2017 Ninth Annual IEEE Green Technologies Conference
Impact of PV Sources on the Overcurrent Relays in
Medium Voltage Distribution Networks
Matin Meskin, Praveen Iyer
Electrical Engineering Department
University at Buffalo, the State University of New York
Buffalo, USA
matinmes@buffalo.edu, piyer2@buffalo.edu
Abstract Integration of renewable sources to the power grids
has become more economical and prevalent. These sources cause
the load flow to change in the network which can affect the
overcurrent (OC) relays as the main protective device in medium
voltage (MV) distribution networks. In other words, increasing the
current flowing through the lines will result in operating OC relays
during normal conditions of the network. In addition, the
generation of renewables varies due to change in the weather
conditions, which can make it difficult to determine appropriate
OC relay settings.
In this paper the impact of Photovoltaic (PV) sources on the
operation of the OC relays will be examined. It will be shown that
the integration of PV sources bring about the operation of OC
relays inadvertently due to changes in magnitude and/or direction
of flowing current through the relays. To address this problem,
recalculation of OC relay settings will be studied.
EMTDC/PSCAD software is used in this paper to simulate the
impact of PV source on the OC relays in the MV distribution
network.
Keywords Directional Overcurrent Relay; Distribution
Network; Photovoltaic Source; Renewable Source; Distributed
Generation;
I. INTRODUCTION
The integration of distributed generation (DG) units into the
electric grid has seen a vast improvement recently. Some
benefits of this integration are meeting consumer needs and
shaving the peak demand; less investment in comparison to
installation of new transmission lines and power plants,
enhancement of the reliability on the consumers side, and
improvement of the voltage profile in distribution level [1]-[2].
However, increment in fault capacity of distribution network
and change in the fault current magnitude and direction are some
of the drawbacks from the point of view of protection [2]-[8].
These changes would result in miscoordination, maloperation
and/or trip failure of OC protective devices. It has been shown
that DG unit placement in conventional radial distribution
networks has deteriorated the coordination between downstream
and upstream OC protective devices [1], [3], [5], [7]-[9].
Recalculation of the OC protective devices and resizing them, if
required, will mitigate the number of miscoordinations.
However, in some cases it is not feasible to maintain
coordination between downstream and upstream OC protective
devices (i.e. fuse-fuse or fuse-recloser pairs) because the same
2166-5478/17 $31.00 2017 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/GreenTech.2017.46
Alexander Domijan
Electrical Engineering Department
University at Buffalo, the State University of New York
Buffalo, USA
adomijan@buffalo.edu
current is flowing through both protective devices in the
presence of the DG unit [3], [6]-[7], [9].
To solve this problem, adaptive methods have been
suggested in some papers [10]-[11]. However, the need to
monitor DG status continuously, disconnect the DGs [10] and
measure the current of downstream OC protective devices
persistently [11] are the main disadvantages of these schemes.
Moreover, reliance of these adaptive methods on the
communication networks make them vulnerable and costly.
Among the DG units, the rate of utilization of renewables,
especially in the residential sector, has been increasing as they
can meet the demand growth as well as diminish the amount of
greenhouse emission. It has been observed that PV sources do
not have any impact on the OC relays in a radial distribution
network [4]. However, the effect of these PV sources on the
operation of OC relays, when the fault occurs in the upper level
of the network, has not been examined.
In this paper, the impact of PV sources on the OC relays in a
meshed MV distribution network will be studied. Recalculation
of OC relay settings, which has been proposed in some
literatures [3], [12], will be investigated as a potential solution
to see whether it can mitigate the impact of PV sources.
II. PV MODELING AND SIMULATION
To examine the PV impacts on the protection system, the
model of PV source developed in [13] is used. Fig. 1 depicts PV
model in the PSCAD software. This model is appropriate for
MV distribution networks and accurate enough. Thermal time
constants are much larger than electrical time constants and
therefore cell temperature can be considered constant, and it is
sufficient in most electromagnetic transients (EMT) simulations
[13]. Each PV module data and PV cell parameters are shown in
Table I-Table II.
TABLE I. PV MODULE DATA
Number of Modules Connected in Series in Each Array 20
Number of Modules Connected in Parallel in Each Array 20
Number of Cells Connected in Series in Each Module 8000
Number of Cells Connected in Parallel in Each Module 6000
Reference Irradiation 600
Reference Cell Temperature (C) 25
Cell Temperature (C) 50
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 The data of transformer that connects the PV source to the Table I a combination of series and parallel cells and modules
MV distribution network is given in Table III. According to are used to provide the required power in this study.

Fig. 1. PV system simulation in PSCAD

TABLE II. PV CELL PARAMETERS III. CASE STUDY

Effective Area/Cell 0.01 The network under study is represented in Fig. 3 which
Series Resistance/Cell () 0.02 encompasses conventional and PV sources working in the
Shunt Resistance/Cell () 1000 frequency of 60 Hz. Base voltage and power are 34.5 kV and
Diode Ideality Factor 1.5 100 MVA respectively. The network data is presented in Table
Band Gap Energy (eV) 1.103 IV-Table VIII. All of the relays are inverse-time OC relays with
a standard (normal) inverse curve containing directional
Saturation Current at Reference Conditions/Cell (A) element. The OC relay current settings are referred to the
Short Circuit Current at Reference Conditions/Cell (A) 10.5 primary side.
Temperature Coefficient of Photo Current 0.001

TABLE III. PV SOURCE TRANSFORMER DATA

Primary-
Rated Leakage No Load Copper
Ratio Secondary
Power Impedance Losses Losses
(kV) Winding
(MVA) (P.U) (P.U) (P.U)
Type
0.6/34.5 5 0.00571 0.0016 0.0066 Yn-Yn
I-V characteristic of PV arrays is depicted in Fig. 2.

Fig. 3. Single line diagram of the study MV distribution network

When the contribution of PV is small, the load on buses 4

and 5 are fed from the generator on bus 1, and thus the current
flows from bus 5 to bus 4. By increasing the generation of the
PV source, the loads on buses 4 and 5 are fed through the PV
source leading the current direction to change from bus 4 to bus
5.
The operation of relay R5 is studied under several cases to
see the impact of the PV source on the operation of the OC relays
Fig. 2. I-V characteristics of the simulated PV modules without MPPT in the MV distribution network.
The maximum solar radiation corresponding to the TABLE IV. NETWORK GENERATOR DATA
maximum power generation is assumed to be 12 in
this simulation. It should be mentioned that the maximum power Voltage (kV) Inductance (H) Resistance ()
Source
point tracking (MPPT) is not considered in this study. Control
138 0.000895 0 Fixed
The focus in this paper is on the OC protection system of
MV distribution networks, and hence the internal protection and TABLE V. NETWORK TRANSFORMER DATA
control system of PV source is not taken into consideration.
Primary-
However, in reality these systems should be designed in a way Ratio
Rated No Load Copper
Secondary
to meet applicable requirements. Power Losses Losses
(kV) Winding
(MVA) (P.U) (P.U)
Type
138/34.5 100 0.003 0.005 Yn-D

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 TABLE VI. NETWORK LINE DATA current due to PV source integration is considered as a fault by
the conventional directional OC relay.

Positive Seq.

Positive Seq.

Susceptance
Resistance

Resistance
Reactance

Reactance
From Bus

Zero Seq.

Zero Seq.
Line No.

To Bus B. Case 2

(P.U)

(P.U)

(P.U)

(P.U)

(P.U)
Line
In this case, the PV source comes into service at t=1.5 Sec.
The current direction before PV source connection was from bus
1 2 3 0.05695 0.17388 0.08543 0.26082 0.034 5 to bus 4, but after the PV source delivers power to the grid, the
2 3 4 0.01335 0.04211 0.02003 0.06317 0.0128 current flows from bus 4 to bus 5 and its magnitude exceeds the
3 2 5 0.04699 0.19797 0.07049 0.29696 0.0438 current setting of R5. Therefore, a trip command is issued at
4 4 5 0.06701 0.17103 0.10052 0.25655 0.0346 t=7.5177 Sec. Fig. 5 represents the operation of conventional
directional OC relay R5 under this condition.
TABLE VII. NETWORK LOAD DATA
Load Real Load Reactive
Load on Bus
Power (MW) Power (MVAR)
2 15 9
3 7 1.6
4 7.8 3.9
5 12.9 5.6

TABLE VIII. NETWORK RELAY DATA

Current Time Setting Current Time Setting

Relay Relay
Setting Multiplier Setting Multiplier
Number Number
(kA) (TSM) (kA) (TSM)
1 0.53 0.32 5 0.21 0.17
2 0.14 0.05 6 0.28 0.25
3 0.41 0.24 7 0.21 0.05
4 0.14 0.19 8 0.53 0.3
A. Case 1
In this case, the PV source connected to bus 4 generates
power. This power delivered to the grid causes the flowing
current through transmission lines to change in both direction
and magnitude. These changes result in the operation of Fig. 5. Operation of conventional OC protection R5 during normal condition
directional OC relay R5 at t=7.3491 Sec. when the PV source comes into service at t=1.5 Sec.

Fig. 4. Operation of conventional OC protection R5 during normal condition

Fig. 6. Operation of conventional OC protection R5 during normal condition
Fig. 4 indicates the RMS value of the current in phase A (the when the breaker at R3 is open
upper graph) and the operation of conventional directional OC
protection (the lower graph) due to integration of the PV source
to the MV distribution network. In other words, increment of

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C. Case 3
In this case, it is assumed that the breaker at R3 is open. Thus
R5 senses a current that is further beyond its setting leading the
circuit to be cut off at t=1.737 Sec. Fig. 6 depicts this condition.
D. Case 4
In this case the variation of solar radiation is examined. The
solar radiation starts from  and then reaches 
at the time of 2 Sec. and finally attains  at t=3.5
Sec. and remains on this value until the end of simulation. This
variation in solar radiation causes the current through relay R5
to go beyond its setting, and hence a trip is initiated at t=9.564
Sec. according to Fig. 7.
can cause the OC relays with the new settings to operate
inadvertently. However, increment of current settings will
decrease the sensitivity of the entire protection system. In other
words, the fault current should be high enough to cause the OC
relay to initiate a trip and thus OC relays may not operate in
some conditions when the fault current is not large enough.
Moreover, changing in solar radiation leads to the variation
of PV source output. This means that the generation of PV
source varies from zero (out of service) to the maximum, and
therefore these settings obtained from maximum generation of
PV source are somewhat unjustifiable when the PV source is out
of service. In other words, the operating times of the OC relays
with the application of recalculated settings increase when the
contribution of the PV source to the power generation is zero or
small amount. This will result in rising the fault clearing time.
Fig. 8 and Fig. 9 show such a case for the operating times of
relays R1 and R2 with original (blue curve) and recalculated
(green curve) TSM. Original TSM refers to the TSM obtained
from the original network without the PV source (see Table
VIII) and recalculated TSM is shown in Table IX obtained from
the network with integration of the PV source. Considering a
three-phase fault in front of relay R2 at t=3.2 Sec lasting for 1.5
Sec. According to Fig. 8, relay R1 operates at t= 4.1343 Sec for
this fault when the original TSM is applied to the relay R1 while
it initiates a trip at t=4.1995 Sec for recalculated TSM. The same
happens for relay R2 for the same fault conditions. Relay R2
operates at t=3.2683 Sec and t=3.532 Sec for original and
recalculated TSMs respectively. Hence, using the recalculated
TSMs when the PV source does not generate the power brings
about longer fault clearing time. This would even worsen when
several DG units get involved in the power generation.

Fig. 7. Operation of conventional OC protection R5 during normal condition

with variable solar radiation

E. Recalculation of OC Relay Settings to Improve Operation

of OC Relays
To address the misoperation problem, the time and current
settings of OC relays should be recalculated to take the PV
source effect into account. An optimal method described in [14] Fig. 8. Operating time of Relay R1 with original and recalculated TSM
is used to obtain the new settings of OC relays. These settings
are given in Table IX. It should be noted that the maximum
power generation of PV source corresponding to the solar
radiation of 12 is considered for recalculation of OC
relay settings.

TABLE IX. NEW SETTINGS OF OC RELAYS

Current Current
Relay Relay
Setting TSM Setting TSM
Number Number
(kA) (kA)
1 0.68 0.3 5 0.8 0.11
2 0.72 0.05 6 0.76 0.18
3 0.66 0.2 7 0.65 0.05 Fig. 9. Operating time of Relay R2 with original and recalculated TSM
4 0.8 0.11 8 0.7 0.27
Application of these new settings solves the problem of PV The other issue that should be investigated is the
source integration, and thus none of the aforementioned cases coordination between OC relays. Without the PV source, relays
R2 and R7 are the last OC relays in the network and they do not

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need to be coordinated with other front OC relays; however, they
should be coordinated with their front OC relays (here R1 for R7
and R8 for R2) when the PV source is coming into service.
Fig. 10. Fault currents (upper diagram) and operating time (lower diagram)
of relays R1 and R7
From Table IX it seems that miscoordiantion would happen
because TSM of R7 as the backup relay is much less than relay
R1 as the main relay. The same would occur between relays R2
and R7 for the identical reason. To investigate this, a three-phase
fault in front of relay R1 at t=3.2 Sec is developed. The fault
remains for 1.5 Sec. The current flowing through relays R1 and
R7 are depicted in the upper diagram of Fig. 10. According to
this figure, the passing current through relay R1 is much higher
than the current through relay R7 which is expected because the
PV source as an inverter-based DG unit does not contribute
significantly to short circuit currents. As it can be seen, the
current passing through relay R7 drops dramatically during the
fault and after clearing the fault by relay R1, the current returns
to its normal level. The lower diagram of Fig. 10 indicates the
operating time of relays R1 and R7. Relay R1 operates at
t=3.8565 Sec and clears the fault whereas relay R7 does not even
get activated since the current being lower than the pick-up
current of the relay. It must be mentioned that this is true only
for inverter-based DG units and for DG units with synchronous
generators (e.g. diesel generators) the coordination would fail
completely.
IV. CONCLUSION
In this paper the impact of PV sources on the OC relays in
the MV distribution networks has been studied. The simulation
results showed that integration of PV sources can change the
magnitude and direction of flowing current and therefore
nuisance trip might occur. To address this problem, recalculation
of OC relay settings must be done in order to adjust the
protection system to the integration of the PV source. The new
settings solved the misoperation of and miscoordination
between OC relays in the presence of PV sources. However, new
settings decrease the sensitivity of the protection system due to
the application of higher settings for pick-up currents to the
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relays which is more problematic when the contribution of the
PV source is zero. In other words, when the contribution of the
PV source to power generation gets to zero, the higher pick-up
current of OC relays would result in longer fault clearing time.
The results show that resizing of OC protective devices in
general resolves the maloperation of these devices at the expense
of unnecessary increment in pick-up currents, and therefore
longer fault clearing time of OC equipment. Hence, other
solutions for this problem should be considered to avoid such
negative side effects.
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