Advanced fault location strategy for modern power distribution systems based on phase and sequence components and the minimum fault reactance concept

Abstract A generalized strategy for fault location in modern power distribution systems, which normally include distributed generation, is presented in this paper. The fault location method considers the phase and sequence network parameters and voltage and current measurements at the main substation and at the distributed generators, in pre-fault and fault steady states. The fault distance is estimated from the analysis of all section lines, which is required to determine if the fault is located in a radial or non-radial zone of the power distribution feeder; next, a specific equation is used to determine the exact location. The proposed methodology is validated in the IEEE 34-node test power system, where single-phase to ground, phase-to-phase and three-phase faults were tested, considering 51 different and optimally determined operational conditions. The proposed method has range of estimation errors from −2.8% to 3.2%.