A downed conductor event, may lead to high-impedance faults (HIFs) that pose utility personnel and public safety concerns when left energized and unaddressed on distribution systems. Energized lines with HIF conditions can also result in wildfires, equipment damage and prolonged outages. Traditional protective relaying may be unable to detect and isolate for these types of events.
In this paper, we present insight into Southern California Edison (SCE) efforts regarding implementation, testing, and improvement of HIF detection technologies in distribution system. This includes SCE’s drivers in adding HIF detection and SCE’s pilot to implement and evaluate the HIF detection algorithms embedded in field recloser devices (AR). The paper presents the high impedance fault field experimental stage testing results at Southern California Edison (SCE) Equipment Demonstration & Evaluation Facility (EDEF) for 12kV distribution circuit with covered conductor.
Lastly, the paper presents an analysis of HIFs algorithm performance under different system operating conditions, such as an actual HIFs faults and failed power system equipment that resulted in electrical arcing.