11stst IEEE
IEEE International
International Conference
Conference on
on Power
Power Electronics,
Electronics, Intelligent
Intelligent Control
Analysis of Distance Protection Performance for Line Employing
UPFC
Nisha Deshmukh Amandeep S Bedi
Department of Electrical Engg. Department of Electrical Engg.
VNIT Nagpur, India. VNIT Nagpur, India.
Email: nishadeshmukh11@gmail.com
Abstract—This paper describes the effect of Unified
Power Flow Controller (UPFC) on distance protection
performance used in transmission line. The effect of shunt
compensating part of UPFC (STATCOM) and UPFC as
a complete device are analyzed individually. A method
for calculation of apparent line impedance observed by
the relay for line employing UPFC is then investigated.
The results obtained from simulation investigate the
performance behavior of protective distance relay for
solid line to ground fault for transmission system
incorporating UPFC.
Keywords : Distance protection; STATCOM; Flexible
Alternating Current Transmission System (FACTS);
UPFC.
1 combination of both STATCOM and SSSC can control reactive
I. INTRODUCTION
In recent years, continual increase in power demand has
been imposed upon the transmission network. However, it is
difficult to maintain the performance of power system due to
regular hike in complexity of the network corresponding to the
hike in demand. Improved reliability, controllability and better
utilization of the power grid is possible with the use of FACTS
devices [1]. FACTS devices administer recurring corrections
of transmission functionality [2]. FACTS devices regulate
reactive power in the grid, thus improving transmission quality
and efficiency [2].
Out of several FACTS devices UPFC is most effective in
controlling power flow. UPFC is an aggregation of STATCOM
(shunt compensator) and SSSC (series compensator) both
connected by a common dc link capacitor. Shunt compensator
part of UPFC provides variable reactive power thus limiting
voltage variations whereas series compensator part of UPFC
compensates for resistive and reactive voltage drops thus
maintaining high X/R ratio.
Due to the existence of FACTS devices in a faulted line, the
measurement of current and voltage at the relay location will
be altered, this in turn will affect the performance of existing
protection schemes [3], [4]. The study carried out in [5], [6]
shows that by the employment of FACTS devices the tripping
region of relay characteristics is affected.
1 978-1-4673-8587-9/16/$31.00 2016 IEEE
978-1-4673-8587-9/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE [1]
Control and
and Energy
Energy Systems
Systems (ICPEICES-2016)
(ICPEICES-2016)
N R Patne
Department of Electrical Engg.
VNIT Nagpur, India.
This paper describes the effect of UPFC (when working as
complete device and when working as STATCOM only) on
distance protection performance on occurrence of solid line to
ground fault at UPFC installed transmission line.
Paper is organised as follows: Section I being the in-
troduction. Section II describes the model of system used
under study. Mathematical formulation of apparent impedance
observed by the relay is given in section III. Section IV
discusses the simulation results obtained whereas conclusion
and references are given in section V and VI respectively.
II. MODEL OF SYSTEM UNDER STUDY
Facts devices are used to govern the power flow and bus
voltage through a transmission network [2]. UPFC being a
power /bus voltage and line impedence simaltaneouly.
A. Model of transmission network employing UPFC
In this analysis, MATLAB 2010 version has been used to
model two 500 kV, 200km, transmission lines connected in
parallel, with 100-MVA UPFC connected at midpoint of one
transmission line as shown in fig.1. The transmission network
terminates at two 500 kV sources with short circuit level of
8500 MVA with the phase difference of 40◦ between the
sources. The UPFC is employed at the middle location of
the transmission line. Since UPFC can be operated in three
modes: STATCOM, SSSC and both; while operating in SSSC
or STATCOM mode alone the respective rating becomes half
of that of UPFC operating in combined mode.
Distributed parameter lines are used as transmission lines.
Parameters chosen are: The positive sequence line impedance
and negative sequence line impedance are chosen to be equal
to 0.0254+j0.352 Ω/km, and the zero sequence line impedance
is 0.3564+j1.555 Ω/km.
III. APPARENT IMPEDENCE OBSERVED BY
PROTECTIVE RELAY
The apparent line impedance detected by the relay is calcu-
lated based on symmetrical components using the fundamental
components (power frequency) of current and voltage at relay
location. The relay is installed after the Bus 1 as shown in
fig.1
 1st IEEE International Conference on Power Electronics, Intelligent Control and Energy Systems (ICPEICES-2016)

Fig. 1: Transmission line model employing UPFC

A. Apparent impedence for single line to ground fault
The equivalent sequence network, for line to ground fault
at m × L distance from the relay point and on right side of the
UPFC is shown in fig.2:
Vss1 = Iss1 0.5Zl1 + Vm1 + Il1 (m − 0.5)Zl1 + If 1 Rf
Vss2 = Iss2 0.5Zl1 + Vm2 + Il2 (m − 0.5)Zl1 + If 2 Rf
Substituting (1) to (6) in (7) and cancelling same terms, we
get,
Vss = mIss Zl1 + mIss0 (Zl0 − Zl1 ) + Im (m − 0.5)Zl1
+ (m − 0.5)(Zl0 − Zl1 )Im0 + Vm + If Rf (8)
(1)
Eq. (8) shows the phase-a voltage at relay bus Vss in terms of
(2) line current at relay bus Iss , shunt injected current Im , fault
current If and series injected voltage Vm .

Vss0 = Iss0 0.5Zl0 + Vm0 + Il0 (m − 0.5)Zl0 + If 0 Rf (3)

Il1 = Iss1 + Im1 (4)

Il2 = Iss2 + Im2 (5)

Il0 = Iss0 + Im0 (6)

Where Vss0 , Vss1 , Vss2 , Iss0 , Iss1 and Iss2 are zero
sequence, positive sequence and negative sequence compo-
nents of voltage and current at relay location respectively.
Zl0 , Zl1 , Zl2 are zero sequence, positive sequence and
negative sequence impedances of transmission line. If 0 , If 1
and If 2 are zero sequence, positive sequence and negative
Fig. 2: Positive Sequence, Negative Sequence and Zero Sequence Networks of the System
sequence components of fault current respectively. Im0 , Im1 during Occurrence of Fault
and Im2 are zero sequence, positive sequence and negative
sequence components of shunt current injected by STATCOM.
In a transmission network during line to ground fault,
Vm0 , Vm1 and Vm2 are zero sequence, positive sequence and
apparent line impedance observed by protective distance relay
negative sequence components of voltage injected by SSSC in
is,
series. m is the distance of fault point from relay installation
point in p.u. Vss
Zapp = (9)
Voltage of phase-a at relay bus is Vss which is obtained as: Iss + kIss0
Zl0 −Zl1
Vss = Vss1 + Vss2 + Vss0 (7) where, k = Zl1

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 1st IEEE International Conference on Power Electronics, Intelligent Control and Energy Systems (ICPEICES-2016)

Substituting, the value of Vss in (9) we get,

Im (m − 0.5)Zl1 Vm
Zapp = mZl1 + +
Iss + kIss0 Iss + kIss0
(m − 0.5)(Zl0 − Zl1 )Im0 I f Rf
+ + (10)
Iss + kIss0 Iss + kIss0

From Eq. (10) it can be concluded that the apparent

impedance observed by the protective relay comprises of
terms: impedance (positive sequence) from relay location to
fault location; the second term includes the effect of UPFC
on impedance observed by the relay which itself comprises of
two parts: one includes the shunt current Im put in by shunt
compensator (STATCOM) and the other includes voltage Vm
inserted in series by the series compensator (SSSC); third term
is due to fault resistance( as fault inductance is assumed to be
zero).
Depending upon the injected shunt current and the injected
series voltage the apparent impedance observed by protective
relay varies leading to erroneous operation (under reach or
overreach) due to wrong fault location estimation.
B. Relay Modelling
As mentioned before, relay is located after Bus 1 of the
system, mho characteristic distance relay has been used in
this system as it is well suited for long distance transmis-
sion line as compare to overcurrent relay. The relay set-
ting is chosen to protect 80% of the transmission line i.e.
Zsetting = 0.8Zl1
The mho relay algorithm used for this system is shown in
fig.3.
The distance relay measures the voltage and current using
CVT and CT respectively. Impedance seen by the relay is cal-
culated using (10). Discrete fourier transform is used to extract
the fundamental quantity of voltage and current signal. Positive
and zero sequence components of current are extracted using
sequence analyser.
IV. SIMULATION RESULTS
UPFC works in three modes; the first is when it operates
as STATCOM only i.e. when only shunt compensating part
is used in the UPFC system; the second is when it operates
as SSSC only i.e. when only series compensating part is used
in the UPFC system and the third is when operating as a
full UPFC system i.e. both parts are used together. In the
following section the impact of UPFC on distance protection
is considered.
Fig. 3: Distance Relay Fault Impedance Calculation Algorithm
A. Effect of STATCOM (Shunt compensator) on relay behavior
While operating as a shunt compensator, the main task
of UPFC is to regulate bus voltage at installation point
by absorbing or supplying reactive power from/into power
system.
On occurrence of a solid line to ground fault it is apparent
from (10) that, during UPFC operation as STATCOM,apparent
line impedance observed by the protective relay becomes :
Im (m − 0.5)Zl1
Zapp = mZl1 +
Iss + kIss0
(m − 0.5)(Zl0 − Zl1 )Im0
+ (11)
Iss + kIss0
The limit by which STATCOM affects the apparent line
impedance observed by the protective relay depends upon
the ratios: Im /(Iss + kIss0 ) and Im0 /(Iss + kIss0 ) .When
a shunt transformer with delta connection on one side is used
for connecting STATCOM with transmission network, zero
sequence current put in by STATCOM becomes zero.
From (11) it can be stated that if STATCOM introduces
capacitive current (positive), the apparent line impedance
observed by relay rises and the same falls outside the mho
characteristics used in protective relay characteristics thus
relay underreaches and doesn’t trip when fault occurs as shown
in fig. 4. Similarly if STATCOM injects inductive current
(negative), the apparent line impedance seen by protective
relay decreases and the relay overreaches.
B. Effect of UPFC on Distance Protection
When UPFC works in third mode (as a complete UPFC
system) i.e. when both series and shunt compensating parts
work together, its function is to both maintain bus voltage at

[3]
 1st IEEE International Conference on Power Electronics, Intelligent Control and Energy Systems (ICPEICES-2016)
installation point and to regulate power flow in transmission
network.
On occurrence of solid line to ground fault it is apparent
from (10) that, during UPFC operation as complete device, the
apparent line impedance observed by protective relay becomes,
Im (m − 0.5)Zl1 Vm
Zapp = mZl1 + + is more severe when UPFC is used as a complete device than
Iss + kIss0 Iss + kIss0
(m − 0.5)(Zl0 − Zl1 )Im0
+ (12)
Iss + kIss0
The effect of UPFC on apparent impedance now also
depends upon the ratio Vm /(Iss + kIss0 ). The apparent line
resistance observed by the protective relay increases with
consumption of active power by series compensating part of
UPFC. Similarly when the series compensating part consumes
reactive power, the apparent reactance observed by the protec-
tive relay increases and thus the relay underreaches as shown
in fig 4. From fig 5 and fig. 6, it is clear that UPFC has greater
effect on the apparent line impedance observed by the relay.
Fig. 4: Relay characteristics and apparent impedance trajectory
Fig. 5: Apparent resistance trajectory
Fig. 6: Apparent reactance trajectory
[4]
V. CONCLUSION
This paper describes the effect of UPFC on distance relay
behaviour. The simulation results obtained demonstrate that
protective distance relay may underreach due to the adverse
impact of UPFC. The results obtained by simulation also
indicate that the limit of underreaching of distance protection
when it is used only as STATCOM.
R EFERENCES
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Century, 2008 IEEE, Pittsburgh, PA, 2008, pp. 1-6.
[2] N. G. Hingorani, L. Gyugyi, Understanding FACTS Concepts and
Technology of Flexible AC Transmission Systems, 2000, IEEE Press.
[3] A. G. Phadke, M. Ibrahim and T. Hlibka, ”Fundamental basis for
distance relaying with symmetrical components,” in IEEE Transactions
on Power Apparatus and Systems, vol. 96, no. 2, pp. 635-646, Mar
1977.
[4] D. L. Waikar, S. Elangovan and A. C. Liew, ”Fault impedance estimation
algorithm for digital distance relaying,” in IEEE Transactions on Power
Delivery,. vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 1375-1383, Jul 1994.
[5] M. Khederzadeh, ”The impact of FACTS device on digital multifunc-
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[6] K. El-Arroudi, G. Joos and D. T. McGillis, ”Operation of impedance
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