Islanding detection using synchronized measurement in smart microgrids

This paper presents the issues involved in the detection of islanding via traditional methods as well as the implementation of 3-phase synchronized measurements. A proposed technique for better islanding recognition in microgrids using multiple PMUs was developed. A new method which uses 3 phase synchronized measurements was introduced for the detection of unbalanced or partial islanding of microgrids. This occurs when the microgrid loose only one phase of its link to the main grid. In addition to simulation of the proposed method in MATLAB/Simulink, experimental results are also obtained. A small scaled 3-phase power system at the laboratory scale was developed and used to compare the traditional and new techniques. The comparisons of experimental and simulation results show that the proposed technique was successfully verified.