Evaluation of effectiveness of uncertainty in communication links on the adaptive protection schemes

Adaptive protection coordination which realizes using communication links is an efficient method to solve problems in microgrid protection coordination. An issue that can affect the efficiency of this method is uncertainty in communication links. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of uncertainty in communication links on adaptive protection and reliability of microgrids, a new Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) is proposed. In the proposed method, the probability of correct operation of circuit breakers (CBs) and communication links is not considered to be constant; it can vary according to the fault current flowing through CBs and the latency of communication links, respectively. The performance of the proposed method is tested on a sample microgrid equipped by central server and communication links. In order to assess the impact of uncertainty in communication links on the reliability of the microgrid, System Average Interruption Duration (SAIDI), Expected Energy Not Supplied (EENS), and Expected COST of Interruption (ECOST) indices are used. Results prove that the traditional protection coordination schemes have more effectiveness of the uncertainty in communication links compare to schemes which use global decisions.