Effect of Fault Current Limiter (FCL) on reliability and protection coordination of distribution system

Presence of distributed generations (DGs) is not without problem in distribution networks. In spite of their advantages these problems should also be solved. One of the most common problems is mismatching between fuse and recloser in temporary short circuits in presence of DGs. Hence, Fault Current Limiter (FCL) is used to solve the problem. The aim of present paper is to study effects of FCL on solving merged problem and along with it, special attention has been paid to reliability of the network (i.e. how FCL improves reliability of the network) and such improvement in reliability has been studied in two aspects. FCL, not only improves reliability of the network by decreasing level of short circuit and improvement in failure rate of protective devices, but also it improves such reliability by solving the problem of mismatch between fuse and recloser which decreases energy not supplied rate. Biogeography-Based Optimization (BBO) algorithm is used to measure optimal impedance for FCL and the results were studied on a distribution network. It was observed that in addition to solving emerged problems, network reliability is improved at presence of FCL in series with DGs.