Thermal calculation for distance protection enhancement

Worldwide analysis of recent wide area cascading failures has shown that very often their main cause was the mal-operation of the distance protection relay third zone. The load encroachment and power swing phenomena are the two dire problems to solve when dealing with the third zone of distance protection. The vast number of blackouts could have been avoided or the consequences lowered if the distance relay had not operated due to impedance encroachment while there was no risk of further, continuous operation. This paper proposes a way to improve operation of the distance protection relay by introducing a new blocking algorithm that uses the Dynamic Thermal Line Rating (DTLR) to restrain relay from tripping when conditions in electrical power system allow for it.