Influence of converter current limiting and prioritization on protection of highly IBR-penetrated networks

TL;DR

This study examines how converter control strategies and current limiting affect the reliability of protection schemes in transmission systems with high inverter-based resource penetration, revealing potential vulnerabilities.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of protection challenges caused by modern converter controls in highly IBR-penetrated networks, highlighting the need for adapted protection schemes.

Findings

Phase-to-ground loops can overestimate fault location near Zone-1.

External faults may trigger false trips in line differential protection.

Converter controls can compromise traditional protection reliability.

Abstract

This paper investigates how grid-forming (GFM) and grid-following (GFL) control strategies in inverter-based resources (IBRs) influence line distance and differential protection in converter-dominated transmission systems. A modified IEEE 39-bus system is evaluated with GFM and GFL units equipped with low-voltage ride-through logic, current limiting, and positive- or negative-sequence prioritization. Distance protection is implemented with a mho characteristic, while line differential protection uses an alpha-plane approach. Results show that phase-to-ground loops in distance protection can substantially overestimate the fault location near the Zone-1 reach. For line differential protection, external faults may cause the operating point to briefly enter the trip region of the alpha-plane, even for the healthy-phase in ABG faults under GFL control and during the initial moments of the fault, demanding strong external security measures. These findings highlight that modern converter controls, together with current limitation and sequence-current prioritization, can compromise the reliability and security of traditional protection schemes.