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A Study on Anti-Islanding Detection Algorithms for Grid-Tied Photovoltaic

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Conference Paper · May 2014

DOI: 10.1109/OPTIM.2014.6850940

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A Study on Anti-Islanding Detection Algorithms for
Grid-Tied Photovoltaic Systems
Ioan Viorel Banu, Marcel Istrate, Dragos Machidon, Razvan Pantelimon
“Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi, Romania
ibanu86@yahoo.com, mistrate@ee.tuiasi.ro, machidon.dragos@ee.tuiasi.ro, pantelimonrzvn@yahoo.com
Abstract-This study analyzes various anti-islanding (AI)
protection relays when the islanding condition of Grid-Tied PV
(photovoltaic) System appears at the Point of Common Coupling
(PCC) between the PV Solar Power System and the power grid.
The main purpose of the study is to determine the performance
of several AI prevention schemes in detecting the presence of an
island, by monitoring the detection time of the islanding
condition through different methods. The devices used to
implement the methods include over-current and under-current
(OI/UI) relays, over-voltage and under-voltage (OV/UV) relays,
over-frequency and under-frequency (OF/UF) relays, rate of
change of frequency (ROCOF) and Vector Shift relays. The
protection was tested in case of complete disconnection of the PV
system from the electric power grid and also in case of various
grid faults.
I. INTRODUCTION
For proper performance, the Grid-Tied Photovoltaic (PV)
Systems must be designed to take into account the behavior of
the electrical grid. Since the number of distributed energy
resources is increasing, their behavior needs to become more
interactive [1]. The islanding phenomenon can manifest itself
in a PV System when the grid power trips off and the PV
inverter continues to supply the electric power system (EPS)
to the local load during the utility outage [2, 3].
The design of PV inverters must take into account the grid
requirements, and the most technically challenging
requirement is definitely the anti-islanding (AI) one [3, 4].
Islanding for Grid-Tied PV Systems takes place when the PV
inverter does not disconnect immediately after the grid power
is tripped, i.e. it continues to operate with the local load. The
islanding should be quickly detected and the PV inverter
should immediately disconnect the power grid [3].
The islanding can be intentional or unintentional [2, 5, 6].
It is important to distinguish between controlled and
uncontrolled island operation. The controlled island operation
is a method to provide reliability of supply, when one or more
generators are equipped with their own control and protection
circuitry to guarantee safe operation. The uncontrolled island
operation is a serious problem that should be avoided
whenever possible. It occurs when one or more generators
supply power to one or more loads without galvanic isolation
from the rest of the power grid. It is also important to
distinguish between short-time island operation that causes
problems with autoreclosing and may result in dangerous
overvoltages, and long-time or sustained island operation that
is more of a concern to personnel security [7]. Islanding is
desired for example if distributed power generation systems
(DPGS) are present, and service to local customers should be
provided even without power grid connections. When
undesired islanding occurs, it poses a danger to grid
maintenance personnel. If unintentional islanding appears
when DPGS supplies power to a portion of the grid through
the Point of Common Coupling (PCC), DPGS must detect the
islanding conditions and stop feeding the power line in
maximum two seconds (s) after the condition occurs [2, 8].
This rule must apply to all DPGS including Grid-Tied PV
Systems [9]. Interconnection standards for PV Power Plants
(PVPP) with electrical networks require that effective AI
methods are incorporated into the operation of PV inverters
[8, 9].
From the point of view of an inverter-resident detection [3,
6, 10], the islanding detection methods can be divided into
passive methods [11] that are based on monitoring grid
parameters that typically change during islanding (amplitude,
frequency, phase or harmonics of the voltage) and active
methods [12] based on small perturbations in the PCC to
produce a change of the power system parameters (frequency,
phase, harmonics, P, Q) which can be detected by one of the
passive AI methods [3]. More innovative methods for
islanding detection were reported recently, mostly in the
domain of active methods based on voltage and frequency
drift, on grid impedance estimation or on phase-locked loop
(PLL) [3].
This paper presents a Matlab/Simulink 2012b study on
islanding detection algorithms for a 100kW Grid-Connected
PV Array. The main focus is on the islanding phenomenon
that occurs at the PCC between Grid-Tied PV System and the
rest of the EPS during various grid fault conditions. The Grid-
Tied PV System is simulated under the conditions of
islanding, and AI relay reaction times are measured through
the simulation. Results are presented for Grid-Tied PV
System equipped with various AI prevention schemes such as
over-current and under-current (OI/UI), over-voltage and
under-voltage (OV/UV), over-frequency and under-frequency
(OF/UF), rate of change of frequency (ROCOF) and Vector
Shift. These scenarios are used in order to evaluate and
determine the performance of the AI detection methods and
select the most appropriate AI detection algorithm and its
corresponding settings for Grid-Tied PV Systems.
The paper has four sections as following. The first section
presents general details about islanding of DPGS, and in
particular for PV Solar Power Systems. In the second section,
the Simulink model of the Grid-Tied PV Systems is
described. The third section presents and discusses the
simulation results of the model of the Grid-Connected PV
array, concentrating on the status of the relays and the
detection time of islanding conditions. Finally, the last section
of the paper presents the main conclusions drawn from this
study.
II. SIMULINK MODEL OF GRID-TIED PV SYSTEM
The model used in the simulation is depicted in Fig. 1 and
was developed starting from [13]. This detailed model
represents a 100kW PV Array connected to a 20kV utility
grid via a dc-dc boost converter and a three-phase three-level
Voltage Source Converter (VSC). Maximum Power Point
Tracking (MPPT) is implemented in the boost converter, as in
[14], using a MPPT variant subsystem that provides
implementations of either perturb and observe (P&O) or
incremental conductance algorithms.
The model contains the following elements: the PV solar
array that delivers a maximum power of 100kW at 1000W/m2
sun irradiance and 25°C solar cell temperature; the 5kHz dc-
dc boost converter that increasing dc voltage from 272V (PV
natural voltage at maximum power) to 500V; the MPPT
controller is implemented using a variant subsystem DC-DC
MPPT Boost Controls that automatically varies and optimizes
the switching duty cycle in order to generate the required
voltage to extract maximum power using the Stateflow
implementations of P&O and incremental conductance
algorithms described in [14]; a 2kHz three-level three-phase
VSC shown in Fig. 2 converts the 500Vdc to 260Vac and
keeps unity power factor; a VSC filter that contains the 25µH
inductor L and the 10kVAr capacitor bank C filtering
harmonics produced by VSC; a 100kVA 260V/20kV three-
phase coupling transformer; and a standard utility grid model
(20kV distribution feeder and 110kV equivalent transmission
systems), shown in Fig. 3. The utility frequency is 50Hz.
The model of PV solar array uses 330 SunPower modules
and consists in 66 strings of 5 series-connected modules
connected in parallel. Manufacturer specifications for one
module measured under standard test conditions (STC) of
1000W/m2 solar irradiance, 25°C PV module temperature, air
mass equal to 1.5, and ASTM G173-03 standard spectrum of
solar radiation are given in Table I [13]. Module
characteristics are extracted from NREL System Advisor
Model (https://sam.nrel.gov/). At 25°C the PV solar array
provides a maximum power of 100.7kW and 273.5V at
1000W/m2 and at 250W/m2 provides 22.6kW and 252.4V.
Fig. 1. Simulink model of the 100kW Grid-Connected PV Array.
TABLE I
PV SOLAR MODULES SPECIFICATIONS FOR STC
No. NREL: 2007(E) SunPower SPR-305-WHT
Crt. Parameter Value
Number of cells in series per module, nCells 96
1
2 Maximum power, Pmp 305.2 W
3 Open circuit voltage, Voc 64.2 V
4 Short circuit current, Isc 5.96 A
5 Voltage at maximum power point, Vmp 54.7 V
6 Current at maximum power point, Imp 5.58 A
7 Temperature coefficient of Pmp, TempC_Pmp −1.154 W/°C
8 Temperature coefficient of Voc, TempC_Voc −0.177 V/°C
9 Temperature coefficient of Isc, TempC_Isc 0.003516 A/°C
10 Temperature coefficient of Vmp, TempC_Vmp −0.186 V/°C
11 Temperature coefficient of Imp, TempC_Imp −0.00212 A/°C
12 Series resistance of PV model, Rs 0.038 Ω
13 Parallel resistance of PV model, Rp 993.5 Ω
14 Diode saturation current of PV model, Isat 0.0319 µA
Light-generated photo-current of PV model, Iph 5.9602 A
15
Diode quality factor of PV model, Qd 1.3
16
The three-level VSC converter (blue blocks from Fig. 1)
whose Simulink implementation is depicted in Fig. 2 [13]
regulates dc bus voltage at 500V and keeps unity power
factor. The control system uses two control loops: an external
control loop which regulates dc link voltage to +/−250V (is it
about the voltage control of the two dc split capacitors C1 and
C2) and an internal control loop which regulates Id and Iq grid
currents (active and reactive current components). Id current
reference is the output of the dc voltage external controller. Iq
current reference is set to zero in order to maintain unity
power factor. Vd and Vq voltage outputs of the current
controller are converted to three modulating signals Uref_abc
used by the pulse-width modulation (PWM) three-level pulse
generator. The control system uses a sample time of 100μs for
voltage and current controllers as well as for the PLL
synchronization unit. Pulse generators of dc-dc boost and
VSC converters use a fast sample time of 1μs in order to get
an appropriate resolution of PWM waveforms [13].
Fig. 2. Simulink model of VSC main controller.
The Simulink utility grid model is depicted in Fig. 3 [13].
Fig. 3. Simulink model of the 20kV utility grid.
 The islanding condition occurs in the studied network when
the three-phase circuit breaker CB2 on the 110kV side of
utility grid is in open position; that disconnects the utility grid
from the rest of the EPS; if that happens, the locally generated
power is less than the connected local loads need. The
islanding can also be present when a grid fault appears at 5km
away of PCC of the PV System.
The AI protection schemes are presented below. Detailed
description of AI detection relays and their setting are shown
in Fig. 4 – 8. The detection times of different AI protection
relays are compared. The trip signals of these relays are not
connected to the circuit breaker on the 20kV side of PCC of
PV System. The low voltage ride through (LVRT), or fault
ride through (FRT) capability of Grid-Connected PV Systems
will be discussed in a future study.
The Simulink implementation of over/under current,
over/under voltage and over/under frequency protection
schemes are depicted in Fig. 4 – 6. The OI/UI, OV/UV, and
OF/UF relays operate on the same principle by monitoring
some parameters (the three-phase voltage, three-phase current
or the system frequency) and compare them with some preset
thresholds that represent the settings of the relays.
Fig. 4. Simulink model of over/ under current protection.
Fig. 5. Simulink model of the over/ under voltage protection.
Fig. 6. Simulink model of the over/ under frequency protection.
The Simulink implementation of ROCOF protection is
depicted in Fig. 7. The ROCOF relay monitors the frequency
(to calculate the rate of change of frequency that is compared
with the ROCOF threshold) and terminal voltage Vt (pu) of
the PV inverter (that is compared to a set threshold). If both
conditions are satisfied the relay is activated. The PCC
voltage threshold of ROCOF relay is chosen as in [15]. The
frequency is estimated by means of the PLL.
Fig. 7. Simulink model of the ROCOF protection.
The Simulink model of vector shift protection is shown in
Fig. 8. The vector shift relay monitors the three-phase voltage
Vabc and terminal voltage Vt (pu) of the PV inverter, that is
compared to a set threshold. The three-phase waveform is
monitored and is count every complete cycle by detecting the
rising edge of the wave. Then the model computes the
duration of each period by dividing the cycle time by the
number of completed periods and then compares this value to
determine if it fails outside the threshold limits. When these
conditions are met the relay is activated [15].
Fig. 8. Simulink model of the vector shift protection.
III. SIMULATION RESULTS
The 100kW Grid-Connected PV Array from Fig. 1 was
simulated during 4s at 25°C and 1000W/m2 irradiance level
using an incremental conductance algorithm for MPPT
Control. The results under the conditions of islanding given
by the chosen test cases are presented below. Dynamic
simulation cases involved opening of the three-phase breaker
on the 110kV grid side (CB2) that led to an islanding
condition, and also different other faults that can occur in the
utility grid. The detailed simulation results are presented only
for the test case 1, whereas the full theoretical simulation
results concerning detection time of protection methods for
both cases are summarized in Table II.
A. Test Case 1: Three-Phase Breaker in Open Position
An islanding condition is simulated when the three-phase
breaker CB2 is opened at time (t) = 0.1s and is closed at time
(t) = 0.25s. Considering the connected load at the utility grid
as shown in Fig. 3, the local generated power is less than what
the local connected load needs in this scenario.
The active power, the voltage, and the duty cycle of MPPT
controller obtained in dc-dc boost converter are shown in Fig.
9. Fig. 10 depicts the reference and the measured dc link
voltages of VSC represented by blue and respectively
magenta lines. In practice, the dc OV protection will trip the
inverter when dc voltage exceeds a threshold, probably
around 900V. When the inverter is no longer able to control
the dc voltage, the boost converter should limit the output dc
voltage to a certain safe limit. Fig. 11 and Fig. 12 contain
plots of the Id and Iq currents in (pu) of VSC Control and
respectively of the voltage between phases A and B of VSC
converter, Vab.
Fig. 9. Output results of boost converter.
Fig. 10. The output result of dc link voltage (V DC) in VSC
Fig. 11. Id and Iq currents (pu) of VSC Control.
Fig. 12. The Voltage between phase A and phase B of VSC.
In Fig. 13 – 15, the line-to-line voltages and currents, the
active power, and the RMS values of voltages and currents
that are obtained in PCC (the 20kV measurements point, B20)
are shown. The frequency and the rate of change of frequency
df/dt (ROCOF) are depicted in Fig. 16.
A print screen with status of the relays and detection times
of AI relays obtained in this scenario is presented in Fig. 17.
The AI relays have two displays, one that indicates the status
of the relay (1 for trip status) and another one showing the trip
time of the relay (detection time for abnormal operating
conditions or for conditions meant to activate the relay).
During each simulation, the relays are activated only once.
Fig. 17 shows that multiple trips of various relays were
expected since the results obtained for this islanding case
contained perturbations of the voltages, currents, and
frequency of the power grid.
Fig. 13. Simulation result in 20kV measurement point of utility grid.
Fig. 14. The RMS value of voltage in PCC.

Fig. 15. The RMS value of current in PCC.
Fig. 16. The output result of frequency in PCC.
A graphical representation of AI relay detection time for
test case 1 in all considered scenarios is shown in Fig. 18.
Comparing the performance of AI relays by detection time,
the UV relay was the faster. The relays with the longest
detection time were ROCOF and Vector Shift ones. However,
if the local connected load is larger than the local generated
power (scenario with the smallest detection time) the
detection time of ROCOF and Vector Shift relays are
comparable with the detection time of UF relay (which is
activated only in that scenario). The UC and OV relays failed
entirely to detect the islanding condition in this case study.
Fig. 17. Relay status and trip time of anti-islanding protection device (ms).
Fig. 18. Anti-islanding relays detection time in case study 1 (CB2 open).
B. Test Case 2: Fault That Occurs in the Power Grid
A number of different grid fault scenarios (single-phase-to-
ground, phase-to-phase, phase-to-phase-to-ground, three-
phase and three-phase-to-ground faults) lasting for 150ms
were simulated at 5km away from the PCC of Grid-Tied PV
System at simulation time (t) = 0.1s on the 20kV utility grid
from Fig. 3. In order to compare the detection times of
different AI protection schemes, the breakers were not
tripped. The resulting detection times of AI protection
techniques for these scenarios are centralized in Table II.
Fig. 19 plots the comparison of detection times of AI relays
in test case 2 if different faults occur in the utility grid. It can
be seen that OC and the UV relays have the best performance
as noted in the first case study. It can also be observed that in
phase-to-phase-to-ground fault and three-phase-to-ground
fault scenarios, islanding is detected very late by Vector Shift
and respectively OV relays. The UC and the OF relays failed
to detect the islanding conditions altogether.
Table II shows the theoretical simulation results for the
considered AI detection methods: status of the relays and the
island detection time (s) of relay protection. It also shows the
results of monitoring of the utility grid for both cases: in the
test case 1, when the breaker CB2 is in open position, for
scenarios were the local generation is greater, less, or matches
closely the locally connected load; and in the test case 2 for
scenarios modeling different faults of the utility grid. The UC
relay did not satisfy the conditions to sense an abnormal
operating situation in neither of these cases. The OF relay is
activated only in case study 1 when local load is less than
local generation or local load matches with local generation.
The OV relay is activated only in case study 2. Immediately
after islanding or three-phase grid faults voltage decreases,
current increases and frequency shifts.
Fig. 19. AI relays detection time in case study 2 (different grid faults).
 TABLE II
DETECTION TIME (S) OF ANTI-ISLANDING PROTECTION DEVICES
Type of Anti-Islanding Detection Method
Test
Scenario OC OV UV OF UF ROCOF Vector Shift
Case
ST* DT**(s) ST DT (s) ST DT (s) ST DT ST DT (s) ST DT (s) ST DT (s)
local load greater than local
1 0.0103 0 – 1 0.0064 0 – 1 0.0536 1 0.0635 1 0.0635
generation
1.
local load less than local
CB2 1 0.0126 0 – 1 0.0089 1 0.0623 0 – 1 0.1503 1 0.1503
generation
open
local load matches closely with
1 0.0123 0 – 1 0.0085 1 0.0632 0 – 1 0.1503 1 0.1503
local generation
single-phase-to-ground fault 1 0.0027 1 0.0081 1 0.0068 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 –
2. phase-to-phase fault 1 0.0093 0 – 1 0.0045 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 –
Grid phase-to-phase-to-ground fault 1 0.0023 1 0.005 1 0.0039 0 – 0 – 0 – 1 0.1679
fault three-phase fault 1 0.0066 0 – 1 0.0041 0 – 1 0.0734 1 0.0588 1 0.0614
three-phase-to-ground fault 1 0.0066 1 0.1728 1 0.0041 0 – 1 0.0734 1 0.0588 1 0.0614
* Status of the relay;
** Detection time (s) of anti-islanding condition.

Long detection times for ROCOF and Vector Shift relays
are obtained due to a set threshold (Fig. 7 and Fig. 8) that
must be exceeded by the terminal voltage Vt of PV inverter.
In absence of this condition, the optimal value for ROCOF
threshold limit that is exceeded after islanding or when the
grid faults occurs is 12Hz/s, as can be seen in Fig. 16.
Another solution for AI detection can be implemented by
monitoring the dc link voltage, whose value grows
significantly (Fig. 10).
IV. CONCLUSIONS
This paper studies and compares different AI detection
techniques such as passive AI prevention by standard
protection schemes: OI/UI, OV/UV, OF/UF, as well as
ROCOF and Vector Shift in case of a 100kW Grid-Connected
PV Array. The PV System is completely disconnected from
EPS and continues to energize a 20kV utility grid at 50Hz,
and respectively various grid faults occurs at 5km away from
the PCC of the PV System. The effectiveness of different AI
detection algorithms is tested and the impact on network fault
conditions and relays behavior during islanding is studied.
From the results provided by the performed Matlab/
Simulink simulations, it was observed that using traditional
relays for islanding detection such as the OC or UV resulted
in significantly better performance in respect to detection time
of islanding conditions. The ROCOF and Vector Shift relays
have a detection time comparable with frequency relays.
However, if the ROCOF threshold is exceeded, the formation
of an island is quickly detected. The terminal voltage of PV
inverter needs to exceed a certain threshold when the
frequency is not stabilized by VSC. The UC relay failed
entirely to detect the islanding in both analyzed cases.
The effects of unintentional islanding were observed from
simulation of transient grid faults on a power distribution
network. The protection equipment needs to distinguish
between islanding event and grid faults. The Grid-Tied PV
System protections should detect the fault and trip before
islanding occurs as a result of the opening of the circuit
breaker in response to a downstream fault. In order to
minimize these effects and to perform according to the
international standards, the AI relays have to be inserted at
the points where islanding conditions may occur. The
theoretical simulation results are useful to select these points
and design the AI protection devices for Grid-Tied PV
Systems.
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