Grid protection in distribution grids

Objective

Protection technology as an independent field of electrical engineering is becoming increasingly important for the operation of electrical power supply networks. In the past, this area of application was often the preserve of qualified protection experts, but the analysis and evaluation of fault events is becoming increasingly important in operational management. Downtimes and their impact on the grid and customers must be further reduced. This can be achieved both through optimised protection concepts that are adapted to the functional diversity of modern protection devices and through the increased use of remote monitoring and remote control.

In order for operational personnel to be able to fulfil this role, they must have basic knowledge of the operating principles of grid protection systems and their boundary conditions for reliable operation. The two-day training course covers these basic principles.

Learning objectives

• Basic knowledge of the common protection criteria for grid protection
• Requirements, design and mode of operation of protection systems
• Excitation safety and excitation reliability (maximum load current versus minimum short-circuit current)
• Fault types and neutral point handling
• Protection range, selection range, switch-off times, economic efficiency
• Automatic transfer switching, pick-up control
• Main protection systems and their control effects for selected network equipment
• Effects of backup protection in the event of failure of a protection system component of selected equipment

On the topic

All grid operators have to assert themselves in a constantly changing environment. If the energy transition is to succeed, the electricity grids must be adapted to the changed generation mix, legal and regulatory changes and new customer requirements, and existing structures must be analysed and optimised. Changes in load demand, feed-in, short-circuit power, sensitivity to supply disruptions and legal and regulatory framework conditions must be taken into account. Our experts have developed a workshop on the basics of grid protection based on many years of industry experience in order to be able to observe and assess the relevant factors accordingly.

Participants

The workshop is aimed at authorised persons from the public power supply and the electrical energy industry. Participants need a deeper understanding of grid protection technology because their areas of responsibility include operation, fault analysis, grid planning, occupational safety and risk assessment.

Prerequisites  

Participants in this workshop should be qualified electricians with a technician, master craftsman or engineer qualification or have comparable professional training.

Basic knowledge of electrical engineering, electrical quantities and units as well as an understanding of the equipment in the electrical energy system is required.

Method

You will have the opportunity to directly apply the knowledge gained from the lectures, demonstrations and selected examples in fault scenarios on the network simulator.  

Contents

• Functionality of UMZ protection, distance protection, differential protection, switch reserve protection, end fault protection
• Design and redundancy of main and backup protection systems
• Pick-up reliability and minimum short-circuit currents
• Fault types, network calculation and basics of neutral point treatment
• Structure of line, transformer and system protection systems in the 110 and 10 kV grid
• Examples of recordings of real single-pole and multi-pole short circuits in the network
• Examples of the effect of backup protection in the event of failure of individual components of a protection system