This thesis aims to propose a recommended upgrade for the generator protectionsystems in small hydropower stations. The hydropower stations examined areBrantafors, Djupafors, Horkoneryd, Kallinge ,Karlsnäs, Ronneby and Verperyd. Therecommended generator protection systems are developed from regulations basedon constitutions from Svenska Kraftnät and Elsäkerhetsverket. The recommendationpresented in this thesis is a lowest recommendation for the generator protectionsystems of small hydropower stations and in some cases the owner of the powerplant may request above this lowest level of protection. The overall documentation of the stations has been inadequate and many parametersare unknown in the stations and therefore assumptions have been made. Theassumptions have a big influence on the short circuit calculations which affects therecommended settings for short circuit protection and therefore a conservativeapproach has been used. The result of this thesis is that the hydro power station Ronneby can’t manage therequirements specified from Svenska Kraftnät, and therefore the protection system inthe hydro power station need to be adjusted. The hydropower stations Brantaforsand Verperyd can with minor adjustments meet the recommended generatorprotection. On the stations Djupafors, Horkoneryd, Kallinge and Karlsnäs largerupgrades of the generator protection systems need to be done to fulfill therecommended protection system.

A safe and stable power supply in an industrial plant is of utmost importance today. However, errors in an industrial power grid will always occur, and when they do, a fault current will be generated. If these are not detected and isolated quickly, there is a risk of large costs and damage to both material and personnel. A well-functioning protection system against overcurrent is therefore of utmost importance to industrial customers. To protect against over currents, a protection system with correctly implemented protection functions is required. One of Siemens AB's many business areas is protection systems where they provide products and services to their customers. Based on the complexity of a protection system, Siemens AB sees an advantage in having a guide available for both their customers and sellers, that explains in a simple and comprehensive way how to protect an industrial plant against the overcurrents. After extensive literature studies regarding protection systems, overcurrent and relay protection, relevant information and theory have been processed and compiled. Documents for how a guide should be written have been studied and provided inspiration for the work. The result of this was a practical guide for protecting industrial plants and its components against overcurrent. The guide goes through the underlying protection philosophy for how the power system in an industrial plant should be protected, theoretical review of overcurrent and relevant relay protection functions, as well as practical examples of how typical industrial components can be protected against overcurrent. The guide was accepted by the company and will thus be available to Siemens personnel and costumers for deeper understanding in the field.

Variable renewable energy sources typically connect to the power grid through power electronic interfaces. Increased use of such sources can cause issues for conventional distance protection. The purpose of distance protection is to detect transmission line faults and trip circuit breakers accordingly in order to maintain power system stability and power quality, and to ensure the safety of equipment and humans. Conventional distance protection solutions work satisfactorily in grids dominated by synchronous generators, but it has been recognized in industry and academia that new solutions may be needed in power grids dominated by power electronics interfaced generation due to the non-linear system impacts introduced by such sources. It was the aim of this thesis project to investigate the performance of alternative solutions used toward this end, specifically time domain distance protection solutions which are immune to the dynamics of power electronics interfaced sources. Short-circuit simulations for different fault scenarios have been performed in PSCAD, utilising models with a wind farm connected via a single overhead transmission line to a grid represented by a voltage source and impedance. The PSCAD line voltages and currents were processed in Matlab where both a more conventional phasor-based algorithm and a time domain differential equation based algorithm were implemented and simulated. A tripping logic based on detecting stable fault distance estimates within the primary protection zone was used. The implemented algorithms were compared for 96 scenarios in their ability to identify the faults and fault types, estimate the fault distances, and in their tripping speed. The results show an overall better performance for the differential equation algorithm compared to the conventional phasor-based algorithm, with more successful trips, faster tripping speed and superior distance estimate convergence on the correct fault distance. Some limitations have also been identified for the differential equation algorithm such as a fault impedance trajectory in the impedance plane which can lead to incorrect trips during external faults when using conventional tripping logic. It is suggested that more research be done regarding the differential equation algorithm with the next step being further algorithm development and testing when using fault impedance estimates and a tripping zone in the impedance plane. / Variabla förnybara energikällor använder vanligtvis kraftelektronik som ett gränssnitt för kopplingen till kraftnätet och ökningen av sådana källor kan skapa problem för konventionella distansskydd. Distansskydds syfte är att detektera jord- och fasfel på kraftledningar samt att skicka utlösningssignaler till strömbrytare för att isolera felet, vilket behövs för att upprätthålla kraftnätets stabilitet, effektkvalitet samt för att säkerställa säkerhet för komponenter och människor. Konventionella distansskydd fungerar bra i kraftnät dominerade av synkrongeneratorer men det har uppmärksammats av industrin samt den akademiska världen att nya lösningar kan behövas i kraftnät som är dominerade av energikällor med kraftelektronik-gränssnitt på grund av dess olinjära dynamik. Syftet med detta examensarbete är att undersöka prestandan av alternativa algoritmer för distansskydd som kan användas mot detta ändamål, specifikt tidsdomän algoritmer som är immuna mot dynamiken introducerad av kraftelektroniken. Kortslutningssimuleringar för olika scenarion har simulerats i PSCAD modeller med en vindkraftpark kopplad i änden på kraftledningen, där spänningarna och strömmarna sparas för vidare analys. Resultaten från PSCAD simuleringar bearbetades i Matlab där både en konventionell algoritm baserad på fasvektorer samt en tidsdomän algoritm baserad på differentialekvationer har implementerats och simulerats. Den implementerade utlösningslogiken baserades på att detektera stabila estimeringar för avståendet mellan skyddsreläet och felet på kraftledningen, där utlösningssignaler skickas för stabila estimeringar detekterade inom den primära skyddszonen för reläet. De implementerade algoritmerna jämfördes i 96 olika scenarion för deras förmåga att: identifiera fel och feltypen, estimera avståndet mellan skyddsreläet och felet samt för deras utlösningstider. Resultaten visar en i överlag bättre prestanda för differentialekvations-algoritmen jämfört med den konventionella fasvektor-baserade algoritmen med fler lyckade strömbrytarutlösningar, snabbare utlösningstider samt bättre konvergens och mer korrekt lokalisering för avståndsestimeringen mellan skyddsreläet och felet. Vissa limitationer har även identifierats för differentialekvations-algoritmen, exempelvis en felimpedans-kurva i impedansplanet vilket kan leda till inkorrekta utlösningar för externa fel om ett konventionellt impedansområden används för utlösningslogiken. Det föreslås att mer forskning bör utföras kring differentialekvations-algoritmen med nästa steg att vidare utveckla algoritmen samt utföra tester vid användande av felimpedansestimeringar och en utlösningslogik baserad på impedansområden.