Distance Protection of lines connected to Doubly
Fed Induction Generator based wind farms
Vaishnavi Phadke, Swarada Pathradkar, Akshata Rajput
B.Tech.,Electrical Engineering Department
College of Engineering Pune
Pune, India 411005.
Email: phadkeva12.elec@coep.ac.in
Abstract—Penetration of wind farms in High Voltage trans-
mission lines is increasing day by day. Hence the necessity for
protection of lines connected to the wind farms is also increasing.
This paper proposes protection scheme for the transmission lines
connected to Doubly Fed Induction Generator based wind farm.
Generally, distance protection scheme is applied to the trans-
mission line protection. The Doubly Fed Induction Generator is
represented as Norton equivalent model. Owing to the variations
in the frequency of voltages and currents on occurrence of fault
on the transmission line, the impedance as seen by the relay is
incorrect. Issues related to such mal operation of the Doubly
Fed Induction Generator during various fault conditions are
analyzed and a solution is proposed. The proposed scheme gives
modifications in conventional pilot protection scheme and it is
validated using PSCAD/EMTDC simulation. Encouraging results
have been obtained with the new proposed scheme.
Index Terms—Doubly fed Induction Generator (DFIG); Wind
Farm (WF); distance relay; pilot protection; Nortan Equivalent of
DFIG; Wind Power Plant(WPP).
I. I NTRODUCTION
W ITH the amount of fossil fuels depleting day by
day, it is necessary to focus on harnessing energy
by renewable sources. Wind power is extracted from air
flow using wind turbines to produce electrical power. As of
31 March 2016, according to Ministry of Non Renewable
Energy, the connected capacity of wind power in India was
26,743 MW. A challenge faced by power system developers
and implementers, is the grid integration of large amounts of
wind power [1]. To limit the impacts of large Wind Power
Plants (WPP) on system stability, reliable relay algorithms
are essential. These algorithms are essential for complete
protection of transmission line along with WPP [2].
The conventional distance protection schemes, for type III
(Wind Turbine Generator) WTG, i.e., DFIG based WPPs face
various challenges [3],[4]. The voltage sag during starting
caused due to high starting current and high induced voltages
or currents in the rotor circuit might damage it [1]. Also,
various faults in the power system, which are far away from
the location of the turbine, can also cause a voltage dip at the
connection point of the wind turbine. Then the relay may issue
a trip signal which is not in its primary zone of protection.
This work has been supported by Center of Excellence in Smart Renewable
Energy Systems (CoE - SRES), Technical Education Quality Improvement
Programme - II (TEQIP - II) at COE, Pune, India
978-1-4673-6680-4/16/$31.00 2016
c IEEE
Snehal Unde, Sanjay Dambhare
Electrical Engineering Department
College of Engineering Pune
Pune, India 411005.
Email: svu.elec@coep.ac.in
Another issue can be high presence of harmonics. Nowadays,
WPPs are expected to stay connected to the system and
contribute to system stability even on occurrence of fault [5].
Also, undesired operation of distance protection will occur
as the distance relay will react improperly and sense faults at
zones other than the desired ones. Addtionally, the selectivity
of the distance relays will be disturbed as incorrect relays
will react while those related to the corresponding zone will
not issue a trip signal.
An efficient protection scheme should be designed for
ensuring proper connection with the grid so that the system
remains stable. Hence, we have developed an algorithm for
distance protection of lines connected to the wind farms
which will take above factors into consideration and provide
protection accordingly [6], [7]. The focus of this paper is
on the wind turbines which use DFIG, since they comprise
the largest installed base of wind turbines and also have
more noteworthy effects on the bulk power system than other
machines. A detailed explanation of the proposed solution
taking care of some of the issues, is given along with details of
implementation in PSCAD/EMTDC. The fundamental purpose
of this model is to study the interaction between the wind
turbine and the power system and its effect on existing distance
protection scheme. Section II discusses about mathematical
modeling of current source equivalent of DFIG. Section III
deals with the connection of this model to the grid, and its
effects for various fault cases, followed by proposed POTT
scheme in section IV. The simulations, analysis and the results
obtained are described in section V.
II. MODELING OF SYSTEM
A. Mathematical Model of DFIG
The details of mathematical modeling for the Norton source
representation of DFIG is studied [8]. The Norton’s equivalent
of the DFIG model is developed in which three phase currents
as produced by DFIG are injected into the grid. The indepen-
dent control of real and reactive power in DFIG control system
facilitates the use of a regulated current source in the dynamic
model to represent the induction generator and power electron-
ics. The use of single-mass model to represent various rotating
parts of WTG further simplifies the mechanical modeling of
the system. The stator flux oriented vector control method is
used for this dynamic modeling of DFIG. The three phase
voltages and currents are transformed into their respective dq0
components. The d-axis of the reference frame is oriented
to align it with the vector of the stator magnetic field. The
equations for real and reactive power in terms of q- and d-
axis are-
3
Ps = (Vqs Iqs ) (1)
2 B1
3
Qs = − (Vqs Ids ) (2)
2
The current source emulates the working of an actual
DFIG wind turbine in controlling real and reactive power
independently at the point of connection.
B. Modeling of Norton Equivalent
The DFIG WPP model [8], [9] developed is divided into
four subsystems to emulate all the functions of DFIG. These
are as follows-
• Generator-Converter Subsystem - This model is the point
of connection to the external network through which
three phase current is injected in response to the control
commands from converter control subsystem. Terminal
voltages at the point of connection to the system are used
as inputs to emulate the currents as per DFIG behavior
• Converter Control Subsystem - This subsystem consists
of real and reactive power control. Independent control
is possible as shown in eqns (1) and (2) respectively.
• Wind Turbine Subsystem - It is represented as a single
mass model. Mechanical input power and shaft speed (ω)
is determined in this block using pitch angle (θ).
• Pitch Control Subsystem - The desired blade pitch angle
is determined from the angular speed of the rotor and the
real power. Typical Pitch angle curves can be used as an
input to this subsystem. Pitch Angle is maintained zero
for below rated speed opeartions and has a fixed value
for wind speed above rated speed.
The overall DFIG model with all the above subsystems
interlinked is shown in the Fig. 1.
Fig. 1: Schematic diagram for Current Source equivalent of DFIG
III. DFIG CONNECTION TO GRID
The total integrated system obtained by connecting this
DFIG current source represented circuit along with the dis-
tance protection scheme is as shown in Fig. 2.
B2
DFIG Transformer Transmission Line Grid
Fig. 2: SLD of the system implemented
Bus1 is the DFIG connected bus and grid is connected
to Bus2. Grid is represented by a constant voltage source. The
voltages at Bus1 are measured and given as feedback to the
DFIG control circuit so as to obtain the currents to be injected.
There are two breakers viz. B1 and B2 which are connected at
DFIG side and Grid side respectively. The transmission line is
simulated by using distributed parameter model. All 11 faults
can be created at the line and at different fault locations. The
relays which operate breakers B1 and B2 are conventional
distance relays.
The conventional Protection Scheme uses mho relays,
which measures the line impedance. The voltage and current
are estimated by taking its Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). The
impedance seen by the relay is evaluated and compared with
the set value of the relay logic. If the impedance seen is less
than the set value a trip signal is issued. The system consists of
6 measurement units for detection of all 11 faults. The phase
and ground faults are detected and trip signal is given to the
breakers.
IV. PROPOSED ALGORITHM
A distance relay is not able to provide non delayed tripping
over 100 percent of the line length unless it is linked with the
relay on the other end of the line through a communication
channel. The key feature of this channel that distinguishes
distance relays as a preferred choice for HV grids is its very
low bandwidth requirement. A variety of pilot schemes are
already deployed to reach fast and selective distance relaying.
Among them, POTT (Permissive Overreach Transfer Trip) is
a relatively inexpensive, yet competent scheme, and is widely
practiced in industrial applications.
The conventional distance scheme fails to operate accu-
rately for the lines connected to IG-based WFs during balanced
short-circuits, due to incorrect impedance measurement by the
distance relay at the WF substation. A modified POTT scheme
[5] [6] is developed to tackle this problem.
 For this modified POTT scheme, the relay located at the
remote end of the line, i.e., relay 2, is a regular impedance-
based relay with a directional over-reaching zone. The relay
located at the WF substation, however, detects faults in its
forward direction not based only on the measured impedance,
but according to the fault signal issued by the relay 2 as well.
The relay 2 is connected to the grid side and hence works
properly with the existing conventional protection scheme. It
will detect any three phase fault on the line and will send a
trip signal to the breaker B1. This signal from relay B2 can
be delayed so that relay 1 has a margin to detect the fault
at the DFIG end by itself. Hence signal from relay B2, i.e.
R2 which can be delayed based on system requirements, and
the signal obtained from relay 1, i.e. R1 are passed through
a logical disjunction. The output of this gate is then given
to the breaker B1 as a trip signal. Hence if the relay 1 fails
to sense the fault in one cycle, the grid side relay will send
the trip signal to the breaker B1. The relay 1 will sense the
unsymmetrical faults and will issue trip signal to breaker B1.
Only for symmetrical faults, breaker B1 will depend on the
signal from the relay 2.
The detailed algorithm can be expressed as follows:
1) Sample the current waveforms continuously through
FFT
2) Analyze the samples for any fault
3) In case of fault, check for trip signal by relay 1
4) If signal has been issued, proceed with regular opening
of breaker 1
5) In case of no Trip signal by relay 1, check for trip by
breaker 2
6) For trip signal issued by relay 2, check for balanced fault
7) For a balanced Fault, communicate with relay 1 and
issue a trip signal to breaker 1 with some delay
V. CASE STUDY
The system is shown in Fig. 8. The voltage generated by
the DFIG is 690 V and at transmission level it is stepped
up to 230 kV by a transformer. The system parameters i.e.
proportional gain, integral constants, etc. are evaluated from
typical values [9]. Th mho relay impedance settings are done
by calculating the impedance from line parameters. The line
parameters are specified in the Appendix at the end of this
paper. The behavior of the system is studied in the subsequent
sections.
A. Fault analysis when conventional distance protection is
used
The fault is created at the middle of the line i.e. at 50 km
from both the ends. The results obtained for single line to
ground fault and three phase symmetric fault are shown below:
1) LG fault at phase A-: We can see in Fig. 4 that when
fault occurs, the current levels do not deviate much, however
harmonics are introduced. The fault is cleared within almost
one cycle. The protection system works efficiently. The Relay
impedance characteristics are shown in Fig. 5. It can be seen
that the characteristic enters in the trip region of relay 1 and
hence the relay issues a trip signal and B1 trips. And the
system is isolated from the fault successfully [10].

START

Current Samples

N Fault
Detection
Fig. 4: Line current, fault signal and trip signal issued for LG fault
Y
Trip N Breaker 2 N
signal 1? trip?
Y Y
Open Y Balanced
Breaker 1 Fault
N
Modified POTT
Scheme Not Activated

STOP

Fig. 3: Algorithm for modified Pilot Protection Scheme

Hence the breaker will trip at all types of faults thereby

protecting the transmission line. For transmission of the trip
signal from grid side relay to the DFIG side relay, radio link
is used. As it is just on/off information, bandwidth required is
less. Hence the trip signal is transmitted wireless from the grid
side and received by the receiver placed at the DFIG station. Fig. 5: Mho relay characteristics of the relay 1 for LG fault
This signal is then decoded and given to the relay circuit.
 2) Three Phase fault-: We can see in Fig. 6 that when
LLLG fault occurs, the fault is not cleared within one cycle.
Thfcaption e protection system mal operates. The Relay char-
acteristics are shown in Fig. 7. The impedance characteristic
does not enter in the trip region of relay 1 and hence the relay
fails to operate.
Fig. 6: Line current, fault signal and trip signal is not issued on
three phase fault
Fig. 7: Mho relay characteristics of the relay 1 on three phase fault
B. Analysis and observations
For LG, LL and LLG faults, the relay works optimally
without any error. This means that the relay works correctly
for unsymmetrical faults. It issues trip signals and the breaker
is tripped in almost one cycle i.e. in 20 ms as frequency is
50 Hz. The relay fails to identify the fault for 3 phase faults.
This means that the relay mal operates at LLL and LLLG
faults. Few reasons for the same have been listed out in [10],
[5] some standard research work and those are summarized
below:
• Frequency deviation [5]: Protective relays contain fre-
quency tracking algorithm which modify filters during
frequency deviations to give correct voltage and currents
measurements. During LG, LL, LLG fault conditions,
both voltage and current frequency exhibit the same
deviation from the nominal frequency. Hence, impedance
measurement relations still hold true and offer a true
measure of the distance to the fault location. Conversely,
in the case of DFIG-based WFs during balanced faults,
only the current frequency significantly deviates from
the nominal frequency. The voltage frequency remains
within a narrow margin of 50 Hz. For such conditions,
impedance measurement equations do not hold true and
the relay fails.
• Crowbar protection circuit [10]: On occurrence of three
phase fault the rotor current is too high, the thyristors are
fired and the crowbar is connected to the rotor windings.
Therefore, the high currents do not flow through the
converter but instead pass through the crowbar resistors.
The higher crowbar resistance in series with the rotor
windings lowers the peak current and prevents the detec-
tion of a fault. The quick insertion of the crowbar affects
the detection properties of the relay. A lower crowbar
resistance causes an unpredictable behavior of the relay.
C. Results
After implementing the modified Pilot Protection scheme,
faults were created on the line. The results obtained for three
phase faults are given in Fig. 9 and Fig. 10. This system con-
tains various parameters such as proportional gain constants,
integral constants of various control systems whose response
is dependent on grid voltage which works as feedback to the
system. DFIG gets faulty or random values of voltages as a
feedback to the system from grid on occurrence of Balanced
faults. This error in feedback voltages gets amplified through
various components of control systems, which results into
abnormal increaseof the current values of DFIG which are
injected into the grid as shown in Fig. 9 and Fig. 10
Hence, it can be seen that, the relay operated correctly at
all the faults including the three phase faults. The trip signal
was issued just after the delay which was set to 10 ms. It can
also be observed that trip signal 1 has not been activated in
case of LLL and LLLG faults. But, the breaker B1 has tripped
and the current has become zero. This is due to the trip signal
from the other end. Hence this scheme can be implemented
for distance protection of transmission lines connected to wind
farms and works efficiently.
VI. C ONCLUSION
Computer analysis and modeling of DFIG is carried out in
PSCAD/EMTDC. The current source representation is used
for fault analysis. A simulation model of stator flux oriented
vector control is used. It was possible to obtain decoupled
real and reactive power control with the help of this model.
Then fault analysis is carried out. The DFIG side relay i.e.
relay 1 operates accurately in case of unbalanced faults, but
fails to operate when balanced fault occurs. This mal-operation
of relay is due to DFIG behavior. The main reason is the
difference in frequencies of current and voltage. the current
frequency varies significantly with respect to the nominal
frequency while, the voltage frequency remains in narrow
margin of 50 Hz. Due to this difference, the impedance
Fig. 8: Overall System

Fig. 9: DFIG side Fault currents, Fault signal and Trip signal Fig. 10: Grid side Fault currents, Fault signal and Trip signal

can be analyzed. Then validity of the proposed pilot protection

measurement unit of the relay fails to measure it correctly scheme can be checked successfully.
and hence the relay fails.
Hence, to isolate the transmission line in such cases, a pilot A PPENDIX
scheme is proposed and the results obtained are also shown.
TABLE I: line parameters
The scheme works correctly and issues the trip signal at all
faults thereby protecting the system from any damage. This Parameter Positive Sequence Zero Sequence
proposed scheme provides quick and non-delayed protection Resistance (ohm/km) 0.03206 0.2676
Inductance (H/km) 1.35e-3 3.008e-3
over the entire transmission line. Hence, it delivers promising Capacitance (F/km) 8.55e-9 7.751e-9
results for DFIG connected wind farms. As DFIG is widely
used generator type in wind farms, further development in this
scheme will provide greater levels of protection. R EFERENCES
The proposed scheme can be extended as, the protection [1] Jadhav HT Ror R, A critical review on the grid integration issues of DFIG
scheme proposed for DFIG can be applied to squirrel cage based wind farms, 10 th International conference on EEEIC,May 2011
induction generator (SCIG), direct-drive synchronous genera- [2] A. K. Pradhan; Gza Joos, ”Adaptive Distance Relay Setting for Lines
Connecting Wind Farms”, IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion,
tor (DDSG) and synchronous generator with full scale power Volume: 22, Issue: 1, Pages: 206 - 213, IEEE Journals and Magazines,
electronic converter. The system behavior at different faults Year: 2007.
[3] Mohit Singh, Surya Santoso,”Dynamic Models for Wind Turbines and
Wind Power Plants”, University of Texas at Austin, Texas NREL Tech-
nical Monitor: Eduard Muljadi Prepared under Subcontract No. XEE-8-
77567-01
[4] Mithunprakash G Vyas, ”Simulation and Modeling of Wind Power Plants:
A Pedagogical Approach”, BSEE, THESIS Presented to the Faculty of
the Graduate School of the University of Texas at Austin.
[5] Ali Hooshyar; Maher Abdelkhalek Azzouz; Ehab F. El-Saadany, ”Dis-
tance Protection of Lines Connected to Induction Generator-Based Wind
Farms During Balanced Faults”, IEEE Transactions on Sustainable En-
ergy, Volume: 5, Issue: 4, Pages: 1193 - 1203, Year: 2014.
[6] Nidhi Chauhan1, M. Tripathy and R. P. Maheshwari, ”Performance
Evaluation of Mho and Quadrilateral Characteristic Relays on UPFC
Incorporated Transmission Line”, Department of Electrical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee
[7] Rahul Dubey; Subhransu Ranjan Samantaray; Bijay Ketan Panigrahi,
”Adaptive distance protection scheme for shunt-FACTS compensated line
connecting wind farm”, IET Generation, Transmission and Distribution,
Volume: 10, Issue: 1 Pages: 247 - 256, Year: 2016.
[8] E. Muljadi and V. Gevorgian, ”Short-Circuit Modelling of a Wind Power
Plant”, NREL.
[9] ”WECC Wind Power Plant Dynamic Modelling Guide”, November 2010,
Prepared by WECC Renewable Energy Modeling Task Force.
[10] Simon De Rijcke; Paula Souto Prez; Johan Driesen, ”Impact of wind
turbines equipped with doubly-fed induction generators ondistance relay-
ing”,IEEE Conference Publications, Pages: 1 - 6, Year: 2010.
[11] Ali Hooshyar; Maher Abdelkhalek Azzouz; Ehab F. El-Saadany, ”Three-
Phase Fault Direction Identification for Distribution Systems with DFIG-
Based Wind DG”, IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy, Volume: 5,
Issue: 3, Pages: 747 - 756, Year: 2014.