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Performance of Frequency Relays for Distributed Generation Protection

Jose C. M. Vieira, Student Member, IEEE, Walmir Freitas, Member, IEEE, Wilsun Xu, Fellow, IEEE, and Andre Morelato, Member, IEEE

AbstractThis paper investigates the efciency of under/over frequency relays for protection of distributed synchronous generators considering islanding detection and frequency-tripping requirements. Comparison between frequency and vector surge relays, which are islanding detection-dedicated devices, shows that the former can be as effective as the latter. This feature supports the idea that frequency relays can replace vector surge relays for islanding detection purpose. In this case, frequency relays must also meet the generator manufacturer recommendations and the utility frequency-tripping requirements. In order to investigate the relay capability to meet both necessities, it is proposed the concept of application region, which denes a region in the detection time versus active power imbalance space where frequency-based relays can be adjusted to satisfy the anti-islanding and frequency-tripping requirements simultaneously. The paper also presents a set of formulas to determine directly the application region. Index TermsDistributed generation, dynamic simulation, frequency relay, islanding detection, synchronous generator.

I. INTRODUCTION ROTECTION systems of distributed synchronous generators must be able to detect islanding situations and meet the utility frequency-tripping requirements. An islanding situation occurs when part of a distribution system is disconnected from the utility system, but it remains energized due to one or more distributed generators connected to the isolated subsystem. This occurrence, also known as loss of mains, may lead to safety risks to the utility personnel, deteriorate the quality of supply in the island and cause damage to the distributed generator (DG) and loads. In an attempt to minimize such risks, the current practice in the industry is to disconnect all distributed generators immediately after an islanding occurrence [1][3]. Typically, the islanding situation should be detected within 200 to 400 ms, however, this requirement has been relaxed by some utilities and detection times up to 1 s are allowed. To achieve such a goal, each distributed generator must be equipped with an islanding detection device. Vector surge (or shift) relays (VSR) are developed for this purpose [4], [5]. These relays have gained widespread acceptance of the industry.
Manuscript received January 21, 2005; revised April 28, 2005. This work was supported in part by FAPESP, in part by CNPq, and by PRPG/UNICAMP, Brazil. Paper no. TPWRD-00039-2005. J. C. M Vieira, W. Freitas, and A. Morelato are with the Department of Electrical Energy Systems, State University of Campinas, Campinas 13081-970, Brazil (e-mail: jcarlos@dsee.fee.unicamp.br; walmir@ieee.org; morelato@ dsee.fee.unicamp.br). W. Xu is with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton AB T6G 2V4, Canada (e-mail: wxu@ee.ualberta. ca). Digital Object Identier 10.1109/TPWRD.2005.858751

As a standard practice, all distributed synchronous generators are also equipped with under/over frequency relays, whose settings are established according to the generator manufacturer recommendations and to the utility frequency-tripping requirements (or interconnection) guidelines [1]. Since both the vector surge and the frequency relays operate on the basis of system frequency deviation, one would wonder if the frequency relay can replace the vector surge relay for anti-islanding detection application. If this is the case, installation of a dedicated islanding detection relay, such as the VSR, will become unnecessary. The savings can be quite attractive for small-distributed generators and the protection system would be much simpler. Another signicant issue raising from using frequency-based relays for anti-islanding protection is the conicting requirement on the relay performance. The IEEE distributed resources interconnection guide recommends that a DG must not be disconnected due to small frequency variations [1]. If the relay is set to meet this requirement, it may not detect islanding conditions within the required time. On the other hand, if the relay is set sensitive for anti-islanding protection, it may also trip the DG due to small frequency variations. Thus, it is important to understand if there is a region where the relay can satisfy both requirements and, if such a region exists, what are its characteristics. The main objective of this paper is to present our ndings on the above two questions. Our results show that frequency relays have essentially the same performance of vector surge relays for islanding detection. For the second question, we found that there is a region where the frequency relay can satisfy the both requirements mentioned previously. A method to determine this region is proposed. This paper is organized as follows. Section II explains the approach employed in this work to analyze the islanding detection capability of frequency-based relays. Section III describes the network component models used in this work. Section IV presents a comparative study between the performance of frequency relays (FR) and vector surge relays (VSRs) for anti-islanding protection. Section V proposes the concept of application region where the frequency relay can be used for anti-islanding protection while maintaining immunity to small frequency variation. The conclusions are presented in Section VI. In Appendix, it is proposed a set of formulas to determine the application region without simulations. II. PERFORMANCE CURVES The usage of the performance curves, i.e. the detection time versus active power imbalance curves, in order to characterize frequency-based relays was proposed in [6], where detailed

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Fig. 2.

Single-line diagram of the system.

Fig. 1. Typical performance curve of frequency-based relays.

information can be found about this approach. However, to facilitate the paper reading, the determination and analysis of these curves are briey explained in this section. The islanding detection capability of frequency-based anti-islanding relays is strongly dependent on the active power imbalance existent in the islanded system, i.e. the mismatch between load and generation. When the mismatch of active power decreases, the capability to quickly detect islanding of these devices diminishes accordingly [6]. In the extreme cases, where the load and generation in the islanded system are very close, the devices may fail to detect an islanding situation [6]. Thus, an approach to evaluate the performance of frequency-based anti-islanding relays is to understand the relationship between the detection time and active power imbalance. This relationship can be represented through a detection time versus active power imbalance curve as shown in Fig. 1, which is obtained for a specic relay setting. In Fig. 1, the -axis is the active power imbalance level of the islanded system referred to the rated MVA of the generator. The y-axis is the time needed by the relay to operate. This curve can be obtained by repeated dynamic simulations of islanding occurrences, in which the load-generation prole in the islanded system is changed for each simulation. Thus, for each active power imbalance, the detection time is determined by dynamic simulation and then the performance curve is plotted. If it is required to detect the islanding situation within 400 ms after its occurrence, one can draw a 400-ms horizontal line. In this case, the intersection of this line with the relay curve gives 21.7% of active power imbalance level. If the islanded system has an active power imbalance greater than 21.7%, it will take less than 400 ms to detect the islanding condition. Therefore, the relay can be used with condence. On the other hand, the relay will take longer than 400 ms to operate if the active power imbalance level is less than 21.7%. Consequently, the relay or the setting employed is not suitable for this case. Such a threshold is called the critical active power imbalance level or simply critical power imbalance [6].

Fig. 3. Frequency relay computational model.

III. NETWORK COMPONENT MODELS Fig. 2 shows the single-line diagram of the network used in this paper. It comprises a 132 kV, 60 Hz, subtransmission system with short-circuit level of 1500 MVA, represented by a Thvenin equivalent (Sub), which feeds a 33 kV distribution , transformer. In this system, system through a 132/33 kV, there is one 30 MW synchronous generator (SG) connected at bus 5, which is connected to the network through one 33/0.69 transformer. Such generator is equipped with an aukV, tomatic voltage regulator (AVR). In this study, all network components were represented by three-phase models. Distribution feeders were modeled as series impedances and transformers were modeled using the circuit. Synchronous generators were represented by a sixth-order three-phase model in the rotor reference frame [7]. The generator was considered equipped with an automatic voltage regulator represented by the IEEEType 1 model. The simulation duration is short (1 s), in addition, usually, distributed generators do not participate in the frequency regulation of the system and, therefore, they operate at constant active power mode [5]. Thus, the mechanical power was considered constant. The loads were modeled as constant impedance, because this type of load leads to the most conservative (pessimistic) islanding detection performance of frequency-based relays [6]. Frequency relays measure the cycle duration of the terminal voltage by using some voltage zero crossing detection technique and signal processing method. The frequency relay model implemented in this work is presented in Fig. 3. The system frequency is determined from the generator electrical speed . If this signal is larger (or smaller) than the over frequency (under frequency) setting of the relay and the magnitude of the ter, minal voltage is larger than the minimum voltage setting then the frequency relay sends a trip signal to the generator

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circuit breaker. For simplicity, it was considered that the deviations of the relay settings for under/over frequency are the occurs, the same. Therefore, if a variation of frequency frequency relay becomes active. Frequency relays can be operated with a time delay; in this case, the tripping conditions (frequency variation) must persist during a pre-determined time to trigger the relay. Typically, frequency relays can be adjusted using multi-stages, therefore, instantaneous and time-delay settings are employed simultaneously. Usually, frequency relays can be blocked if the terminal voltage drops below an adjustable . This is to avoid, for example, the actuation of the level relay during generator start-up. Vector surge relays measure the duration time of an electrical cycle and start a new measurement at each zero rising crossing of the terminal voltage and the current cycle duration (measured waveform) is compared with the last one (reference cycle). Variations of the cycle duration results in a proportional variation of the terminal voltage angle, which is the input parameter of vector surge relays. If the variation of the terminal voltage angle exceeds a pre-determined threshold, a trip signal is immediately sent to the generator circuit breaker. Usually, vector surge relays allow this angle threshold to be adjusted in the range from 2 to 20 degrees. A detailed description of vector surge relays is presented in [5]. VSRs were simulated as follows. The generator terminal voltage angle is determined in every integration step. A reference terminal voltage angle is computed and updated at the beginning of each electrical cycle. The absolute variation between these two angles, , is calculated in every integration step and compared with the angle threshold . Additionally, the rms value of the terminal voltage is also determined in every integration is larger than the angle threshold step. If the angle variation and the magnitude of the terminal voltage is larger than the , the VSR immediately sends adjusted minimum voltage a trip signal to the circuit breaker. More details about the VSR computational model can be found in [6]. The main difference concerning the operating principles of frequency and vector surge relays is the reference value used to trigger the relay. While the frequency relay uses a xed reference, the rated system frequency (60 Hz in this work), the reference value used by a vector surge relay is updated cycle by cycle, indeed, the last cycle duration or some average value calculated using a few cycles [5], [6]. IV. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS BETWEEN FREQUENCY RELAYS AND VECTOR SURGE RELAYS FOR ISLANDING DETECTION In this section, a comparison between the islanding detection capability of frequency and vector surge relays is carried out by using the performance curves. Such curves are obtained through repeated dynamic simulations. The islanding situation is simulated by opening the circuit breaker CB installed at bus 2 at s (Fig. 2), which remains open until the end of the simulation at s. Then, if the relay installed at bus 5 does not become active within 1.0 s, it is considered that this device fails to detect the islanding. The active power imbalance of the islanded system is gradually varied from 0 to 1 pu, referred to the MVA rating of the generator, by changing the pre-islanding

TABLE I CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN FREQUENCY AND VECTOR SURGE RELAYS SETTINGS IN A 60 HZ SYSTEM

Fig. 4.

Performance curves of VSR and frequency relays.

TABLE II CRITICAL POWER IMBALANCE: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS BETWEEN FR AND VSR ANTI-ISLANDING PERFORMANCES

generation-load prole. For each case of active power imbalance, dynamic simulation is conducted to determine the relay detection time and then the curves are plotted [6]. In a 60 Hz system, 1 Hz corresponds to 6 electrical degrees. Therefore, the relationships presented in Table I are adopted for comparison purpose. The performance curves for three different vector surge and frequency relays settings are presented in Fig. 4. Results show that the performances of both relays are quite similar. The critical power imbalances for typical relays settings considering that the required detection time is 300, 500 or 700 ms are presented in Table II. In this table, the values are in percentage of the generator MVA rating; the frequency relay is referred as FR and the vector surge relay as VSR. It can be noted that both relays lead to very similar critical power imbalances. The signicance of this nding is the following: the vector surge relay does not offer additional advantages than the frequency

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TABLE III INTERCONNECTION SYSTEM RESPONSE TO ABNORMAL FREQUENCIES

relay for anti-islanding protection. As a result, there is no need to install a dedicated VSR for anti-islanding application because a frequency relay can be as effective as the vector surge relay. V. CONSTRAINTS IMPOSED BY THE FREQUENCY-TRIPPING REQUIREMENTS Technical guides for DG interconnection recommend that the generators should not be disconnected instantaneously due to small frequency variations [1]. Table III shows the frequencytripping requirements recommended in [1] for distributed generators during abnormal frequencies. As a result, one cannot set a frequency relay very sensitive for anti-islanding protection. A well-designed DG protection scheme must satisfy both the anti-islanding and frequency-tripping requirements simultaneously. This section investigates if this objective can be met by frequency relays. A. Behavior of Frequency Relays According to the recommendations stated in Table III, typical time delays vary from 160 ms to 300 s. This delay includes the circuit breaker opening time. Thus, time-delay settings as low as 100 ms can be used. In this section, a time delay equal to 300 ms was applied to the lower settings of the frequency relay (0.5 to 1.5 Hz). On the other hand, higher settings were operated instantaneously, as is usual. The required detection times analyzed were 300, 500 and 700 ms. Dynamical simulations using the test system of Fig. 2 were carried out to determine the performance curves of frequency relays considering time-delay and instantaneous settings. The results are summarized in Fig. 5 and Table IV, where the values of the critical power imbalances are in percentage of the distributed generator MVA rating. The second column of Table IV shows that time-delay settings are not able to detect an islanding condition if the detection time required is 300 ms. Frequency relays with instantaneous settings can detect the islanding in all the cases, but the active power imbalance necessary to operate the relay can be higher than 50% of the generator rated power. When the required detection time is increased, the critical power imbalance necessary to a successful islanding detection decreases. In addition, the third and fourth columns indicate that it is possible to coordinate the instantaneous and time-delay settings of frequency relays in such a way that the frequency-tripping requirements are not violated and the critical active power imbalance is minimized. An approach to graphically determine these settings is proposed in the next section. B. Application Region of Frequency Relays The results shown in Fig. 5 and Table IV indicate that there is a region where the frequency relay can satisfy both antiislanding and frequency-tripping requirements. Moreover, it is also shown that a frequency relay can reach such objective if its instantaneous and time-delay settings are properly chosen. This section proposes a graphical methodology that helps protection engineers to evaluate the frequency relay settings acceptable for both purposes. The methodology denes an acceptable operating region for frequency relays in the detection time versus active power imbalance space. Such region is called application region of frequency relays. Inside this region, both criteria are satised. Fig. 6 shows the application region for a frequency relay considering a required detection time of 500 ms and the under frequency requirements of Table III. The application region was obtained by using the performance curves of the frequency relay. Such curves were obtained through dynamical simulation, using the test system of Fig. 2. It can be observed in Fig. 6 that the application region is delimited by the following curves. Performance curve for the 0.2 Hz setting (59.8 Hz): this curve represents the lower limit of the region. Between 59.8 Hz and 60 Hz the relay must not operatethis is the frequency variation immunity requirement. Thus, curves below the 0.2 Hz curve refer to settings smaller than 0.2 Hz, which are not allowed. This curve is the frequency variation immunity curve.

Fig. 5. Performance curves of frequency relays for delayed and instantaneous operation. TABLE IV CRITICAL POWER IMBALANCES FOR FREQUENCY RELAYS

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Fig. 6. Application region of a frequency relay, considering underfrequency settings (decit of active power).

Fig. 8. Application region of a frequency relay: optimum setting.

Fig. 7. Application region of a frequency relay: a practical application considering the underfrequency setting of 59 Hz and different time-delays.

Performance curve for 3 Hz (57 Hz): it represents the upper limit of the region. This curve is related to the instantaneous requirements for the system frequency. Referring to Table III, it refers to the 57 Hz setting. Curves above the upper limit curve indicate settings that are not allowed. Anti-islanding requirement: it is a horizontal line that represents the time required to detect the islanding condition. Usually, frequency relays are equipped with two or more groups of settings, which allow the relay to be congured with time-delay and instantaneous settings simultaneously. In the case analyzed in this work, it was assumed that the instantaneous under frequency setting is adjusted to 3 Hz (57 Hz), satisfying both the islanding and frequency requirements. Fig. 7 shows this situation and the usefulness of the application region concept. For a 57 Hz setting the critical power imbalance is 38.15%. The big issue is how to adjust the time-delay stage of the relay under frequency setting. Assume that the value of 59 Hz is chosen as the frequency setting for the time-delay stage. The performance curve for such setting is presented in Fig. 7 considering different time-delays: 100, 300 and 500 ms. If the 59 Hz time-delay curve is above the application area, the

frequency-tripping requirements are satised but the islanding detection capability of the frequency relay is limited by the critical power imbalance of the 57 Hz-instantaneous curve. In this case, this occurs if the time-delay is set equal to 500 ms. On the other hand, if the time-delay stage is adjusted to operate inside the application region, the frequency-tripping requirement is still satised and the islanding detection capability is improved. For example, if the time-delay stage is set to 300 ms or 100 ms, the critical power imbalance is reduced from 38.15% to 33.82% and 21.76%, respectively. Indeed, using the concept of application region, one can improve even more the islanding detection capability of frequency relays by choosing a more suitable time-delay setting. Fig. 8 shows the application region and the performance curve of the frequency relay with a 59.7 Hz, 100 ms time-delay setting. In this case, the critical power imbalance is reduced to 12.74% and the frequency-tripping requirements are not violated. This is the optimum setting if the relay must meet both requirements simultaneously. In the cases above analyzed, the frequency relay is triggered due to the under frequency settings because there is decit of active power in the islanded system. Similar analyzes and conclusions can be obtained for the case with excess of active power, where the relay is triggered due to the over frequency settings. Although these cases have been simulated, they are not shown in this work due to space limitation. VI. CONCLUSIONS This paper presented an investigation of the performance of standard under/over frequency relays for distributed generators protection. The analyzes of the results lead to important conclusions and contributions to protection engineers, which are summarized as follows. Vector surge relays and frequency relays present very similar performances for anti-islanding detection. Indeed, vector surge relays can be considered a special case of frequency relays. Thus, frequency relays can replace VSR for islanding detection without adverse implications if proper settings are chosen.

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The frequency-tripping requirement will limit the islanding detection capability of frequency-based relays. In order to determine the relay settings that meet both requirements the application region of frequency relay can be used. This graphical approach is the main contribution of this paper. It can be used to determine the time-delay settings of frequency relays. It is worth pointing that the application region can be extended to any other frequency-based relays, such as vector surge and rate of change of frequency relays. In the next step, we will investigate this possibility. In the Appendix a set of formulas is developed that permits one to obtain the application region of frequency relays directly. This procedure decreases considerably the time spent during the design of frequency-based protection system of distributed generators. APPENDIX FORMULAS TO DETERMINE THE APPLICATION REGION OF FREQUENCY RELAYS In this appendix, a set of formulas is introduced, which permits to build the application region of frequency relays directly. With such formulas, a protection engineer can decide if frequency relays are suitable for his/her system and adjust the instantaneous and time-delay settings readily, decreasing the amount of simulations considerably. The development of the formula is based on the reasoning described in [6], however, the nal formulas are quite different because the principle of the vector surge and frequency relays are distinct. Firstly, an analytical formula is developed considering constant power loads. In the sequence, a correction factor is introduced to extend the results to voltage-dependent loads. A. Analytical Formula Considering the system presented in Fig. 2, at steady state the mechanical power of the distributed generator is baland the electrical power anced with the load electrical power provided (or consumed) by the power grid. Therefore, the distributed generator rotor speed and angle are constant. If some disturbance occurs provoking an active power imbal, the system frequency starts to change because the ance power imbalance causes transients in the distributed generator. The dynamic behavior of the synchronous generator can be determined by using the machine swing equation. In the mathematical development below, the following assumptions are considered: (a) the load is represented by a constant power model; (b) the generator is represented by the classical model. The swing equation of the synchronous generator is given by (1) where is the generator inertia constant, is the synchronous speed and the other variables have been dened previously. The rotor speed can be solved from (1) as (2)

Fig. 9. Performance curves of frequency relays obtained by simulations and analytical formula (constant power loads).

The system angular speed in the time can be represented by ; substituting it in (2), follows: (3) where . Therefore (4) Equation (4) gives the relationship between frequency deviation (relay setting), detection time and active power imbalance. Solving (4) for , we have (5) is the relay setting. Frequency relays can be adjusted where with time-delay settings. In this case, frequency variation must persist during a pre-dened interval of time to activate the relay. Thus, the relay time-delay setting must be introduced in (5) as follows: (6) is the time-delay applied. With (6), one can obtain where the detection time versus power imbalance curves and, consequently, the application region. The validity of the mathematical development is conrmed by simulation, considering constant power loads in the system of Fig. 2. The relay performance curves obtained by simulation and the formula are presented in Fig. 9 for different instantaneous and time-delay settings. Very good match can be observed between the two sets of the relay performance curves. B. Modied Empirical Formula The analytical formula developed in the previous subsection considers that the power imbalance after the opening of the circuit breaker is constant. However, it occurs only if the loads have characteristics of constant power. In addition, the islanding detection capability of frequency-based relay should be analyzed

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Fig. 10. Performance curves of frequency relays obtained by simulations and by the modied empirical formula (constant impedance loadsthe most conservative case).

Fig. 11. Application region of frequency relays obtained by simulations and analytical formula (constant impedance loads).

taking into account the most conservative (pessimistic) situation, i.e. the situation where the critical active power imbalances assumes the highest values. This occurs in the presence of constant impedance loads [6]. In this case, the active power imbalance may decrease after the islanding, becoming more difcult to detect the islanding situation. Based on extensive simulations carried out in different systems with different distributed generators, it has been observed that the largest active power imbalance variation in the presence of constant impedance loads is usually between 10% and 30%. Such variation depends on the characteristic of the system and generator as well as on the operating point. Thus, a 20% reduction factor can be roughly applied to active power imbalance in (6). Furthermore, based on the results presented, it can be veried that the detection time increases almost exponentially when the power imbalance decreases. Thus, the 20% reduction factor should not be applied directly to different values of power imbalance. Adopting that the power imbalance correction factor affects the power imbalance in an exponential way, the nal can be calculated as power imbalance (7) where is the initial power imbalance value at the instant of the opening of the circuit breaker. This power imbalance rein (6) to determine the frequency relay performance. places Thus, the nal modied empirical formula is given by (8) The accuracy of the modied empirical formula is shown in Fig. 10, where the performance curves for instantaneous and time-delay settings obtained by simulation and by the modied empirical formula (8) are compared. Again very good match can be observed between the two sets of the relay performance curves. C. Application Region The above mathematical development can be used to determine the application region of frequency relay directly. The ap-

Fig. 12. Application region of a frequency relay: optimum setting by using formula (8).

plication regions of the frequency relay obtained by simulation and by formula (8) are compared in Fig. 11. Note that one region is over the other. It can be observed that reasonable accuracy is obtained by using the modied empirical formula. The possibility of obtaining the application region of frequency relay and the performance curves using the formula permits that protection engineers evaluate the efciency of frequency-based protection systems of distributed generators directly. This approach can also be used to determine the best instantaneous and time-delay settings of frequency relays regarding islanding detection and frequency-tripping requirements simultaneously. This procedure can save time during project stage. For example, the optimum time-delay setting can be estimated through formula (8) using the same procedure adopted in the previous section, where simulations were used. Fig. 12 shows the application region and the performance curve for the case in which the time-delay relay setting is adjusted equal to 59.7 Hz, 100 ms. This gure was determined by using formula (8). It can be veried that this setting does not violate the frequency-tripping requirements and minimize the critical active

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power imbalance. This result is similar to that obtained in Section V-B through simulation (Fig. 8). ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors would like to thank Dr. Z. Huang of the Energy Science and Technology Division, Pacic Northwest National Laboratory, for his comments and help during the development of this work. REFERENCES
[1] IEEE Standard for Interconnecting Distributed Resources With Electric Power Systems, IEEE Std. 1547, Jul. 21, 2003. [2] G59/1 Recommendations for the Connection of Embedded Generating Plant to the Regional Electricity Companies Distribution Systems, 1991. [3] Impact of Increasing Contribution of Dispersed Generation on the Power System, CIGR, Working Group 37.23, 1999. [4] Dispersed Generation, CIRED, CIRED Working Group 4, 1999. [5] N. Jenkins, R. Allan, P. Crossley, D. Kirschen, and G. Strbac, Embedded Generation, 1st ed. London, U.K.: Inst. Elect. Eng., 2000. [6] W. Freitas, Z. Huang, and W. Xu, A practical method for assessing the effectiveness of vector surge relays for distributed generation applications, IEEE Trans. Power Del., vol. 1, pp. 5763, Jan. 2005. [7] P. Kundur, Power System Stability and Control. New York: McGrawHill, 1994.

Walmir Freitas (M02) received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the State University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil, in 2001. From 2002 to 2003, he was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor at the State University of Campinas. His research interests are power system stability and control along with distributed generation.

Wilsun Xu (M90SM95F05) received the Ph.D. degree from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, in 1989. From 1989 to 1996, he was an Electrical Engineer with BC Hydro, where he was responsible for power quality and voltage stability projects. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at Shandong University, Shandong, China, and a Professor at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada. His main research interests are power quality, voltage stability, and distributed generation.

Jose C. M. Vieira (S97) received the M.Sc. degree in 1999 from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, Brazil, where he is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree. From 1999 to 2003, he was a Consulting Engineer with FIGENER, Sao Paulo, Brazil. His research interests are distributed generation, power system control, as well as dynamic and optimal power ow and energy markets.

Andre Morelato (M89) received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, Brazil, in 1982. Currently, he is a Full Professor of Electrical Engineering with the Department of Electrical Energy Systems, UNICAMP. From 1991 to 1992, he was with Hitachi Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd., Hitachi City, Japan. His research interests are power system control and stability, distributed generation, and parallel processing applications.