Protective Equipment for Distributed Generation with Integration to Smart Grids

Due to the expected increase in Distributed Generation - DG - connected to the mains from consuming units, the utilities are concerned about problems that may arise in the electrical system and the need to control that. In this scenario, it was proposed the development of protective equipment for connecting DG on the electricity system integrated with smart grid. The functional requirements of the equipment were defined based on standards, articles addressing the problems arising from the installation of DG in distribution system and computer simulations. The hardware was developed based on the OMAP-L138 processor and the communication was implemented through a mesh network with ZigBee protocol, which is already installed for testing in some sections of the distribution system. This paper shows some concerns about the future electricity networks and proposes a system based on smart grids for protection and automation of distribution network with DG.