Intentional islanding in power systems with dispersed generation

The expansion and diversification of the Uruguayan energetic infrastructure, with significant penetration of renewable sources is leading to structural changes in the power system, in both transmission and distribution subsystems. These changes impact in the operation criteria and also in the power system protection. The paper studies one of the phenomena that arises in the new scenarios of the power system: the possibility of islanding operation of systems including these new geographically dispersed generators. This new scenario poses challenges and also opportunities, since that the controlled islanding may constitute a valuable protective strategy in some cases. The case study includes both wind and biomass generators that in certain cases are shown to be able to operate in island following major disturbances.