Adaptive Reconfiguration of Protection Relays to Accommodate Distributed

The rise in the installation of distributed generation systems (DGs) requires the reconfiguration of the protection system of the distribution network (DN) in place. Increased integration of DGs in the DN can cause incorrect tripping and false non-tripping of the overcurrent (OC) protection relays in the DN as well as increased possibilities of faults due to the aging infrastructure of DN. Incorrect tripping is also known as sympathetic tripping and false non-tripping is also known as blinding operation of an OC relay. As such, a reconfiguration of the adaptive protective OC relays is desired to mitigate the issues with increased DG penetration in the DN. A new algorithm is proposed in this thesis for adaptive, distributed protection relay reconfiguration for the DN with DGs. Through theoretical studies based on potential games and practical simulations, the OC relays' settings are reconfigured to adapt to the DN's changes in the system as a result of DG integration.