Negative Sequence Impedance Measurement for Distributed Generator Islanding Detection

This thesis presents a method of detecting electrical islands in low voltage distributed generator networks by measuring negative sequence impedance differences between islanded and utility connections. Extensive testing was conducted on a commercial building and 25 kV distributed generator fed network by measuring naturally occurring and artificially injected negative sequence components. Similarly, this technique was tested using the IEEE 399-1990 bus test case using the EMTP software. The practical measurements have been matched to simulations where further system performance characteristics of detecting power system islands has been successfully demonstrated. Measured results indicate that unbalanced load conditions are naturally occurring and readily measurable while deliberately unbalanced loads can increase the accuracy of negative sequence impedance islanding detection. The typically low negative sequence impedance of induction motors was found to have only a small effect in low voltage busses, though large machines can effect the threshold settings. Careful placement of the island detector is required in these situations. The negative sequence impedance measurement method is an improvement on previous impedance measurement techniques for islanding detection due to its accuracy, and distinctly large threshold window which have challenged previous impedance based islanding detection techniques.