabilit
y
rate in US is 99.97%, and
the power outages and interuptions, costs US at least 150
billion dollars a year, which means an average loss of 500
dollars per capital. Power qualit
y
refers to the qualit
y
of the
power to the consumer, and it is measured by the voltage
deviation, fequency, voltage fuctuation and ficker,
harmonics and phase unbalance. In fact, there are a lot of
momentar
y
interruptions in the distribution network, such
as the interruption caused by reclosing for transient fault, or
by automatic power source switch over in substation.
Moreover, there exist quite a number of voltage sags caused
by fault, inrush curent etc .. Voltage sag will last fom half
power cycle to 1 minute. Momentar
y
interruption and
voltage sag may cause mal-fnction of high-tech digital
equipments and result in huge economic losses. At present,
the momentar
y
interruptions are not included in the
reliabilit
y
statistics, and the voltage sags are not included in
national power qualit
y
standards. Further investigations to
these two phenomena are needed. They are two
fndamental problems to be solved in the research of the
self-healing of smart distribution grid.
Nowadays, there are serious threats to the securit
y
of
power grid, such as terorist attacks, local wars, t
y
phoons,
thunderstorms, ice disaster, earthquakes, foods and other
natural disasters. According to goverent statistics, the
average losses caused by natural disasters are around 5% of
GDP output since the 1990s [9]. The distribution network is
an integral part of public infastructure. Once a disaster
happens, it is prone to lead to a wide spread power outage,
and directly affect power supply of a region which causes
devastating consequence. Take the icing catastrophe in
souther China in early 2008 for example, there were 545
counties (districts) and more than 2700 million people
affected in the region whose grid was operated by the State
Grid. More than 884 35kV and above substations and
15,300 10kV and above power lines were out of service. It
cost 39 billion Yuan to restore the system. In the power grid
operated by China Souther power grid, there were 7451
10kV and above transmission lines and 859 35kV and
above substations out of service [10]. It may take a ver
y
long
time to restore the distribution gird to normal operation
when it is hit by an exteral attack or natural disaster. The
wide spread and long duration outages greatly harm public
securit
y
. Therefore, the research of self-healing of smart
distribution grid should cover this kind of problems.
Tn short, the self-healing of smart distribution grid is
frstly to reduce outage including momentar
y
interruptions
to improve supply reliabilit
y
. Secondly, it can optimize the
power qualit
y
, especially mitigate voltage sag problems.
Thirdly, it is effective in preventing the system fom the
damage of exteral attacks and natural disasters.
The following contents will focus on the fault
self-healing technology of smart distribution grid.
4. Fault self-healing of smart distribution grid
Fault self-healing of smart distribution grid refers to
automatic control measures to eliminate or isolate the fault
and restore service using moder communication, computer,
automatic control and power electronics technologies.
Fault self-healing involves the primar
y
and secondar
y
system. The primar
y
system should have a fexible structure
with wide application of new equipments such as fast
circuit breaker, fault current limiters etc .. In the secondar
y
system, the new technologies such as wide area protection,
20 I 0 China International Conference on Electricity Distribution 3
distributed control should be employed.
4.1 Automatic fault isolation and restoration technology
It refers to the medium voltage feeder automation (FA)
technology. The present FA mainly relies on successive
reclosing or telecontrol method. It takes at least 60 seconds
to isolate fault and restore supply.
The new development of FA is to make use of
distributed control based on TP communication. The
intelligent feeder terinal units can exchange the fault
detection results and control commands in real-time. It
doesn't rely on the master station to isolate fault and restore
supply, and takes only several seconds to restore the supply.
A fast self-healing FA based on distributed contol for
looped cable is showed as Fig.l, FTUs (including the relay
for the CBs) are connected to the peer-to-peer
communication network (fast industrial Ethemet),and they
can exchange dates each other. A CP (Communication
Processor) is used to establish communication between DA
master and FTUs. When a permanent fault occurs at point F,
the relay for the CBs trips and the FTUs exchange the
overcurent signals with the adjacent FTUs. FTU at Q12
detects the fault but FTU at Q21 doesn't detect the fault. So,
the fault section is identifed between Q12 and Q21. FTUs
control QI2 and Q21 trip to isolate the fault. Finally FTUs at
QFI and Q22 exchange information each other, and control
QF 1 and Q22 close to restore the supply. It has already been
applied in DA project of Xi amen, Fujian, China.
Peer-to-peer communication network
Fig.1 The fast self-healing FA based on distributed control
for looped cable
If the cable line is in a closed loop mode (double-end
sources come fom the same bus, and the tie breaker is
closed at normal), the switches of the R are breakers,
which can cut off the overcurent. The FTUs at both ends of
the faulted section will trip the circuit breakers to isolation
the fault by the direction or phase of the curent based on
the distributed control, and there is on outage in the none
faulty section, which is called seamless self-healing.
Seamless self-healing system is similar to fast
self-healing system. FTUs can exchange the direction of the
fault curent with the adjacent FTUs for the isolation of the
fault. The section is identifed as a healthy one by
comparing the direction of both ends of the section which
approaches to the same; otherwise, it is identifed as a faulty
section.
It need to measure voltage for detecting the current
direction. There is ofen only one PT in the R for
investment-reducing and space-saving, and it is diffcult to
detect all kinds fault. It can be solved by using
current-differential protection. To simplif the protection,
the fault location can be achieved by simply detecting the
phase angle difference between fault currents at both ends
of a line section in practical implementation. For an interal
fault, the phase angle difference approaches to 180, while
for an exteral fault the difference is about zero
[
I
ll
.
4.2 Fault self-healing of single phase to ground fault
The distribution neutral point adopts non-effectively
earthed mode (none earthed or reactance earthed). The fault
current is small when a single phase to ground fault (SPOF)
occurs in non-effectively earthed network, and the line
voltage keeps almost unchangeable. There is almost no
impact to the supply to the load. Therefore, the network
with a SPOF is allowed to operate for several hours to avoid
power outage. Far more important is that quite a few of
faults will achieve self-healing as the arc may go off
According to the statistics provided by Italian ENEL, the
outage caused by SPOF reduces 50% by using adjustable
Petersen coil, and it reduces 26% by using automatic tuning
arc suppression coil. Therefore, the non-effectively earthed,
especially adjustable Petersen coil earthed system, is one of
the important research contents of the self-healing of the
smart distribution grid.
Now, the arc suppressing coil in use can only
4 20 I 0 China Interational Conference on Electricity Distribution
compensate the steady capacitance component of the
grounding current. The actual grounding current contains
harmonic component and resistive component, and its value
may reach up to 10% of the total grounding current. It can't
be compensated by the arc suppressing coil. In addition, the
transient component of the grounding current canot be
compensated. The grounding current includes transient
component when it is intermittent grounding, and the
component can decrease the arc suppressing rate. The
current can be reduced to a small value with the
fll-compensated coil which can totally compensate the
grounding current with the use of the moder power
electronic technology, and it will improve the grounding
self-healing rate. Also, fll-compensated coil can reduce the
fre and safety hazards caused by the grounding, and it can
prevent short-circuit caused by the transient over-voltage in
the intermittent grounding.
The component of the fll-compensation coil is showed
as Fig. 2. The subject is automatic winding-tur arc
suppression coil, with an active electric power flter as a
supplement. The steady capacitance component of the
grounding current is compensated by the automatic
winding-tur arc suppression coil, and the active electric
power flter will instill a compensation current with
opposite polarity of the remaining residual current by PM,
and then the grounding curent is totally eliminated
[121
.
r-- ------;-;--
|
;
i
-----------------------------
powerfilt r
.
V


,=
;
i
L _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ____________________ _
,
controller


Fig. 2 The diagram of a fll-compensation coil
3.3 Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) based on
DFACTS
The application of DFACTS can implement
uninterruptible power supply to loads while fault occurs in
distribution network
[101
.
So, this is also an important
research content of fault self-healing in distribution network.
Two kinds of uninteruptible power supply technologies
based on DFACTS are introduced as follows.
1 Seamless self-healing of dual-supply circuit loop
The existed design method of self-healing technology
of dual-supply circuit loop adopts mechanical switch.
Because the switch itself needs to take several periods to
convert, short time blackout will be caused inevitably, and it
will do harm to some sensitive loads. Tf Solid State Transfer
Switch (SSTS) which is made up of power electronic device
is adopted, loads switching can be implemented in half
period or even a few microseconds afer receiving control
command, and power supply to sensitive loads will not be
infuenced.
While the dual-supply circuit loop shown as Fig.3 is in
normal operation, SSTS A is tured on and SSTS B is
tured off. Tn this condition, the sensitive load is supplied
by Source A, and Source B is in standby state. While the
control system detects that Source A fails, SSTS A will be
tured off and SSTS B will be tured on in half period.
Then Source B is converted to supply the load in one ,
period, and seamless self-healing of dual-supply circuit loop
is implemented.
Source A Source B
SSTS
sensitive
loads
Fig.3 Dual-supply circuit loop based on SSTS
20 I 0 China International Conference on Electricity Distribution 5
2 Dynamic Uninterrupted Power Supply (DUPS)
DUPS is composed of STATCOM and a DC energy
storage system. STATCOM is used as a signal generator,
and it converts the storied DC energy into active current to
continue supplying for a while when main electrical system
is out of power.
Using DUPS as an emergency power supply, sensitive
loads can avoid appearing unexpected operation caused by
short time blackout. As shown in FigA, the output of feeder
1 adopts SSCB 1 and other feeders adopt mechanical
circuits. DUPS supplies the sensitive load through SSCB 2
which is usually tured off in normal operation. While
power supply is interupted when a fault occurs at the
upstream of the load, SSCB 1 will be tured off and SSCB
2 will be tued on in half period. Then, the sensitive load is
supplied by DUPS until the fault is cleared by the
mechanical circuit and power supply is restored or the load
is transferred to other feeders seamlessly.
DUPS
energy storage
system
$' "$
OF1 QF
Feeder II
Sensitive loae
Convention a
load
FigA A distribution network based on DUPS
3.4 Micro Grid
One of the characteristic of Smart Grid is the
interconnection of distributed renewable energy. Micro grid
is a distribution subsystem into which Distributed Electric
Resource (DER) is connected, and it is also a planned
supplying islanding. Fig.5 shows the basic structure of
micro grid which applies advanced measurement and
control technology, protection technology and power
electronic technology proposed by Consortium for Electric
Reliability Technology Solutions (CERTS). It can connect
or disconnect with the main electrical system fexibly, and it
can continue supplying power to all or some important
electrical equipments while they are detached fom the main
grid [8]. Micro grid can make the best use of DER, and it can
make sure that power supply to the interal user is
uninterrupted while main grid is outage.
Micro grid
A
separator
H
c
photovoltaic
b
Fuel cell
Fig.5 The diagram of a micro grid proposed by CERTS
4, Conclusion
Smart distribution grid represents the fture of the
distribution network. Its self-healing fnction is to reduce
power outages, improve power quality, raise the level of
against attacks and disasters, and provide quality power to
bring about signifcant economic and social benefts.
Therefore, the research on the self-healing of smart
distribution grid is of great signifcance.
Now, we should frther study and analyze the
short-term power outage and voltage sag of the distribution
network, and the impacts to the user and society. We should
carry out the statistical research in the area to facilitate the
study and application of the self-healing technology. In
connection with the implementation of DA, we should
study the distribution-data communication and advanced
measurement and protection, which is the foundation of the
self-healing of the smart distribution network. Self-healing
technology is applied in the network construction and
transformation of urban centers or sensitive load area. It can
improve the quality of the power supply. Meanwhile, we
should stengthen technical exchanges, track the recent
development at home and abroad, promote the development
of the self-healing technology and construction of the smart
6 2010 China Interational Conference on Electricity Distribution
grid. [11] Xu Bingyin,You Weihan,Ma Shicong,Gao Mengyou, Phil
Gale. Fault Location of Active Network Based on the Phase
Acknowledgements
Angle Comparison of Fault Currents. The 10th International
Conference on Developments in Power System Protection.
The authors wish to thank Mr. Gao mengyou, a PhD candidate of
Manchester, April 2010.
electrical engineering of Shandong University, for his help in
[12] QU Tierong, TAN Weipu, LTU Ku, YAN G Yihan. Research
preparing the paper.
on new master-slave arc suppression coil based on single
phase active flter. CICED. Beijing. Sep. 2009
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