Performance Evaluation of IEC 61850 Communication Based Protection Scheme for Inverter Interfaced Microgrids

The increasing penetration of inverter-interfaced distributed generators (DGs) in microgrids presents significant challenges for protection schemes. Numerous standardized, communication-based centralized protection schemes for microgrids have been proposed in the literature. However, the successful deployment of these schemes is critically dependent on the underlying communication framework. This paper evaluates the performance of an IEC 61850-based centralized protection scheme specifically designed for inverter-interfaced microgrids. Realistic R-GOOSE messages are generated based on the microgrid's IEC 61850 information model, and their impact in terms of communication latency for different communication technologies such as Ethernet, WiFi, Zigbee is investigated. The objective is to determine the effectiveness and applicability of this communication-based protection scheme in inverter-interfaced microgrids under different communication conditions. The results demonstrate that the centralized protection scheme is effectively supported by Ethernet and WiFi technologies, ensuring reliable protection in such microgrid environments