Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Mitigation of fault related voltage swell on distribution feeders using DER-based advanced inverter controls

Conference · · 2022 IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting (PESGM)
 [1];  [2];  [2]
  1. Computer and Energy Engineering Arizona State University,School of Electrical,Tempe,USA; Arizona State University
  2. Computer and Energy Engineering Arizona State University,School of Electrical,Tempe,USA

Unbalanced faults in distribution feeders can impact voltages on the non-faulted phases. This paper models a real-life feeder with a high penetration level of solar photovoltaic (PV) units in detail including the secondary circuits, and shows a large voltage swell in one of the non-faulted phases of the feeder during a single line to ground fault. The voltages seen during this swell are more than 1.2 p.u., which can have detrimental impacts on the connected equipment and can also lead to loss of connected generation. The reason for this voltage swell is found to be the equivalent impedance at the fault location resulting from the ratio of zero and positive sequence cable impedances. It is seen that the connected solar PV units with appropriate control are able to reduce the severity of the voltage swell, especially for higher penetration levels of solar PV considered, but not entirely eliminate it.

Research Organization:
Arizona State University
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
Contributing Organization:
Arizona State University
DOE Contract Number:
EE0008773
OSTI ID:
1984744
Report Number(s):
DOE-ASU-8773-1
Journal Information:
2022 IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting (PESGM)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English