A Fast and Robust Fault Section Location Method for Power Distribution Systems Considering Multisource Information

The speed and robustness of fault section location directly affect the resilience of the distribution network when the latter is exposed to extreme events. This article is proposing a fast and robust fault section location method for distribution system considering the outage reports from smart meters in low-voltage network and notifications from remote fault indicators (RFIs) in medium-voltage network. To make section location faster, a proposed location model moves underreporting variables and misreporting variables to offline recognition. To make section location more robust, the location model proposes new constraints of expected RFI states to remove the limitation of multiple faults on different paths to all sources. Simulation results on a utility feeder with distributed generations demonstrate that the proposed method has faster location and better robustness, which is helpful to the resilience enhancement of the distribution network.

I. Introduction

Enhancing the resilience of power grids against extreme weather events is a key task of power grid modernization [1]. In recent years, power grid outages caused by extreme weather events have caused huge economic losses. For example, Hurricane Sandy in 2012 paralyzed power systems in several coastal states and caused power outages that affected 8.5 million customers [2]. Between 2003 and 2012, extreme weather events caused approximately 679 power outages, each of which affected at least 50 000 customers. Among these outages, 80%–90% of the outages occurred in the power distribution system.