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Smart Distribution Automation System

Article · June 2011

DOI: 10.1109/ICCEP.2011.6036345

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 Smart Distribution Automation System
Cem ahin*, Abdullah Nadar*, Doan Gezer*, Giorgio Graditi** and Giovanna Adinolfi**
* Researcher, TUBITAK UZAY Power Systems Department, ODTU, Ankara, (Turkey)
** Researcher, ENEA Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable
Economic Development Research Center, Portici (NA), (Italy)
Abstract--The increased utilization of renewable energy
sources (RES) and interconnected feeders require
improvements in electric power distribution protection
systems (DPS). The behavior of RES such as wind turbines
and PV generators under fault and voltage transient events
should be properly analyzed for the reconsideration of DPS
design. In this paper, a distribution system employing wind
turbines, PV generators, and interconnected feeders is
analyzed using DIgSILENT software. A Smart Distribution
Automation System (SDAS) with integrated DPS is
proposed to achieve fault identification, isolation and
restoration tasks.
Index Terms—Smart Grids, Distributed Power
Generation, Electrical Fault Detection
I. INTRODUCTION
In recent years, electrical power industry has been
undergoing substantial changes aiming to increase the
penetration of RES into power system and efficiency in
power generation, transmission and distribution systems.
Motivations behind these changes are abrupt increases in
energy needs of developing countries, negative
environmental impacts of fossil-fueled power generation
and depletion of fossil fuel resources. High voltage in the
transmission system is decreased to medium-voltage
(MV) level in substations and delivered to end-users
through distribution system. In coming years, power
distribution systems are expected to be “smart” with the
support of information and communication technologies
(ICT). Below, the features for a smart distribution system
are listed as:
- Ability to identify and clear various faults (short
circuit, loss of phase, etc.) in the distribution
system feeders
- Delivering power with high quality and
reliability
- Protection against cyber attacks
- Ability to accommodate various power plants
with diverse resources (fossil-fuel based, RES)
- Optimizing asset management
- Reducing electricity prices for end-users by
minimizing investment, operation and
maintenance costs
Typically, a distribution system consists of medium
voltage distribution feeders, distribution transformers
978-1-4244-8930-5/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE
substations (DTS), MV equipments (circuit breakers,
disconnector switches, fuses, potential and current
transformers, etc.), low-voltage (LV) cables and LV
equipments. Beside these equipments, distributed
generation facilities and interconnected feeders exist in
smart distribution systems. Different feeders passing
through the same distribution transformer substations are
called interconnected feeders as shown in Figure 1.
Monitoring and control of the distribution system
equipment, providing availability for energy demand and
power quality indices are among important
responsibilities of a distribution company. In Turkey,
defining and control of these responsibilities are
accomplished by Energy Market Regulatory Authority
(EMRA). A SDAS will increase operational efficiency,
reliability and economic feasibility of power distribution
systems. Also, SDAS will form an integrated framework
for researches and technical analyses. In this paper, an
integrated distribution automation philosophy is proposed
in order to realize smart distribution system.
This paper is composed of four parts. In Part II, a
distribution system with interconnected feeders and
distributed generation (DG) are modeled in DIgSILENT
software and the effect of this new distribution system
topology to system faults is analyzed. Proposed SDAS
and operation philosophy will be explained in Part III.
Conclusions are found in Part IV.
II. MODELING OF DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM WITH DG
AND INTERCONNECTED FEEDERS
In this section, a distribution system employing DG
facilities and interconnected feeders will be
mathematically modeled to analyze different kinds of
faults as three-phase-to-ground, single-phase-to-ground at
different locations. There are studies in the literature
regarding smart fault identification systems based on off-
line analyses, on-line measurement comparisons [1]-[4].
However these methods fail in the presence of radial
sections in which the power flows in one direction. The
mathematical model will be used to simulate the
mentioned faults and analyze the fault currents drawn
from the main substation and DG in order to propose a
suitable protection system design.
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A. Modeling of Feeders and Other Distribution System
Equipment
In DigSilent software, a distribution system with 29
distribution transformers with different loading levels has
been modeled. The voltage levels for the distribution
system are 34.5 kV and 0.4 kV. The schematic
representation of the sample distribution system could be
seen in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1 Schematic representation of the sample distribution system.

B. Simulations However, deployment of a Wind Generator or a PV

In the sample distribution system, three-phase and
single-phase-to-ground faults have been analyzed. As
the DG facility, a synchronous generator with 1000
kVA power rating and 0.4 kV terminal voltage has been
used.
The model network given in Figure 1 is utilized to
basicaly demonstrate the proposed fault identification
method. There are two sources in the network namely
the substation and the DG. The DG is modeled as a
synchronous generator for the sake of model simplicity.
generator would not change the fault identification
method.
The offline analyses performed for the sapmle
distribution network are shown in Table 1 in which the
fault current contribution of the main substation and the
DG facility for the mentioned fault types in kA are
listed. As it could be easily seen from the table entries,
the fault current values for the radial sections of the
network are nearly identical to each other.

TABLE I
FAULT CURRENT CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE MAIN SUBSTATION AND DG FACILITY (kA)
three phase single-phase-to-ground
Fault at contribution of main substation contribution of DG contribution of main substation contribution of DG
DTS Phase A Phase B Phase C Phase A Phase B Phase C Phase A Phase B Phase C Phase A Phase B Phase C
4 2,6394 2,6394 2,6394 8,5805 8,5805 8,5805 0,7688 0,1736 0,1735 15,4369 12,5912 12,4096
5 2,9276 2,9276 2,9276 11,8447 11,8447 11,8447 0,8418 0,1967 0,194 18,1897 14,2869 14,0554
8 2,0604 2,0604 2,0604 8,3363 8,3363 8,3363 0,6996 0,1636 0,1613 15,1124 11,8687 11,6763
9 2,0604 2,0604 2,0604 8,3363 8,3363 8,3363 0,6996 0,1636 0,1613 15,1124 11,8687 11,6763
10 2,5479 2,5479 2,5479 11,9113 11,9113 11,9113 0,8086 0,1938 0,1909 18,4237 14,094 13,8483
21 1,6888 1,6888 1,6888 9,739 9,739 9,739 0,6448 0,166 0,1633 16,4958 12,1171 11,8833
22 1,6888 1,6888 1,6888 9,739 9,739 9,739 0,6448 0,166 0,1633 16,4958 12,1171 11,8833
29 1,3428 1,3428 1,3428 7,7435 7,7435 7,7435 0,57 0,1426 0,1402 14,1306 10,3758 10,1755

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 Consider a three-phase-to-ground fault on the feeder
section between Distribution Transformer Stations
(DTS) 5-10 (F1 fault). After the circuit breakers (CB) of
S and DG are opened, the measured current values of
2.7259 kA and 11.878 kA from sources will be
evaluated using the table. The offline analyses current
values for source S for three-phase-to-ground fault at
DTS 5 and 10 are 2,9276 kA and 2,5479 kA. The values
for source DG are 11,8447 kA and 11,9113 kA. Since
the 2,5479 kA < 2.7259 kA < 2,9276 kA, and 11,8447
kA < 11.878 kA < 11,9113 kA inequalities hold, the
fault location is determined as the feeder section
connecting 5-10 stations. The load breakers of the
stations 5, 10 on the faulty feeder side will be opened to
clear the fault. Afterwards the S CB will be closed and
DG will be synchronized to the system to re-energize
the network.
If the occurrence of a fault at feeder section 20-21 is
considered, the consideration of the offline analyses
Fig. 2 SDAS schematic representation.
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table would not be sufficient since the values are
identical for stations 21 and 22. At this point the fault
Current Relay (FCR) readings from the station 20 will
identify the fault. FCRs are currently deployed in the
Feeder Automation SCADA system that has been
developed by TUBTAK UZAY for stanbul
metropolitan distribution system. Fault current relays
are deployed at every DTS due to low cost,
continuously monitoring the feeder current, and
whenever the current value exceeds the threshold the
occurrence of fault current is recorded. A fault current
relay would have as many ports as the number of
interconnected feeder, i.e. there should be 3 ports of the
fault current relay. The fault current threshold will be
exceeded at the port of fault current relay that is
monitoring the feeder section connecting to DTS 21,
while the other port monitoring 22 side will see no fault
current.
 III. SDAS
In Figure 2, schematically representation SDAS is
given. This architecture could be examined in three
main parts as below:
Main Control Station (MCS): In this station,
redundant man-machine interface, geographical
information system, GPS time synchronization,
database and operation planning servers exist in the
MCS. Mentioned servers exist in many SCADA
systems; however, servers in SDAS need to process
large amount of data since number of customers for a
distribution company is very high. (29.5 M customers
for Turkish Electricity Distribution Corporation
(TEDAS) - source: TEDAS) This situation provides a
fundamental criterion for the design of MCS.
Smart Distributed Controllers: These controllers
operate as interfaces between SDAS and feeder circuit
breakers at the distribution terminal near the
substations, DTS and distributed generation facilities.
These controllers will employ the following functions.
- Monitoring distribution system equipment
status and control these equipment
- Recording power quality and availability
parameters continuously
- Determination of the MV fault location in the
distribution system in which bilateral power
flow and interconnected feeders exist, isolation
of the faulted region and restoration
- Forming a data concentration point for
communication with a large number of smart
meters of end-users in MV and LV.
- Operate as communication interface for real-
time monitoring of generation data and
parameters of distributed generation facilities.
that the fault should have occurred. This results
from the fact that two different radial locations
in the distribution system could draw the same
amount of fault current from the sources before
the fault is cleared by CBs.
- The comparison method will determine a
subset of DTSs in the radial section that would
draw identical currents from the sources.
Afterwards, the fault location will be
accurately determined with the evaluation of
fault current relay readings. It should be noted
that a fault identification system build from
fault current relays would not be sufficient in
non-radial sections of the distribution network
shown in Figure 1. (i.e. feeder section between
DTS 5 and 10).
The second important feature is that smart distributed
controllers will operate as a data concentration point in
smart meters communication. Smart meters could
connect to smart distributed controllers via GSM/GPRS
or PLC (Power Line Carrier). Thus, it would not be
necessary to build a separate communication
infrastructure for smart meters and smart distribution
system could be operated more efficiently.

The proposed SDAS has two different features when

compared with the systems in the literature. First is
related with detection and isolation of MV faults. The
faults in radial sections of the distribution system could
be correctly identified with the application of proposed
system. For this purpose, each smart distributed
controller should be extended with FCRs as described in
previous section. The fault point could be accurately
determined by integrating the fault current relay
readings from smart distributed controllers and method
in [3], [4], which are based on comparison of offline-
analyses and real-time fault current measurements. In
brief, in the radial part of the proposed system the
process described below has to be carried out:
Fig. 3 Operation algorithm of SDAS.
- Fault detection algorithms based on off-line
analyses and real-time measurements could not
accurately determine the fault location in the
radial parts of the system as explained earlier,
but the method would rather give a set of DTS'

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 Communication System: Communication between
MCS and smart distributed controllers will be realized
through fiber optical medium. Fiber optic cables could
be installed parallel to new feeders. Fiber optical
medium is convenient for high-concentrated data
communication with its high capacity. RF could be used
for connection of smart distributed controllers to the
communication network where fiber optic infrastructure
is not available.

The proposed system is a smart power distribution

automation system for efficient operation of current
distribution systems and the power distribution systems
planned to be installed in the future. This system will
also make the fault detection in the radial parts of the
distribution system including connected feeders possible
and form a framework covering all functions proposed
for smart distribution systems. In Figure 3, operation
algorithm of SDAS could be seen.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, an SDAS and operation philosophy are
proposed in order to realize smart distribution system. A
distribution system with DG and interconnected feeders
is modeled in DIgSILENT software and the effects of
new distribution system structure with added DG and
interconnected feeders are analyzed. Finally, an SDAS
is proposed that is comprised of Smart Distributed
Controllers equipped with FCRs. The relay readings are
evaluated together with off-line analyses, on-line
measurements comparison method to locate faults
accurately.

REFERENCES
[1] Brahma S.M.; Girgis A.A.: Microprocessor-based
reclosing to coordinate fuse and recloser in a
system with high penetration of distributed
generation, IEEE Power Engineering Society
Winter Meeting, 2002, pp. 453-458.
[2] Geidl Martin: Protection of Power Systems with
Distributed Generation: State of the Art, Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich,
2005, 35 pages.
[3] Javadian, S.A.M.; Haghifam, M.-R.: Implementation
of a New Protection Scheme on a Real Distribution
System in Presence of DG, Joint International
Conference on Power System Technology and
IEEE Power India Conference POWERCON, India,
(2008), pp. 1-7.
[4] Brahma S.M.; Girgis A.A.: Development of adaptive
protection scheme for distribution systems with
high penetration of distributed generation, IEEE
Transactions on Power Delivery, vol. 19, no. 1, 56-
63, (2004).

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