Resources

SEL Introduces the LINAM UGFI Underground Fault Indicator

SEL Introduces the LINAM UGFI Underground Fault Indicator

PULLMAN, Washington—Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories recently announced the release of the LINAM UGFI Underground Fault Indicator, a product of the E. O. Schweitzer Manufacturing facility in Lake Zurich, Illinois. The innovative device offers several key features that help distribution system operators reduce the duration of outages by streamlining underground fault locating.

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Considerations for the Protection of Adjustable Speed Drive Installations

This paper addresses how to protect an adjustable speed drive installation by breaking the application down into specific components: motor, drive, input mechanism, and feeder. The paper provides a brief background on the advantages and classifications of adjustable speed drives, followed by an overview of considerations for protecting adjustable speed drive feeders at different voltage levels. A real-world adjustable feed drive application fed from a high-voltage source is analyzed. Best design practices for selecting protection parameters are also shared.

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Solving Complex Feeder Protection Challenges and Reducing Wildfire Risks With Remote Measurements

Solving Complex Feeder Protection Challenges and Reducing Wildfire Risks With Remote Measurements

In this paper, we propose a comprehensive and cost-effective approach to solving protection challenges for complex distribution and subtransmission feeders, including power line-caused wildfires, high-impedance faults, downed conductors, distributed energy resources, and microgrids. Our method uses transmission-grade protection principles made possible through a novel technology of measuring currents and voltages at locations distributed along the feeder without introducing active electronics outside of the substation fence. By allowing instantaneous current and voltage measurements from the feeder, we dramatically simplify and improve protection and control applications. In our approach, feeder protection becomes fast and sensitive and far more selective compared with today’s practice, dramatically reducing wildfire and public safety risks.

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Detecting and Isolating Falling Conductors in Midair – First Field Implementation Using Private LTE at Protection Speeds

When an overhead distribution conductor breaks and the energized wire falls on the ground, it often creates a high-impedance ground fault, which may be difficult or nearly impossible to detect by traditional protective equipment in the substation. This condition presents wildfire risks and public safety hazard. The falling conductor protection solution, based on synchrophasor technology and IEC 61850 Generic Object-Oriented Substation Event (GOOSE), detects and trips the affected circuit section within milliseconds of the break – before the energized conductor falls on the ground.This paper, jointly written by San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SEDG&E) and SEL, discusses the first-of-its-kind Falling Conductor Protection solution implemented on a 12 kV rural distribution circuit with a private Long-Term Evolution (PLTE) network.

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Grid-Parallel and Islanding Operation Challenges of a Large Battery Energy Storage System at Cape Cod

Eversource Energy deployed a 38 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in Provincetown, MA to improve the power reliability on the outer Cape Cod region.The BESS inverters are operated in grid-forming mode during grid-parallel operation to facilitate seamless islanding and seamless restoration.This paper provides an overview of the project, challenges encountered in designing the protection and control schemes, and the innovative solutions used to address these challenges.

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