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Chapter 8 - Testing and Evaluation Methods for Protection Systems

In this chapter, we aim to present different approaches used formally and informally for the evaluation of protection devices and schemes. This chapter starts with presenting background on generalization of protection device components, followed by the resources necessary to evaluate the protection system. Further, this chapter presents the different approaches used in protection evaluation with their advantages and disadvantages. Finally, this chapter closes by presenting background on technology readiness level metrics. Technology readiness level metric is borrowed from the space industry for the purpose of comparing the maturity of the different protection technologies and using the appropriate evaluation methods from the list presented here.

power systems↗

Model predictive control for voltage restoration in microgrids using temporal logic specifications

Power system operation will encounter numerous voltage variabilities as the proliferation of renewable energy continues. Real-time monitoring and communication technologies can potentially improve voltage stability by enabling the rapid detection of voltage deviations and the implementation of corrective actions. These corrective actions will only be effective in restoring stability if they are chosen in a timely and scalable manner. This paper considers the problem of power systems’ load voltage control in order to simultaneously address both magnitude and time voltage specifications. In order to comply with grid codes and avoid unnecessary relay protection actions, a model predictive control (MPC)-based control strategy employing temporal logic specifications (TLSs) is proposed. The TLSs strategy is introduced as a formalism to control the voltage variation at a critical load bus against operational bounds over time. The control objective is to schedule optimal control input signals from the available supportive energy storage systems, which provide reactive power injections, leading to satisfying the specified finite-time restoration described by the TLSs with minimal control efforts. The simulation results display that the TLSs strategy for power systems’ voltage control synthesis is extremely significant.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

SHARP-Net: Platform for Self-Healing and Attack Resilient PMU Networks

Synchrophasor technology plays a pivotal role in developing the next generation of wide-area monitoring, protection, and control in the smart grid environment. As technology and communications infrastructures evolve, however, so do the attack surfaces in the synchrophasor network that can be exploited by advanced persistent threat (APT) actors to affect power system stability and reliability. In this paper, we propose a novel platform for developing a self-healing and attack-resilient PMU network (SHARP-Net) by instituting a state-of-the-art intrusion detection system (IDS) with an intrusion mitigation system (IMS) and an alert management system (AMS). In particular, the proposed platform detects anomalies during cyberattacks on phasor data concentrators (PDCs) based on the rules defined in the IDS, then the generated alerts are published to the IMS through the AMS. The proposed IMS proceeds to take automated corrective responses to mitigate cyberattacks by reconfiguring the synchrophasor network to isolate the compromised PDCs, and it orchestrates new PDCs to prevent the future propagation of attacks. Further, the IMS restores the system's observability by reconnecting the new PDCs to make the grid attack-resilient. In this work, the SHARP-Net platform is developed by using Python-based libraries, minimega's software-defined network, and virtual machine orchestration. We implement and validate the proposed SHARP-Net architecture by testing a PMU network in the smart grid environment. SHARP-Net showed promising performance in detecting cyberattacks and mitigating them through the network reconfiguration.

computer architecture↗

Effects-Based Monitoring of Geomagnetically-Induced Current Using a Convolutional Neural Network

Geomagnetically-induced current (GIC) due to space weather can flow in the power grid causing undesirable effects such as transformer overheating, misoperation of protection devices, and potential blackouts. It is therefore important to monitor GIC in the power grid to improve online situational awareness and decision-making of system operators during a geomagnetic disturbance. To avoid the costly installation of GIC monitors at transformers’ neutrals, it is desirable to find correlations between GIC and already-monitored parameters. Hence, this work proposed the use of a convolutional neural network (CNN) to compute GIC amplitudes from learned patterns in the time-series data of transformer even harmonic currents. Using an electromagnetic transient program, GIC injection simulations were performed for a modeled Dominion Energy Virginia (DEV) substation with two 504 MVA, 500/230 kV transformers. Data collected from these offline simulations were used to train the CNN to provide online GIC monitoring. Testing the CNN performance involved using real GIC measurements from published literature and from a physical GIC monitor in the DEV area. Finally, the results showed that the proposed method was able to provide GIC readings with a root mean squared error of 1.56 A/phase (equivalent to an average accuracy of 94%) for these real GIC waveforms.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Enabling Regulatory and Business Models for Broad Microgrid Deployment (White Paper)

This white paper is one of seven being prepared for the Department of Energy (DOE) Microgrid Research & Development (R&D) program as part of a strategy development effort for the next 10 years. The seven white papers focus on the following areas: 1. Program vision, objectives, and R&D targets in 5 and 10 years, 2. T&D co-simulation of microgrid impacts and benefits, 3. Building blocks for microgrids, 4. Microgrids as a building block for the future grid, 5. Advanced microgrid control and protection, 6. Integrated models and tools for microgrid planning, designs, and operations, 7. Enabling regulatory and business models for broad microgrid deployment. This white paper is focused on Topic 7, as a sustainable regulatory and business environment for microgrid development is a foundational element for securing DOE's vision for the future role of microgrids in the U.S. electric sector. The objective of this white paper is to systematically characterize regulatory issues involved in microgrid deployment and microgrid business models, and from this evidence identify a robust and well-justified set of research recommendations for the Department of Energy Office of Electricity, informing programmatic vision, objectives and activities for the DOE Microgrid R&D Program.

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Synthetic High Impedance Fault Data through Deep Convolutional Generated Adversarial Network

High impedance faults (HIFs) have always been significant challenge in the power grids. Researchers have developed some advanced protective methods to detect the HIFs. To test and validate these methods, large amounts of HIF data are required. This paper presents a synthetic HIF data generating method using the deep convolutional generated adversarial network (DCGAN). The DCGAN includes a generator module to create synthetic HIF waveform from random noises; and a discriminator module to identify the flaws of those synthetic data, which ultimately help improve the quality of the synthetic data created by the generator. To test the fidelity of the generated synthetic HIF data, two different HIF-detection methods have been applied. Extensive simulation results have validated the effectiveness of using the DCGAN to create synthetic HIF data.

Yang, Kun↗

Residential Demand Side Aggregation of Privacy-Conscious Consumers

The increasing adoption of smart meters has led to growing concerns regarding privacy risks stemming from the high resolution measurements. This has given rise to privacy protection techniques that physically alter the consumer's energy load profile, masking private information by using localised devices, e.g. batteries or flexible loads. Meanwhile, there has also been increasing interest in aggregating the distributed energy resources (DERs) of residential consumers to provide services to the grid. In this paper, we propose an online distributed algorithm to aggregate the DERs of privacy-conscious consumers to provide services to the grid, whilst preserving their privacy. Results show that the optimisation solution from the distributed method converges to one close to the optimum computed using an ideal centralised solution method, balancing between grid service provision, consumer preferences and privacy protection. More importantly, the distributed method preserves consumer privacy, and does not require high-bandwidth two-way communications infrastructure.

ancillary services↗

Toward 100% Renewable Power Grids: A Review

The transition to a 100% renewable power grid remains beset by significant technical challenges. This paper critically examines the obstacles arising from the variability and unpredictability of renewable energy sources (RES), which complicate the real-time balancing of power generation and load demand. In addition to traditional stability concerns (e.g., rotor angle, voltage, and frequency stability), the increasing penetration of inverter-based resources (IBRs) introduces novel challenges, including resonance stability issues and converter-driven dynamics. Moreover, the dynamic behavior and fault response of IBRs diverge markedly from those of conventional synchronous generators, rendering traditional protection schemes increasingly inadequate. This paper reviews state-of-the-art solutions in power balancing, grid flexibility, stability enhancement, and advanced protection strategies, discussing their implications for future grid design. The analysis provides a comprehensive assessment of recent technological advancements, thereby outlining critical research directions essential for achieving a resilient, 100% renewable power grid.

100% renewable power grid↗

Wildfire Risk Evaluation Framework for Grid Operations and Planning

The United States (US) environmental protection agency's (EPA's) climate change indicators for wildfires show a long-term trend of increased annual wildfire activity, larger wildfire size, and more variable dynamics in wildfire behavior. This has caused more frequent preemptive public safety power shutoff (PSPS) events in the regions with recognized high wildfire risk. These preemptive power shutoffs attempt to prevent the ignition of a wildfire but it nonetheless renders the transmission line non-operational, which often sheds load of downstream communities. As wildfires and PSPS events become more frequent, it is crucial to find the communities most at risk of load shedding. To that end, this paper proposes the wildfire risk evaluation of the system (WiRES) framework, which is a performance-based framework that translates extreme weather-related and PSPS event probabilities into a cumulative probability of a non-operational transmission line. This study also provides a geospatial visualization tool that breaks down the entire western electrical coordinating council (WECC) region into 50 km grid cells which can be used to 1) filter out transmission lines with higher than a threshold outage probability, and 2) graphically discover the affected regions and their biophysical and socioeconomic metrics. %such as the social vulnerability index, population density, gross domestic product, etc. Lastly, an impact assessment study is conducted which connects the results of the proposed framework to python and powerworld-based contingency analysis to highlight the applicability of the framework.

Wildfire, Resilience, Extreme Events, Grid Reslien↗

Differential Privacy in Grid Kitchen: Implementation & Software Documentation

Sharing of power grid feeder models faces significant challenges due to the potential risk of exposing sensitive operational information. Traditional anonymization techniques have shown notable limitations in other sensitive domains, as evidenced by documented re-identification attacks that combine supposedly anonymized datasets with auxiliary information, raising concerns that similar vulnerabilities could affect power grid data. Consequently, there is a pressing need for a more rigorous privacy protection strategy that not only delivers formal mathematical guarantees but also preserves the analytical value of the shared models. To address this challenge, we have enhanced the Grid Kitchen framework by implementing differential privacy mechanisms within the distribution model dehydration pipeline. This implementation carefully calibrates and applies noise to sensitive attributes in feeder models according to configurable privacy levels—low, moderate, and high—each offering different balances between data utility and privacy protection. Our approach uses established noise functions (Gaussian for continuous data and Discrete Laplace for integer values) with parameters carefully calibrated so that the impact of individual data points is effectively masked in the final output. The integration leverages our Noise Catalog, which we developed to categorize feeder model properties by component type, data type, and sensitivity. This catalog guides the application of appropriate noise functions and privacy parameters ($\varepsilon$ and $\delta$) to each attribute, ensuring consistent privacy protection across the model while maintaining its structural integrity and analytical usefulness. This implementation also includes evaluation tools that allow model owners to assess the impact of privacy-preserving transformations before sharing data with external parties. This report provides documentation for the differential privacy capabilities added to the Grid Kitchen project. It includes a primer on differential privacy concepts and their importance in modern data sharing, details the architecture of our implementation, explains the privacy modes and parameter configurations, and offers practical guidance on using the code for applying differential privacy to grid feeder models. Through examples and code snippets, we demonstrate the effective application of these privacy-enhancing technologies, enabling utility operators and researchers to confidently share grid data while protecting sensitive information.

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A Review of Current Research Trends in Power-Electronic Innovations in Cyber–Physical Systems

Here, in this article, a broad overview of the current research trends in power-electronic innovations in cyber–physical systems (CPSs) is presented. The recent advances in semiconductor device technologies, control architectures, and communication methodologies have enabled researchers to develop integrated smart CPSs that can cater to the emerging requirements of smart grids, renewable energy, electric vehicles, trains, ships, the Internet of Things (IoT), and so on. The topics presented in this article include novel power-distribution architectures, protection techniques considering large renewable integration in smart grids, wireless charging in electric vehicles, simultaneous power and information transmission, multihop network-based coordination, power technologies for renewable energy and smart transformer, CPS reliability, transactive smart railway grid, and real-time simulation of shipboard power systems. It is anticipated that the research trends presented in this article will provide a timely and useful overview to the power-electronics researchers with broad applications in CPSs.

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Design of Zone-Based Hierarchical Protection System for 100% Renewable Microgrids

Design of a reliable and secure protection system for a 100% renewable microgrid with only inverter-based resources (IBRs), is quite challenging. Most of the existing protection schemes in the state-of-the-art are suitable for microgrids with mixed-type of distributed energy resources (DERs) that covers both rotating machine-based DERs as well as IBR-based DERs, where the fault current level is moderately high. Due to drastic reduction in fault current level based on mode of operation and the variation of the low fault current level based on the operating level of the IBRs, the existing protection schemes face critical challenges, in case of a 100% renewable microgrid. This article proposes a zone-based hierarchical protection scheme that partitions a microgrid into various zones-of-protection and assigns speed-based hierarchical protection schemes in order to address the fundamental challenges of such microgrids. The performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated using time-domain simulation study on a microgrid test system. The results corroborates that the proposed hierarchical zone-based protection scheme exhibits enhanced reliability, security and dependability while tested with various fault cases (fault types, locations, and impedances), and non-fault cases during both grid-tied and islanded mode.

grid-forming inverter↗

Design of Zone-Based Hierarchical Protection System for 100% Renewable Microgrids: Preprint

Design of a reliable and secure protection system for a 100% renewable microgrid with only inverter-based resources (IBRs), is quite challenging. Most of the existing protection schemes in the state-of-the-art are suitable for microgrids with mixed-type of distributed energy resources (DERs) that covers both rotating machine-based DERs as well as IBR-based DERs, where the fault current level is moderately high. Due to drastic reduction in fault current level based on mode of operation and the variation of the low fault current level based on the operating level of the IBRs, the existing protection schemes face critical challenges, in case of a 100% renewable microgrid. This article proposes a zone-based hierarchical protection scheme that partitions a microgrid into various zones-of-protection and assigns speed-based hierarchical protection schemes in order to address the fundamental challenges of such microgrids. The performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated using time-domain simulation study on a microgrid test system. The results corroborates that the proposed hierarchical zone-based protection scheme exhibits enhanced reliability, security and dependability while tested with various fault cases (fault types, locations, and impedances), and non-fault cases during both grid-tied and islanded mode.

grid-forming inverter↗

Self-Protective Inverters Against Malicious Setpoints Using Analytical Reference Models

This paper presents the concept of self-protective inverters using reference models. In the proposed method, incoming setpoints from the utility operator or third-party aggregators are inspected using analytical reference models before engaging the setpoints to the inverter’s local controller. When a malicious setpoint passes the existing security layers, a smart inverter can examine the integrity of an incoming setpoint in real-time. The efficacy of the developed method has been tested using a laboratory setup, including a three-phase 3kVA SiC-MOSFET inverter and a 12kW NHR 9410 regenerative grid emulator. Furthermore, the results verify that the developed analytical models can provide device-level protection for grid-interactive inverters by inspecting and preventing harmful setpoints from getting engaged to the local controller.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Studying the Impact of IBR Modeling on the Commonly Applied Transmission Line Protective Elements

It is a well-accepted fact that detailed inverter-based resource (IBR) models are needed for electromagnetic transient (EMT) studies, especially for protection studies and protection designs. However, it is not clear which modeling aspects should be included in the EMT model to accurately represent the IBR fault responses. Therefore, this paper addresses this gap by evaluating the impact of key modeling aspects (DC source, inverter model, power control, current/voltage control, and current limiting) on the response of protective relay elements both qualitatively and quantitatively. Both grid-following (GFL) and grid-forming (GFM) IBR models are comprehensively evaluated through a simplified real-world transmission network by varying the IBR modeling aspects, fault locations, and types. The insights and findings from this paper will benefit the power system protection community because this work provides modeling requirements and guidelines for IBR modeling so that correct IBR models will be used for protection scheme settings design.

grid-following inverter↗

Adaptive protection opportunities, gap assessments, and designs

This report provides a comprehensive overview of adaptive protection schemes in use by distribution systems for protection, switching and control on their systems. A significant focus is placed on how existing schemes can be impacted by increasing penetrations of DER as well as how these schemes can enable DER penetrations to increase. EPRI have conducted a survey of member utilities and performed a comprehensive literature review with the goal of baselining the research and identifying gaps with a focus on the issues that were encountered with adaptive protection on real systems. The five adaptive protection applications that are most prevalent on systems today are discussed in detail. These are weather-based fuse-saving, adaptive protection to reduce short-circuit current, adaptive protection for DER, adaptive protection for microgrids, and distribution automation. A broad overview of the technology is given for each scheme. Issues that have been encountered by utilities are highlighted and the safety and reliability impacts are also examined. As distribution systems, intelligent electronic devices, grid equipment and distribution management systems are rapidly evolving, adaptive protection techniques and technologies will become more widely adopted. This report proposes a framework for a conceptual automatic adaptive protection system. EPRI have ongoing research, development and demonstration projects in all of the constituent elements, however challenges remain to link the elements together in a secure and reliable way. EPRI will continue research into automated adaptive protection applications and challenges for the systems of today and future applications to assist system operators in managing the evolving system.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Machine-Learning-Based Mapping and Modeling of Solar Energy with Ultra-High Spatiotemporal Granularity

Despite the rapid growth of solar energy, we still lack a dynamic, high-fidelity database that tracks the spatiotemporal variations of solar PVs and their associated infrastructures across different places at a spatially resolved scale. The absence of such data presents a barrier to various applications such as solar PV growth projection, solar energy integration, solar incentive design, and climate risk assessment. In this project, we aim to bridge this gap by developing AI-based algorithms to extract granular information about solar PV installations and their associated infrastructures (i.e., distribution grids) from widely available unstructured data like remote sensing images and street views. As a result, we have built the Solar Energy Atlas, a fine-grained, large-scale geospatial overlay of distributed solar PVs and distribution grids. On top of it, we have advanced the understanding of solar adoption and distribution grid vulnerability to climate-induced extremes. Our major contributions can be summarized as follow: (1) By developing new AI algorithms, we have built the most comprehensive solar PV spatiotemporal database covering the entire US. This is the first time we obtained the exact GPS locations, size, subtype, and installation year information for rooftop solar PVs across the US. This database can be used for solar PV growth projection, solar energy integration, solar energy policy analysis and design, and spatially-resolved climate risk assessment. (2) Leveraging this database, we have uncovered the socioeconomic driving factors that are correlated with earlier onset of solar adoption and higher saturated adoption levels. We have identified the heterogeneity in the effects of different types of financial incentives on solar adoption and provided implications for tailoring incentive design based on local income levels to promote equitable solar adoption. (3) We have developed a distribution grid GIS mapping algorithm which can obtain granular geospatial and topology information about distribution grids using multi-modal open data, reducing the dependency on hard-to-obtain smart meter data of conventional approaches. It shows effectiveness in both the U.S. and Sub-Saharan Africa. Using this algorithm, we have uncovered the non-uniform vulnerability of distribution grids to wildfires in California in the aspects of undergrounding protection and Distributed Energy Resources (DER) preparedness. This has provided important implications for improving the affordability and equity of grid adaptation approaches. (3) We have made our produced database publicly available and provided user-friendly interface to enable various stakeholders and the general public to interact with the data. We have also integrated the produced data into the Data Commons platform to enable the public to access the data and correlate it with other location-specific characteristics simply using natural language as queries. The impact of our project is three-fold: (1) New algorithms for mapping solar PVs and distribution grids across space and time, which are open source to facilitate researchers and industry; (2) New databases of solar PVs and distribution grids that have been made publicly available for engineering, social, and policy applications; (3) New understandings and actionable insights on the potential approaches to promoting solar adoption and reducing energy infrastructure vulnerabilities. In this report, we start by discussing the project background and motivation (section 5), followed by the overview of project objectives (section 6). Results and discussion for each task are presented in section 7. Significant accomplishments are summarized in section 8. This report will be concluded by discussing the paths forwards (section 9), products (section 10), and team roles (section 11).

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Grid-Connected Modular Soft-Switching Solid State Transformers (M-S4T)

The objective of this project is to develop and verify the concept of a flexible and modular soft-switching solid-state transformer (M-S4T) for direct grid-connected applications. The ability to directly connect power electronics converters to the medium voltage grid (4 kV – 13 kV), and to potentially replace the passive and bulky, but ubiquitous 60 hertz service transformer in the 25 kVA to 100 kVA range, with a more flexible and controllable device, has been regarded as the ‘holy grail’ in grid control. However, this has proven to be extremely difficult. This project has developed the solutions to several key challenges of the direct grid-connected power electronics and realized a 7.2 kV M-S4T prototype. First, a protection method to protect the M-S4T from the high voltages (110 kV for the 13 kV system) that occur on the grid due to transients and lightning strikes have been developed and experimentally verified. Second, the realization and the operation of the M-S4T based on high-voltage SiC devices (>3.3 kV) and a medium-frequency medium-voltage low-leakage transformer in a single-stage solid-state transformer with zero-voltage switching, low dv/dt, and low electromagnetic interference has been successfully demonstrated up to 7.5 kV peak. Third, an oil-cooling system and stable communication and distributed control system for converter module voltage sharing have been developed and experimentally verified. The developed M-S4T has realized a modular universal high-performance power conversion system. This conversion system is scalable to different voltage and power levels and adaptable to four-quadrant bidirectional operation. Moreover, the use of passive cooling techniques meets the equipment life requirements, and the lightning protection scheme fulfills the basic insulation level specifications for direct grid connection. Such power conversion system opens up near-term opportunities, including energy storage, solar PV, or electric vehicle charging with significant cost and footprint savings. In the longer term, the possibility of replacing the utility distribution transformer with an M-S4T will be transformative for future distribution grids with a compact footprint and full controllability to enable high renewable energy and storage penetration. In addition to the main project, this report expands on the Plus-Up projected including as part of the main award. This project developed and demonstrated the technology for autonomous collaborative inverters that can be connected in an ad hoc manner to the grid. The aim of the project was to: (1) evaluate the existing techniques for grid-connected inverters and find their limitations; (2) develop detailed requirements for grid-connected inverters in the modern grid with millions of active nodes; (3) design a unified control strategy that brings more autonomy and intelligence to grid-connected inverters, and addresses parts of the issues with the existing techniques. The proposed technique, called UniCon, enables inverters to 1) connect/disconnect to/from the grid in an ad hoc manner; (2) work based on local sensing. Slow communication could be used for a more optimized behavior; (3) work automatically in both grid-forming/grid-following mode; (4) handle large disturbances, e.g., big load step and fault, in an oscillation-free manner; (5) work collaboratively with other inverters in steady-state and during transients. UniCon can be implemented in the middle-level control; hence it is agnostic to the vendor and to the implementation of the inner voltage/current and protection loops. Furthermore, a new synchronization scheme, based on deep learning, was developed that can extract the grid voltage phase and amplitude in a stable manner. The method is cheap to implement can improve the dynamic performance of the grid-connected inverters during fast transients, e.g., fault. The proposed control scheme was validated by (1) MATLAB/Simulink; (2) hardware-in-the-loop results, and; (3) experimental results using three inverters that form a microgrid in a down-scaled feeder. Lastly, both the M-S4T and UniCon have achieved promising tangible paths to markets. In the case of the M-S4T, the underlying technology — the Soft Switching Solid State Transformer (S4T) developed at the Georgia Tech Center for Distributed Energy (GT-CDE) has been licensed by GridBlock from the Georgia Tech Research Corporation, and GridBlock has been working with manufacturing partner Jabil (one of the largest US-based contract manufacturers) and system integrator Power Secure (largest deployer of microgrids in the US with 4.7 GW under management), to meet the strong initial demand. Similarly, GridBlock has an exclusive license to the UniCon technology, developed under this award by GT-CDE. The UniCon provides an intermediate control layer that enables the implementation of the higher-level ‘transactive’ control commands for the system. The architecture of the system - slow communications with the cloud for system optimization and setpoints, and the use of locally measured quantities for real-time control, provide a very robust and secure way of implementing a real-time must-run grid that is also secure and stable. This is a brand-new functionality that is critical for the future grid and key to GridBlock’s business model.

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