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PEA Guidelines for Impact Study and Operation

of DG for Islanding Operation
Pradit Fuangfoo, Member, IEEE, Thongchai Meenual, Wei-Jen Lee, Fellow, IEEE, and
Chow Chompoo-inwai, Student Member, IEEE

AbstractIntentional islanding operation of distributed generation (DG) can increase system reliability and reduce customer
outage costs. Guidelines for the impact study and operation of
DG for islanding operation should be implemented. The Provincial
Electricity Authority (PEA) plays more attention to intentional
islanding operation. To perform islanding operation, PEA has
established islanding operation and impact study guidelines for
DG. This paper presents the development of these guidelines.
A case study was conducted to demonstrate the results of both
steady-state and dynamic analyses. Operational issues are also
taken into account in this paper.
Index TermsDistributed generation (DG), dynamic performance, guidelines, impact study.

I. I NTRODUCTION

URRENTLY, industrial customers highly require continuous electricity supply and high power quality. In addition,
distributed generation (DG) has more advantages than a large
conventional generation unit in some aspects [1][3]. Many
studies of DG impacts on power and protection systems are
aimed at increasing the reliability of power systems [4][8]. In
the case that a main power system is interrupted, an islanding
operation of DG is taken into account.
The islanding operation of DG can occur when maintenance
and scheduled interruptions are necessary. In addition, it can
occur when unplanned interruptions happen. In these situations,
protective devices separate faulted parts from the main power
system. In a radial power system, electricity is not supplied
to the separated parts. To supply some of the separated parts
where DG is available, islanding operation of DG should be
performed. In this case, the reliability of the power system is
Paper ICPSD-07-10, presented at the 2007 IEEE/IAS Industrial and
Commercial Power Systems Technical Conference, Edmonton, AB, Canada,
May 611, and approved for publication in the IEEE T RANSACTIONS ON
I NDUSTRY A PPLICATIONS by the Energy Systems Committee of the IEEE
Industry Applications Society. Manuscript submitted for review June 15, 2007
and released for publication January 27, 2008. Current version published
September 19, 2008.
P. Fuangfoo and T. Meenual are with the Provincial Electricity Authority, Bangkok 10900, Thailand (e-mail: pradit.fu@pea.co.th; thongchai.
mee@pea.co.th).
W.-J. Lee is with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Energy
Systems Research Center, The University of Texas, Arlington, TX 76019 USA
(e-mail: wlee@uta.edu).
C. Chompoo-inwai is with the Faculty of Engineering, Department of
Electrical Engineering, King Mongkuts Institute of Technology Ladkrabang,
Bangkok 10520, Thailand, and also with the School of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY 13699-5720 USA (e-mail:
kcchow@kmitl.ac.th).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIA.2008.2002209

improved, and outage costs, depending on repair time and load

type, are decreased. Repair time can be decreased by applying
the islanding operation.
An impact study of islanding operation should be conducted
before performing the islanding operation. During forming the
islanding operation, the islanding system should be stable, and
there should be no power quality problem. In forming the
islanding operation, two critical factors are considered:
1) safety for both operators and installed equipment, including DG;
2) coordination of the control and protective systems.
This paper starts with Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA)
guidelines for islanding operation and impact study, followed
by a case study, and, finally, the conclusion.
II. PEA G UIDELINES FOR I SLANDING O PERATION
AND I MPACT S TUDY
The PEA is responsible for supplying electricity to almost all
customers in 73 provinces, accounting for 99% of the territory
areas of the Kingdom of Thailand. The PEA peak load in
2007 was 13670 MW. PEA has invested hundred millions
of U.S. dollars in several reliability improvement programs.
The islanding operation of DG is considered as a choice of
reliability improvement programs.
DG connected to the PEA power system is continuously
increasing. Some of them can supply customers in an islanding
operation. In an islanding operation, the reliability of a power
system is improved, and both PEA and DG owners continuously gain revenues. From a customers perspective, the outage
cost is reduced.
The impact study is divided into three parts: 1) forming of
islanding; 2) operation during islanding; and 3) resynchronization. Islanding detection is outside the scope of this paper.
A. Forming of Islanding
A study on the forming of islanding is related to the changing
of a state of power system from a grid-connected system to an
islanding system. In the islanding system, DG has to supply
both real and reactive power to loads. If DG cannot supply to all
loads, a load-shedding scheme has to be applied. The forming
of islanding is classified into two types according to causes:
1) fault and 2) maintenance.
1) Islanding caused by faults refers to the disconnection of
a part of the power system from the main grid when
faults occur. In this case, the forming of islanding is

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FUANGFOO et al.: PEA GUIDELINES FOR IMPACT STUDY AND OPERATION OF DG FOR ISLANDING OPERATION

difficult because DG may be disconnected from the main

grid in a short period [7], [8]. The disconnection results
from frequency deviation, which is higher than the setting
values of generator protective devices. A high-frequency
deviation is caused by a large distinction between the
capacity of DG and the total load. If the capacity of DG
is close to the total load, islanding can be easily formed.
In practice, this case is uncommon. If the islanding is
not formed, there will be no electrical power supply to
the islanding system. Consequently, the reliability of the
power system becomes worse. Reliability is improved
by forming islanding as follows: 1) disconnecting DG
and the faulted part from the main grid; 2) disconnecting
loads from the islanding system; 3) connecting DG to the
islanding system; and 4) connecting loads to the islanding
system. Large loads should firstly be connected to the
islanding system to avoid instability of DG. Although this
approach still causes interruption, the total interruption
time is considerably reduced. To form islanding by using
this approach, the study and preparation should be carried
out in advance.
2) Islanding caused by maintenance refers to the disconnection of a part of the power system from the main grid
for the purpose of maintenance. Before disconnecting,
the remaining loads have to be less than and close to the
capacity of DG; otherwise, frequency deviation will be
high and then cause an operation of generator protective
devices.
B. Operation During Islanding
A study on operation during islanding is related to DG
performance in an islanding condition. Since the performance
of synchronous generators is dependent on their governor and
exciter control, the performance of DG is examined in the
following aspects.
1) Load Following: Because of continuous changes in
loads, the maximum load deviation has to be investigated. If
the DG cannot serve the maximum load deviation, the islanding
operation should not be allowed. The maximum frequency and
voltage deviations have to be investigated to adjust the proper
protection setting. The total operation time of protective devices
should not be very long; otherwise, DG and other electrical
equipment could be damaged.
2) Large Load Rejection or Large Motor Starting: When
the large loads are disconnected from the islanding system,
or when the large motors are started, frequency and voltage
deviations are high. In this condition, the value of protective
devices is set up to prevent a very fast response.
3) Fault: When faults occur during islanding, faults should
be eliminated before the power system is unstable. An islanding
system is normally a weak system. The frequency and voltage
protections should be carefully set up when frequency and
voltage deviations are high during a short period. The setting up
of protective devices should be completed before going back to
the normal operation.
4) Voltage Regulation: During an islanding operation, DG
has to regulate the voltage at 5% of the nominal voltage in a

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normal case or at 10% of the nominal voltage in an emergency

case. Generally, a synchronous generator does not have any
voltage regulation problems.
5) Power Quality: In this paper, power quality is restricted
to harmonics and voltage unbalance. Generally, the islanding
system has more power quality problems than a grid-connected
system. The total harmonic distortion (THD) in the islanding
system is higher than in a grid-connected system. Voltage
unbalance in the islanding system might be worse than in a gridconnected system.
C. Resynchronization
Resynchronization refers to the reconnection of the loads
of the islanding system to the main grid. Traditionally, resynchronization is locally performed at the DG bus. DG is
disconnected from the islanding system before the islanding
system is connected to the main grid. During resynchronization,
loads in the islanding system are de-energized for a while. The
traditional resynchronization cannot improve system reliability
if loads depend only on the number, and not on the duration, of
interruption.
To mitigate the limitation of traditional resynchronization,
the remote resynchronization of DG at the substation can
accomplish this problem.
PEA has performed impact studies on intentional islanding operation, including both dynamic and steady-state impact studies. The dynamic impact study includes four aspects:
1) forming of islanding; 2) load following; 3) large load rejection; and 4) faults. The stead-state impact study includes two
aspects: 1) voltage regulation and 2) power quality.
III. C ASE S TUDY
As shown in Fig. 1, DG (22.5 MW synchronous generator
with exciter and governor control) connected to the 115-kV
subtransmission system between the Bangmoolnak and
Taphanhin substations is used as the test system. The total
maximum load at the Taphanhin substation is 15.4 MW and
5.9 Mvar. The islanding system is formed by opening the circuit
breaker at the Bangmoolnak substation. In this case, DG can
fully support all loads at the Taphanhin substation during the
islanding operation without the voltage regulation problem.
A. Dynamic Impact Study Result
The study in [7] and [8] illustrated the forming of islanding.
In this paper, a study on dynamic impact was carried out, focusing on load following, load rejection, and faults. In studying
the dynamic impact, load data are required to be recorded in a
very short period, e.g., 510 s. Actual load data are recorded
every half hour at the Taphanhin substation, as shown in Fig. 2.
Based on recorded load data within 2 mo during 5:30 P. M .
and 6:00 P. M ., the load deviation is calculated to study the
dynamic performance of DG. The maximum load deviation
(PLoad (max)) is 2.58 MW. Load following is modeled as
shown in Fig. 3. Load following is represented by load changing
every 10 s. In the first 10 s, the load deviation is 1.29 MW.

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Fig. 1. Test system.

Fig. 2. Daily load curve at the Taphanhin substation.

Fig. 3. Load-following modeling.

In the next 10 s, the load deviation gradually increases up to

1.29 MW; after that, the load deviation gradually reduces down
to 1.29 MW. Dynamic simulation results by using the ETAP
version 5.03Z are shown in Fig. 4. The frequency deviation is
lower than 1.4%, or 0.7 Hz. This indicates that DG can follow
changes in loads.

Load rejection is represented by disconnecting large loads

of feeder F5 (3 MVA). The maximum frequency deviation is
2.3%, or 1.15 Hz, as shown in Fig. 5. The frequency deviation
is higher than 1 Hz at about 1 s. To prevent the operation of
protective devices from damaging DG and the electrical equipment in the power system, the setting value of the protective
devices should be revised accordingly. Large motor starting
is not shown in this paper since the largest existing motor is
less than 500 kW and does not cause any significant dynamic
problem.
When faults occur during the islanding operation, protective
devices have to eliminate faults before stability is lost. In general, a weak system, particularly the islanding system, normally
has to clear faults as soon as possible, which is less than the
critical clearing time (CCT). In this paper, a protection scheme
and protection coordination of the grid-connected system are

FUANGFOO et al.: PEA GUIDELINES FOR IMPACT STUDY AND OPERATION OF DG FOR ISLANDING OPERATION

Fig. 4.

Frequency deviation during load following.

Fig. 5.

Frequency deviation during load rejection.

Fig. 6.

Frequency deviation during three-phase faults at the Taphanhin 115-kV bus for five cycles.

Fig. 7.

Bus voltage during a three-phase fault at the Taphanhin 115-kV bus for five cycles.

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B. Steady-State Impact Study Result

applied to the islanding system. However, the transfer trip
scheme is disabled. Figs. 6 and 7 show the frequency deviation
and the bus voltage. It can be implied that a main system remain
stable after faults occurred at the Taphanhin bus (115 kV) for
five cycles. In addition, frequency and voltage deviations are in
the acceptable range.

A study on steady-state impact has not been widely conducted. If the results of the dynamic impact study are acceptable, the islanding system is likely to be formed. In fact, power
quality during the islanding system should be in accordance
with standards [9]. In this paper, the current source of a large
variable-speed drive (VSD) at feeders F1 and F5, based on

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 44, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2008

Fig. 8. Harmonics spectrum of a large VSD.

TABLE I
VOLTAGE D ISTORTION FOR THE G RID -C ONNECTED S YSTEM
AND THE I SLANDING S YSTEM

the actual load of F1 (i.e., 2.47 MVA) and F5 (i.e., 3 MVA),

is modeled. Each VSD has its spectrum, as shown in Fig. 8.
As shown in Table I, voltage distortion, individual harmonics
distortion (IHD), and THD of a grid-connected system are
much lower than those of the islanding system. Such voltage
distortion is lower than the PEA standard [9]. In contrast, if
the THD of the grid-connected system is close to the standard
value, THD is likely to be higher than the standard value in
the islanding system. Moreover, changing of system parameters
might lead to the resonance phenomena.
If a power system has unbalance problems, the problems may
worsen after forming islanding. In this study, unbalance loads
are connected to F1 and F5, as shown in Table II. Results show
that all phase voltages of the grid-connected system are about
those of the islanding system. It means that the test system has
no problem related to the unbalance loads.
To implement the steady-state impact study, actual voltage
unbalance and harmonics flow should be recorded and applied.
IV. C ONCLUSION
This paper has shown guidelines for operation and impact
study of DG for islanding operation based on PEA practices.
The impact study should include both a dynamic impact study

TABLE II
U NBALANCE S ITUATION D URING THE G RID -C ONNECTED S YSTEM
AND THE I SLANDING S YSTEM

and a steady-state impact study. The results of the dynamic

impact study show that DG can follow changes in loads, that the
islanding system remains stable, and that voltage and frequency
deviations are in accordance with a given standard. The results
of the steady-state impact study show that voltage regulation
is maintained. Moreover, the power quality of the islanding
system is in the suitable operating range.
R EFERENCES
[1] W. El-Khattam and M. M. A. Slaman, Distributed generation technologies, definitions and benefits, Elect. Power Syst. Res., vol. 71, no. 2,
pp. 119128, Oct. 2004.
[2] D. W. Murray, Distributed resource electric power systems offer significant advantages over central station generation and T&D power
systemsPart I, in Proc. IEEE Power Eng. Soc. Transmiss. Distrib. Conf.,
Jul. 2125, 2002, vol. 1, pp. 5461.
[3] D. W. Murray, Distributed resource electric power systems offer significant advantages over central station generation and T&D power
systemsPart II, in Proc. IEEE Power Eng. Soc. Transmiss. Distrib.
Conf., Jul. 2125, 2002, vol. 1, pp. 6269.
[4] F. Pilo, G. Celli, and S. Mocci, Improvement of reliability in active networks with intentional islanding, in Proc. DRPT, Apr. 58, 2004, vol. 2,
pp. 474479.
[5] H. Zeineldin, E. F. El-Saadany, and M. M. A. Salama, Intentional islanding of distributed generation, in Proc. IEEE Power Eng. Soc. Gen.
Meeting, Jun. 1216, 2005, pp. 14961502.
[6] K. A. Nigim and Y. G. Hegazy, Intention islanding of distributed generation for reliability enhancement, in Proc. IEEE Power Eng. Soc. Gen.
Meeting, Jul. 2003, vol. 4, pp. 24462451.
[7] P. Fuangfoo, Impact study of distributed generation on the Thailands
electric power system, Univ. Texas, Arlington, TX, 2006.
[8] P. Fuangfoo, L. Wei-Jen, and K. Ming-Tse, Impact study on intentional
islanding of distributed generation connected to radial subtransmission
system in Thailands electric power system, in Conf. Rec. IEEE 41st IAS
Annu. Meeting, Oct. 2006, vol. 3, pp. 11401147.
[9] Harmonics regulation for industrial and commercial customers, Provincial Electricity Authority, Bangkok, Thailand, PRC-PQG-01/1998, 1998.

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Pradit Fuangfoo (S01M07) received the B.E. degree from Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand,
in 1994, the M.E. degree from Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, in 1997, and the Ph.D. degree from
the University of Texas, Arlington, in 2006, all in
electrical engineering.
Since 1990, he has been with the Provincial
Electricity Authority, Bangkok, where he is currently working for the Research Division, Power
System Research and Development Department. His
research interests are electric power system analysis,
distributed generation, power system reliability, power distribution planning,
microgrid systems, power quality, transient stability, and transient analysis.

Wei-Jen Lee (S85M85SM97F07) received

the B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering
from National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan,
R.O.C., in 1978 and 1980, respectively, and the Ph.D.
degree in electrical engineering from the University
of Texas, Arlington, in 1985.
Since 1985, he has been with the University of
Texas, where he is currently a Professor with the
Department of Electrical Engineering and the Director of the Energy Systems Research Center. He has
been involved in research on power flow, transient
and dynamic stability, voltage stability, short circuits, relay coordination, power
quality analysis, renewable energy, and deregulation for utility companies.
Prof. Lee is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Texas.

Thongchai Meenual received the B.E. degree in

electrical engineering from Kasetsart University,
Bangkok, Thailand, in 1994, and the M.E. degree in
electrical engineering from Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, in 1997.
Since 1990, he has been with the Provincial Electricity Authority, Bangkok, where he is working for
the Project Planning Division, Power System Planning Department. His research interests are electric power system analysis, distributed generation,
power system reliability, power distribution planning, project planning, strengthening organizational capabilities, and organizational learning.

Chow Chompoo-inwai (S01) received the B.S.

and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from the
King Mongkuts Institute Technology Ladkrabang
(KMITL), Bangkok, Thailand, in 1995 and 1997, respectively. He is currently working toward the Ph.D.
degree in the School of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY.
Since 1998, he has been a Faculty Member of
KMITL. His major interests include high-voltage
engineering and protective relaying, electric power
system analysis, and illumination engineering. He
is the author of more than ten papers published in international conference
proceedings, including those of the IEEE.