With Power System being restructured in the vision of Smart Grid, it is important now more than ever to find suitable locations to place Distributed Generators (DG). Distributed generators, which may be renewable, are not limited to specific locations as in the case of conventional generators. Several papers have been published that make suggestions on where the optimal location of DG should be in a system. Objectives ranging from loss minimization to total cost minimization have been the factor for such studies. In this study, a new method is introduced that hopes to improve a current system in three ways by maximizing load, minimizing the locational marginal price and improving line contingency scenarios. The proposed methodology is simulated using MATPOWER’s Optimal Power Flow on the IEEE 14 bus test system.

Various directional comparison bus protection methods including widely used superimposed directional element method need to have both voltages and currents from all feeders connected to the zone of protection to find the direction of current for detecting a bus fault or a line fault. The purpose of the thesis is to present a new technique for directional comparison bus protection to discriminate a bus fault from line fault and normal condition. The new technique, which is implementing superimposed directional element method to modify partial operating current characteristics (POC) method to superimposed POC (SPOC) method, does not use voltages from feeders, hence capacitor voltage transformers (CVTs) are no longer needed in the zone of protection. The proposed technique was implemented in 4-bus and IEEE 14-bus test system and was tested using different fault cases including CT saturation and high impedance fault. The proposed technique, SPOC method was compared with POC method with both methods implemented in same test systems and tested with same fault cases. The results show that the proposed technique is successful to detect bus faults with high accuracy and high speed.

Geomagnetically induced currents (GIC) are manifestations of space weather phenomena on the electric power grid. Although not a new phenomenon, they assume great importance in wake of the present, ever expanding power grids. This thesis discusses the cause of GICs, methodology of modeling them into the power system and the ramifications of their presence in the bulk power system. GIC is treated at a micro level considering its effects on the power system assets like Transformers and also at a macro level with respect to issues like Voltage instability. In illustration, several simulations are made on a transformer & the standard IEEE 14 bus system to reproduce the effect of a geomagnetic storm on a power grid. Various software tools like PowerWorld Simulator, SimPower Systems have been utilized in performing these simulations. Contingency analysis involving the weakest elements in the system has been performed to evaluate the impact of their loss on the system. Test results are laid out and discussed in detail to convey the consequences of a geomagnetic phenomenon on the power grid in a holistic manner.

Solar energy is an abundant renewable source, which is expected to play an increasing role in the grid's future infrastructure for distributed generation. The research described in the thesis focuses on the analysis of integrating multi-megawatt photovoltaics (PV) systems with battery energy storage into the existing grid and on the theory supporting the electrical operation of components and systems. The PV system is divided into several sections, each having its own DC-DC converter for maximum power point tracking and a two-level grid connected inverter with different control strategies. The functions of the battery are explored by connecting it to the system in order to prevent possible voltage fluctuations and as a buffer storage in order to eliminate the power mismatch between PV array generation and load demand. Computer models of the system are developed and implemented using the PSCADTM/EMTDCTM software.

The purpose of this thesis is to validate generator models for dynamic studies of power systems using PSS/E (Power System Simulator for Engineering), EMTP (ElectroMagnetic Transient Program), and Hypersim. To thoroughly evaluate the behavior of a power system in the three specified software packages, it is necessary to have an accurate model for the power system, especially the generator which is of interest. The effect of generator modeling on system response under normal conditions and under faulted conditions is investigated in this work. A methodology based on sensitivity analysis of generator model parameters is proposed aiming to homogenize the behavior of the same power system that is modeled in three software packages. Standard IEEE 14-Bus system is used as a test case for this investigation. Necessary changes in the exciter parameters are made using the proposed methodology so that the system behaves identical across all three software platforms.