Fault Section Identification for Hybrid Transmission Lines Considering the Weak-Feed Characteristics of Floating Photovoltaic Power Plant Inverters

The overhead line (OHL)–cable hybrid transmission line, which connects floating photovoltaic (PV) power plants, needs to be considered regarding whether to block reclosing operations or not. However, due to the weak-feed characteristics of PV inverters, existing methods are difficult to apply in this scenario. This paper proposes a criterion for fault section identification in the transmission lines of floating PV power plants based on traveling wave power and the zero-sequence impedance angle. Firstly, the fault current characteristics of photovoltaic inverters under dual-vector control are analyzed, and the applicability of the sequence component impedance directional criterion in this scenario is discussed. Then, the transmission, refraction, and reflection processes of traveling waves in OHL–cable hybrid lines are analyzed, and a traveling wave energy criterion is designed to determine the fault section. Finally, based on the scope of application of the zero-sequence impedance angle and traveling wave energy criterion, a fault section identification method for the hybrid lines of floating PV power plants is established. A deployment method for the proposed method, based on feeder terminal units (FTUs) at the connection points between the OHL and cable is proposed. This method identifies fault sections through traveling waves and zero-sequence impedance angles, which are unaffected by PV week feed characteristics, can be applied to all the AC fault types, and do not rely on multi-terminal synchronous sampling. The proposed method is verified on a 1MW PV system built in the PSCAD.