Dynamic State Estimation-Based Protection: Status and Promise

The introduction of the microprocessor-based numerical relay in the 1980s resulted in multifunctional, multidimensional, communications-enabled complex protection systems for zone and system protection. The increasing capabilities of this technology created new unintended challenges: 1) complexity has increased and selecting coordinated settings is a challenge leading to occasional miscoordination; 2) protection functions still rely on a small number of measurements (typically three voltages and three currents) limiting the ability of protection functions to dependably identify the type of fault conditions; and 3) present approaches are incapable of dealing with hidden failures in the protection system. Statistically, 10% of protection operations are misoperations. This paper presents a new approach to protection that promises to eliminate the majority of the problems that lead to misoperations. The approach is described, demonstrated in the laboratory, compared to traditional protection functions and its application to a substation coordinated protection system capable of detecting and dealing with hidden failures is described. This paper also discusses the planned field testing of the approach.