Facing a rapidly-changing power industry, the electrical engineering department at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo proposed Advanced Power Systems Initiatives to better prepare its students for entering the power industry. These initiatives call for the creation of a new laboratory curriculum that uses microprocessor-based relays to reinforce the fundamental concepts of power system protection. This paper summarizes a laboratory system fit for this task and presents a set of proposed laboratory experiments to establish a new laboratory course at Cal Poly. The experiments expose students to the capabilities of industry-standard microprocessor-based relays through hands-on procedures that demonstrate common power system protection schemes. Relays studied in this project support transformer, transmission line, and induction motor protection.

Microgrids—miniature versions of the electrical grid are becoming increasingly more popular as advancements in technologies, renewable energy mandates, and decreased costs drive communities to adopt them. The modern microgrid has capabilities of generating, distributing, and regulating the flow of electricity, capable of operating in both grid-connected and islanded (disconnected) conditions. This paper utilizes ETAP software in the analysis, simulation, and development of the Cal Poly microgrid. Additionally, an ETAP power system protection tutorial is created to aid students entering the power industry. Microprocessor-based relays are heavily utilized in both the ETAP model and hardware implementation of the system. Case studies in this project investigate electric power system load flow, short circuit, protection coordination, and transient stability analysis of the Cal Poly microgrid.