Analytical Phasor-Based Fault Location Enhancement for Wind Farm Collector Networks

TL;DR

This paper introduces a phasor-based fault location enhancement method for wind farm networks that compensates for IBR-induced voltage drops, significantly improving accuracy and robustness in modern renewable energy systems.

Contribution

A novel voltage correction framework for phasor-based fault location that accounts for IBR effects, maintaining simplicity and local measurement implementation.

Findings

Significant reduction in fault location errors, exceeding 90% for ground faults.

Method maintains accuracy across varying wind penetration levels.

Improved fault location performance for multiple fault types.

Abstract

The increasing integration of Inverter-Based Resources (IBRs) is reshaping fault current characteristics, presenting significant challenges to traditional protection and fault location methods. This paper addresses a key limitation in fault location within wind farm collector networks, i.e., one-terminal phasor-based methods become inaccurate when IBRs are electrically located downstream from the fault. In such cases, the voltage drop caused by IBR fault current injections is not captured by the Intelligent Electronic Device, resulting in a systematic overestimation of fault distance. To mitigate this issue, a general compensation framework was proposed by augmenting classical loop formulations with a distance-dependent voltage correction term. The methodology was derived analytically using a sequence-domain representation and generalized to multiple fault types through a unified notation. It maintains the simplicity and interpretability of conventional approaches and can be implemented using only local measurements. The method was evaluated through EMT simulations in PSCAD using a realistic wind farm model. Results show significant improvements in location accuracy, with average and maximum errors notably reduced, especially for ground-involved faults where reductions exceed 90\%. Furthermore, the compensation eliminates sensitivity to wind penetration levels and ensures uniform performance across feeders, positioning the method as a practical solution for modern renewable-dominated grids.