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A Distance Based Protection Scheme for Distribution
Systems with Distributed Generators
V. C. Nikolaidis, C. Arsenopoulos, A. S. Safigianni
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Democritus University of Thrace (DUTH)
Xanthi, Greece
{vnikolai, konsarse, asafig}@ee.duth.gr
Abstract—This paper investigates the application of distance
relays in distribution systems with distributed generators. An
analysis of the parameters that influence the effectiveness of
distance relaying in distribution networks is performed. Protec-
tion coordination between the distance relays and the existing
protection means on the line is studied with the help of a realistic
distribution network. Coordination problems are identified and
a simple distance-based protection scheme is proposed.
Index Terms—Distance protection, distributed generation, dis-
tribution systems, protection coordination.
I. INTRODUCTION
Protection of a distribution network, in the vast majority of
cases, is based on the overcurrent protection principle [1]. In
existing distribution feeders, this principle is applied by de-
signing protection schemes that are based on the proper coor-
dination of fuses, reclosers and overcurrent relays. The ex-
pected result is that each fault should be cleared sufficiently
fast with minimum impact on the customers, even when a pro-
tection device will fail. Obtaining this goal in a distribution
feeder is a complicated task because it requires coordination
studies that have to include all possible system states and op-
erating scenarios, taking also into consideration the specific
protection equipment available.
The penetration of Distributed Generation (DG) in distri-
bution systems considerably reformed the operating practices
in these networks. Among others, the bi-directionality in the
fault current flow due to the connection of DG units and the
contribution of the DG units to the fault current level cause
significant impact on the protection system. If the existing
overcurrent protection philosophy is applied then this could
lead to various issues like not-expected fuse blowing or other
protection misoperations [2]. It is obvious that changes in the
overcurrent protection design are necessary to overcome the
impacts [3].
In general, there is a rising need to address many incom-
patibility issues, as well as to review and implement suitable
protection schemes. In this context, the application of the dis-
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Costas D. Vournas
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
National Technical University of Athens (NTUA)
Athens, Greece
vournas@power.ece.ntua.gr
tance relaying principle to protect distribution systems with
DG seems a promising option [4], [5], [6]. This paper exam-
ines the application of distance relays in radial distribution
systems with DG. The organization of this paper is as follows.
Section II includes a brief introduction to distance protection
applications in distribution systems. Section III describes the
proposed distance-based protection scheme. Section IV pre-
sents the simulation results and the effect of some influencing
parameters on the distance relay performance, while the con-
clusions are drawn in Section V.
II. DISTANCE PROTECTION IN DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS
A. Distance Protection Principles
Distance relays are used for primary and/or backup protec-
tion for phase faults and/or ground faults on transmission, sub-
transmission and distribution lines. In principle, a distance
relay determines the fault impedance from the measured volt-
age and current at the relay location [1]. Then the measured
fault impedance is compared with the known line impedance
to determine if a trip command should be issued to the circuit
breaker. The intentional time delay before releasing the trip
command is beforehand decided in accordance with the fault
distance from the relay location. The protected line portion
and the corresponding time delay define the zone settings of
the relay, determined in the protection design stage. Usually,
there are more than one distance zone settings determined in
order to provide selectivity between the various protection
means in the network. Moreover, the phase and ground ele-
ments of the relay are set separately, thus resulting in different
zone characteristics.
Each distance zone corresponds to a specific characteristic
on the complex impedance plane. Fig. 1 depicts the most
common characteristics encountered nowadays, which are the
mho and the polygonal ones. In Fig. 1, the typical load en-
croachment characteristic of distance relays is also illustrated
on the impedance plane. As long as the impedance measured
from the distance relay lies inside the load encroachment area,
the trip command of the three-phase element is blocked.
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B. Distribution Systems without DG

Radial distribution systems are usually protected with
overcurrent protection equipment. Overhead distribution lines
are typically protected by a recloser located at the beginning
of the feeder, which is coordinated with the downstream pro-
tection means (overcurrent relays, reclosers, and/or sectional-
isers) on the main trunk and with the fuses on the laterals [1].
Radial cable lines are typically protected with overcurrent
relays. In ring or meshed distribution networks, directional
elements are used supplementary to the overcurrent relays in
order to discriminate between the fault directions.
Distance protection is not so commonly applied in distri-
bution lines. Traditionally, this was because of the additional Figure 1. Mho and polygonal characteristics.
cost of the distance protection system due to the need of a
voltage transformer together with the current transformer and
the higher cost of the distance relay itself, which was more
expensive than a simple overcurrent relay. Nowadays, dis-
tance protection begins more frequently to be applied in distri-
bution networks, since the associated costs have been reduced
and the benefits of the distance protection principle compared
to the overcurrent one are obvious. Just to mention, the most
pronounced benefits are its inherent directionality and the in-
dependency from the source impedance magnitude.
In overhead line networks, the distance protection is in
general implemented with automatic reclosing schemes [7]. In Figure 2. Reach of distance zone in radial feeders
cable networks, if distance protection is applied as the main
protection scheme, this is done with a permissive tripping ar- Distance protection in distribution networks with DG can
rangement via fiber optic communication. Since such schemes improve the operating performance of the network as well as
resemble the differential protection principle, this paper deals that of the protection system itself. However there are still
with application of distance protection in overhead line distri- some issues that should be dealt with efficiently. Special atten-
bution networks. tion when designing distance protection in power systems with
multiple intermediate sources should be given to the so called
The simplest way to apply distance protection in radial infeed effect [1]. The infeed effect results in an increase in the
overhead line distribution systems is to replace the recloser at fault impedance measured by a distance relay if one or more
the beginning of the feeder with a distance relay. Then, each generation sources are connected between the relay and the
relay setting corresponds to several fault locations, depending fault location. Then, the relay sees the fault at a greater dis-
on the actual reach of the respective zone. For example, if Zset tance and may only trip in a higher zone. Therefore, when
in Fig. 2 is the impedance reach of one of the zones, any fault there is at least one DG connected between the distance relay
within this zone will be sensed from the relay. Hence, it is the and the fault location, the additional fault current supplied by
responsibility of the protection engineer to ensure selectivity the DG unit must be taken into account for setting the relay
between the distance relay (DR) and the protection equipment properly.
on the line that is included in this zone.
Consider, for example, the distribution line in Fig. 3,
C. Distribution Systems with DG where a short-circuit occurs in the middle of the main trunk.
Without the connection of the DG unit, the distance relay
When DG units are connected to distribution systems, the would measure the actual positive sequence impedance to the
performance of the conventional overcurrent protection sys- fault which is equal to ZA + ZB. When the intermediate current
tem is further affected by a number of critical factors. For in- IB flows, the impedance appears to the distance relay as
stance, if the utility source is weak and the short-circuit capac- ZA + ZB + (IB/IA)ZB. The fraction between IB and IA is defined
ity of the DG units approach that of the source, large varia- as the infeed constant K = IB/IA. The relay therefore sees an
tions in fault level will exist when the generation is in or out of impedance of KZB in addition to the impedance ZA + ZB,
service. This variation in fault level makes phase and ground which implies that its reach is reduced. In other words, the
overcurrent relay grading very difficult. The coordination of fault appears to be farther away because of the current IB.
the overcurrent relays may also be distorted depending on the
size and location of the DG units [2]. Furthermore, to maintain A quite detailed guideline for extracting efficient setting
the stability of the distributed generators fault clearance times rules for the distance protection in a radial distribution system
should be kept to a minimum. It should be noted that the with DG is given in [5]. The authors try to suggest generic
above mentioned difficulties apply equally to radial circuits rules in a way to resemble the traditional overcurrent protec-
protected by non-directional relays and ring circuits protected tion philosophy. In many cases, the distance relay is used with
by directional relays. its zone controlling the overcurrent element.
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Figure 3. Infeed effect
III. PROPOSED DISTANCE PROTECTION SCHEME
To illustrate the setting rules for the distance-based protec-
tion scheme, the radial overhead line distribution system de-
picted in Fig. 2 is considered again. The fuses F1-F4 protect
the main laterals, while the fuses F1.r-F.4.r protect the remot-
est tapped distribution transformer in each lateral. We assume
fuses at the laterals because they are the most encountered
protection means in overhead distribution lines and because
fuses are more difficult to coordinate with the main feeder
protection (recloser/distance relay) than overcurrent relays due
to their non-settable characteristic. A fuse-saving philosophy
is further adopted. Coordination between the main fuse and
the fuses at the primary of the tapped transformers is assumed.
The distance relay DR is installed at the beginning of the
line replacing the conventional overcurrent relay. The radial
line is divided into protection zones each of them (except of
the first) covers part of the main line and the whole length of
one of the laterals. Attention should be given so that none of
the protection zones of the distance relay will overreach the
protection zone of any of the distribution transformers that are
tapped on the laterals. To complete this fulfillment the positive
sequence impedance seen by the DR for a fault at the remotest
end of the lateral should be compared with the smallest possi-
ble positive sequence impedance seen for a fault on the secon-
dary winding of any of the distribution transformers at this
lateral.
Most distance relay manufacturers provide the availability
to choose between any possible combination of phase and
ground elements in terms of a mho or a quadrilateral charac-
teristic. However there are manufacturers that restrict the use
of mho (resp. quadrilateral) characteristics only to phase or
ground elements. For example, one well established manufac-
turer provides phase elements with a mho characteristic, while
quadrilateral characteristics are provided only for the ground
elements. Moreover, most manufacturers provide four inde-
pendent phase/ground elements, whereas there are some spe-
cial cases where five independent phase/ground distance ele-
ments are provided with the relay.
In this paper, it is assumed that the DR provides four inde-
pendent mho and four independent quadrilateral elements,
which can interchangeably be used for phase and ground pro-
tection. Finally, each phase and ground element has been set
with a quadrilateral characteristic. The quadrilateral character-
istic has been selected over the mho one because of its advan-
tages, especially in regard with the fault resistance coverage.
The setting procedure concerns equally the phase and ground
elements and takes into account the infeed effect. This proce-
dure is described below in a detailed manner.
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Figure 4. Coordination in long radial distribution networks
The first zone is set to instantaneously (t1 ≈ 0) clear faults
occurring within the 85% of the distance between the DR lo-
cation and the first lateral. Thus, the largest expected fault
currents will be interrupted instantaneously and the equipment
will be exposed to the worst through-fault damage for the
shortest time duration. This is especial critical for the substa-
tion transformer which should not be exposed to large
through-fault currents. The second zone is set to cover the
total impedance (Z2) up to the end of the first lateral. Since the
first lateral is protected by the main fuse F1, the second zone
is coordinated to operate with a time delay t2 that is larger than
the largest of the total clearing times of this fuse. An appropri-
ate minimum Coordination Time Interval (CTImin) is taken for
this purpose. The third zone is set to cover the total impedance
(Z3) up to the end of the second lateral. Again, coordination
must be guaranteed between the zone 3 element and the fuse
F2. Hence, an appropriate time delay t3 for the zone 3 opera-
tion must be specified. Finally, the fourth zone is set to protect
the line up to the end of the third lateral with an appropriate
time delay t4. Note again that in all cases coordination between
the main fuse and the fuses on the transformers is assumed at
each lateral.
If there is a short line section beyond the third lateral or a
fourth lateral as in Fig. 2, zone 4 can be extended to cover the
main line up to its remotest end including the fourth lateral. If
the distribution line has more than four laterals, a second dis-
tance relay named DR2 should be installed in the main line, in
the section immediately after the third lateral (Fig. 4). Then,
DR2 should be coordinated following the same setting phi-
losophy as described previously. Since the phase and ground
short-circuits have smaller magnitudes as the fault location
moves away from the substation, the clearing times of the
downstream fuses will become larger. Thus, although coordi-
nation between the DR2 and the fuses beyond the third lateral
can easily be achieved, coordination between the DR2 and the
DR1 is not so straightforward. By determining the appropriate
time delays of the phase and ground elements of the DR2, the
required CTImin between the DR1 and DR2 should be pre-
served. In some cases, this leads to an additional increase of
the time delay of a zone element. For example, in Fig. 4 the
time delay t1,4 of the DR1 should be increased to the value t’1,4
in order to keep coordination. However, according to our ex-
perience based on protection coordination studies for radial
overhead lines in Greece, a sufficient CTI between the protec-
tion devices can be achieved even for long lines supplied from
a weak external grid.
It is obvious that the first distance relay is commanded to
protect up to three laterals, while any downstream distance
relay, if needed, can protect at maximum four laterals each.
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This can be used as a guide for determining the quantity of the

required distance relays in extremely long lines with a large
number of laterals. There is only one limitation concerning the
maximum permitted time delay for a fault to be cleared. This
limit is imposed from the coordination requirements with the
transmission system protection and is shown in Fig. 4 with a
dashed-dotted line. This time delay cannot be violated.
It should be noticed also that installing DR2 implies in-
stalling a new substation with its associated CTs, VTs, and
switchgear which is costly at the distribution level. However,
the cost of installing a new substation at every four laterals is
considerable lower than that of installing direc-
tional/differential relays (two at each line section) or from that Figure 5. Realistic distribution feeder
required to implement a fast and reliable communication net-
work, solutions that may alternatively be applied in order to
protect of a distribution system with distributed generators.
Most modern distance relay manufacturers provide the
load encroachment function. In order to avoid any false trip of
the distance relay due to a symmetrical three-phase heavy
loading condition, this function has been included in this
work. Furthermore, in case that no DG unit is connected to the
line, a reclosing operation can be assumed for the distance
relay. The reclosing operation proposed in this paper applies
the instantaneous disconnection of the whole line by opening
the circuit breaker at the beginning of the line if a fault is
sensed anywhere on the line. Then, a subsequent time-delayed
reclosing is performed assuming that every DG unit has been
disconnected in the meantime. Figure 6. Phase/ground elements of the DR without considering DG

IV. SIMULATION RESULTS
A. Test System Description
The proposed distance protection scheme has been tested
on a typical overhead distribution line configuration in Greece,
which consists of one radial 20 kV, 50 Hz, 25 km long over-
head line shown in Fig. 5. ACSR conductor is used with a
cross-section of 95 mm2 on the first segment, which constantly
decreases to 50 mm2 and 35 mm2 on the subsequent segments.
In most of the laterals, a 16 mm2 ACSR conductor is used.
The total line load is 3.42 MW and 1.99 MVAR. The trans-
mission grid is represented by an equivalent source, having a
maximum short-circuit power of 2000 MVA at 150 kV. The
feeder is supplied from the external grid through a 150/20 kV
distribution transformer. A conventional 1.5 MVA, 20 kV, 50
Hz round-rotor synchronous machine has been assumed as a
DG unit, operating with a unity power factor when grid-
connected. Standard models available in DigSilent Power Fac-
tory 15 have been used for representing the described system.
In addition, actual fuse links have been modeled at the laterals
and at the primary side of the load transformers.
B. Distance Relay Setting
At first, the case without DG production has been exam-
ined. Phase and ground faults with zero fault resistance have
been simulated at critical locations on the line and the maxi-
mum total clearing times of the fuses have been determined.
Table I summarizes the maximum clearing times of all the
main fuses in the network. In general, the single-phase (1Φ)
short-circuit resulted to the maximum clearing times.
Four zones have been set to cover the line up to its remot-
est end. These zones are shown with the blue quadrilateral
characteristics in the complex impedance plane of Fig. 6. The
phase and ground elements have been set to have the same
reach, whereas they have different time delays determined
from the maximum fuse clearing times plus the minimum re-
quired CTImin which is equal to 0.3 s. The positive resistive
reach (+R) of the quadrilateral characteristics has been se-
lected to cover a fault resistance that is at maximum equal to
four times the positive reactance reach (+X). This is a quite
effective assumption [6] for considering fault resistances in
medium voltage distribution systems.
It is obvious that both the third and fourth zone reaches far
inside the load encroachment area, illustrated with the red line
in Fig. 6. Having in mind that the load encroachment holds
only for symmetrical three-phase conditions, only three-phase
fault conditions with a large fault resistance may not be
cleared effectively by the relay. However, such conditions are
rare and even smaller fault resistances cannot be sensed from
common overcurrent relays without a sensitive earth-fault
element. Since no DG production has been assumed up to
now, the reclosing element of the distance relay can be set to
perform a fast reclosing operation for faults occurring every-
where on the line. This reclosing element is represented by the
mho characteristic, shown with the brown circle in Fig. 6,
which encircles the whole network.
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TABLE I. MAXIMUM TOTAL CLEARING TIME (NO DG) TABLE II. TIME-DISTANCE ZONE SETINGS (WITH DG)
Fuse TC time (ms) Fault type No DG 1 DG unit 2 DG units 3 DG units
F1 179 1Φ +X Delay +X Delay +X Delay +X Delay
F2 264 1Φ (Ω) (ms) (Ω) (ms) (Ω) (ms) (Ω) (ms)
F3 389 1Φ P1 1.42 55 1.42 55 1.42 55 1.42 55
F4 537 1Φ P2 4.00 400 4.00 400 4.50 400 4.50 400
P3 6.00 500 6.00 500 6.50 500 7.00 400
P4 10.0 600 11.0 600 11.5 600 12.0 600
Next, the setting procedure has been repeated by consider- G1 1.42 55 1.42 55 1.42 55 1.42 55
ing DG units connected to the line. Three different penetration G2 4.00 500 6.00 500 7.00 500 7.60 500
G3 6.00 700 10.0 600 12.5 500 14.0 500
levels have been examined; 42%, 83%, and 125%, meaning G4 10.0 900 19.0 700 23.0 700 26.0 700
respectively one, two, or three fully rated DG units simultane-
ous in operation. The DG units have been assumed to produce TABLE III. MAXIMUM TOTAL CLEARING TIME (WITH DG)
their 100% rated power because they are conventional syn-
chronous machines, thus the power production is fully control- 1 DG unit 2 DG units 3 DG units
lable and independent from the weather conditions. Moreover, Fuse TC (ms) TC time (ms) TC time (ms) Fault type
F1 133 129 127 1Φ
it will be seen in the next subsection that the influence of the F2 151 142 137 1Φ
penetration level on the distance relay settings is more pro- F3 365 345 388 1Φ
nounced as the penetration level gets larger, while the DG unit F4 365 345 388 1Φ
connection point plays also an important role.
Now, the critical factor is how the infeeds affects the reach
of the zones. It should be noted that for the DG units to be
considered as infeeds, the DG protection should be very thor-
oughly taken into account meaning that it is important to know
if the DG protection will instantaneously disconnect the units
or not in case of a fault. The under/over-voltage and un-
der/over-frequency settings suggested from various standards
[8], indicate that even for the worst short-circuit conditions,
the DG will remain connected for a minimum of 0.1 s. Defi-
nitely, there are also other DG protection functions (intercon-
nection relay, overcurrent relay etc) that should be taken into
consideration. Since this time delay is in general comparable
with the total clearing time of most of the fuses for phase
faults and because of the fact that not all the DG units in a
distribution system are simultaneously exposed to the worst
voltage/frequency/overcurrent conditions during a fault, we Figure 7. Phase and ground elements of DR with 2 DG units in operation
consider that the DG units contribute constantly to the fault
within the time frame of the distance relay operation. In other Obviously, if an active management system was available
words, DG units are considered as infeeds in the protection for this distribution system, different setting groups could be
coordination procedure. beforehand programmed and stored inside the distance relay.
Then, based on the information retrieved from the DG units
The main difference observed when considering DG pro- through communications about their operating status (on/off),
duction in the coordination study is that the phase and ground the appropriate setting group can be uploaded to the relay.
elements of the distance relay must be set uniquely because of
the different contribution of the DG units under different fault C. Effect of Influencing Quantities
types. Table II summarizes the time-distance settings of all the
In order to investigate the influence of the fault resistance
phase (P) and ground (G) elements of the relay as determined
on the performance of the distance relay, we subsequently
based on the three different DG penetration levels. Only the
simulated single-phase and three-phase faults at the end of
positive reactance reach (+X) is shown, since the resistive
each zone assuming different values of fault resistances from
reach (+R) is taken equal to four times the reactance one. As a
zero up to RF = 40 Ω. Again, the case with two DG units con-
graphical example, Fig. 7 depicts the characteristics of the
nected is assumed, to easily compare with the Fig. 7. Fig. 8
phase and ground characteristics for the case of two DG units
(resp. Fig 9) illustrates the modification required in the posi-
connected to the network simultaneously. In this figure, the
tive reactance reach setting (+X) of the zone 4 phase (resp.
blue solid characteristics correspond to the phase elements and
ground) element depending on the fault resistance magnitude
the dashed magenta ones to the ground elements. The phase
and the DG connection point. The resistive reach (+R) is al-
and ground elements operate with different time delays deter-
ways taken equal to four times the reactive one.
mined from the maximum total clearing times of the main
fuses. Table III shows the total clearing times of the main
fuses for all the examined penetration levels.
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Figure 8. Influence of the fault resistance on the reactance reach setting of
the phase element
Figure 9. Influence of the fault resistance on the reactance reach setting of
the ground element
The straight horizontal line in both figures corresponds to
the reactance reach setting of the zone 4 element, determined
when zero DG production and zero fault resistance is as-
sumed. In any other case, the two DG units have been as-
sumed to be simultaneously in operation at various locations;
namely from bus B1 to bus B4. As can be seen, there is a clear
need to increase the reach setting of the relay when the DG
units are connected close to the substation and the fault resis-
tance increases. For DG unit connections away from the sub-
station the reach setting determined for zero DG production
and zero fault resistance has not to be increased.
Fig. 10 (resp. Fig. 11) depicts the modification required in
the positive reactance reach setting (+X) of the zone 4 phase
(resp. ground) element depending on the DG penetration level
and the DG connection point. Zero fault resistance is assumed
now. It can be seen that the +X reach of the phase element
should be increased as the penetration level of the DG units
connected close to the beginning of the line increases. The
reverse effect holds when the DG units are connected away
from the substation.
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Figure 10. Influence of the DG penetration on the reactance reach setting of
the phase element
Figure 11. Influence of the DG penetration on the reactance reach setting of
the ground element
D. Investigation of the Combined Effect
An interesting conclusion drawn from the analysis pre-
sented in this section is that the infeed effect and the influence
of the fault resistance on the relay settings come not so uni-
formly up as defined in the theory. For example, the under-
reaching effect due to the intermediate infeeds does not appear
when the DG units are connected close to remotest end of the
line. A critical reason for that is that the pre-fault load transfer
plays a significant role (as in the transmission lines) and this
effect is especially pronounced in medium voltage overhead
lines with different cross section segments. Additionally, if a
considerable DG penetration level and a wide dispersion of
generators are assumed, the increased fault resistance com-
bined with the pre-fault load current contribution results to a
considerable rotation of the fault impedance in the complex
impedance plane.
Next, we try to explain the abovementioned combined ef-
fect with a simple theoretical analysis based on the circuit
shown in Fig. 12. Note that this circuit consists of segments
similar with that of the distribution system examined in the
previous subsection. The impedance Z seen by the distance
relay installed at the location “0” for a fault at the end of the
line is given by:
Z  Z 01  (1  1)  Z12  (1   2)  Z 23 (1)
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where K1 and K2 are the infeed constants:

1  I L1 / I A  A
(2)
 2   I L1  I B  / I A  B

By expressing the impedance of the two line segments in a

polar form, we get:
Figure 12. Simple illustrative system
Z12  C t
(3)
Z 23  Dk
Then, the infeed related terms of (1) can be calculated as
follows:
K1  Z12  A  C (  t )
(4)
K 2  Z 23  B  D(  k )
Since the apparent impedance Z is a vector defined by (1),
its angle is dominantly dependent on the sign of the angles θ+t
and φ+k. In distribution systems these angles are mostly posi-
tive, thus resulting to an impedance vector tilted up, as shown
in Fig. 13.
Figure 13. Infeed effect projected on the relay characteristic
If the fault resistance RF is added in the analysis, the im-
pedance seen by the relay for a fault at end of the line is given
by:
Z  Z 01  (1  1)  Z12  (1   2)  ( Z 23  RF ) (5)
Now, the term Z23+RF is critical, which in polar form can
be defined as:
Z 23  RF  E j (6)
If the angle j has a smaller magnitude than φ, then the term
K 2  ( Z 23  RF )  F ( j +  ) is a vector that when added to
the vector of the apparent impedance, it tilts it down. This is
shown, in Fig. 14. To conclude, it is understood that the rota- Figure 14. Combined infeed anf fault resistance effect
tion of the apparent vector is strongly dependent on the magni-
tude of the fault resistance RF. and on the infeed constants.
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