Electrical Power and Energy Systems 42 (2012) 127138

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Electrical Power and Energy Systems

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijepes

Under-Frequency Load Shedding scheme for islanded distribution network

connected with mini hydro
M. Karimi a,b,, H. Mohamad c, H. Mokhlis a,b, A.H.A. Bakar b
a

Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
UM Power Energy Dedicated Advanced Centre (UMPEDAC), Level 4, Wisma R&D UM, University of Malaya, 59990 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
c
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Technology MARA (UiTM), 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
b

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 26 September 2011
Received in revised form 22 December 2011
Accepted 13 March 2012
Available online 8 May 2012
Keywords:
Distributed generation
Under-Frequency Load Shedding
Load prioritization
Rate of change of frequency
Islanding

a b s t r a c t
Under-Frequency Load Shedding (UFLS) is a common technique to maintain power system stability by
removing the overload in some part of the system. The existing UFLS schemes operate successfully in
the interconnected grid system. A particular approach of UFLS scheme is required for an islanded system
which is known to be not as strong as the grid. This paper presents a new approach of UFLS scheme for
the implementation in an islanded distribution system. The scheme is based on a combination of adaptive
and intelligent techniques. The disturbance magnitude for response based and event based is treated differently: (1) event based is based on the power imbalance and (2) response based is based on the swing
equation which relies on the frequency and rate of change of frequency measurement. Dynamic simulation on an intentional islanding operation is performed on an existing Malaysian network interconnected
with a mini hydro generation. The objective is to investigate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme is capable of improving the frequency
response of the islanded system. A signicant nding is that the scheme can successfully reduce the effect
of power deciency following the grid connected to islanding operation transition.
2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
In the recent years, intentional islanding of a distribution network connected with distributed generation (DG) has becomes a
topic of interests to improve security and reliability of a distribution network. Implementing an intentional islanding operation of
DG will establish continuity of supply whereby the DG must be
able to take over the role of the grid by independently feeding
the whole island [1]. Although the operation is currently prohibited (as stated in IEEE STD 929-2000 [2] and IEEE STD 1547-2003
[3]) due to the severe consequences islanding can bring, this operation is inspired with the high penetration level of DG expected in
the near future and it could offer benets. Accordingly, IEEE 1547
group has produced a draft series of guides referred as P1547.4
Draft Guide for Design, Operation, and Integration of Distributed
Resource Island System with Electric Power System [4] which will
serve yet as a guide for practicing an intentional islanding operation in an electric power system.

Corresponding author at: Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of

Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Tel.: +60 3 7967
5348.
E-mail addresses: mazaherkarimi@yahoo.com, mazaher@siswa.um.edu.my
(M. Karimi).
0142-0615/$ - see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijepes.2012.03.017

The islanding operation will only become feasible with the

incorporation of advanced digital technology and fast and secure
communication means in the distribution system. In addition,
there are a few technical issues that need to be resolved. The most
critical is to maintain the power quality of the islanded system. A
sudden change in generation and load immediately after system
is islanded poses a challenge in controlling the frequency response.
A large excess of load over local generation in the islanded system
could result in a rapid frequency drop. For such a large imbalance, a
speed controller (governor) of the synchronous generator would
not be able to stabilize the response. The only way to stabilize
the voltage and frequency response to its nominal value is to reject
several loads [5].
It is a common practice among the power utilities to employ a
conventional Under-Frequency Load Shedding (UFLS) scheme in
protecting a scenario of under frequency in the grid system. The
UFLS relay is set to shed certain amount of loads based on a specied frequency threshold. Although the scheme is simple, it is
widely known to be unreliable in shedding the right amount of
load [2,3,6,7]. Thus, to improve its performance, new UFLS schemes
which are referred as adaptive and intelligent have been proposed
[6,810]. In an adaptive UFLS scheme, the amount of load to be
shed is determined based on the estimated magnitude of disturbance (power imbalance). The magnitude is normally estimated
using the swing equation which requires an estimated value of

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M. Karimi et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 42 (2012) 127138

Main Grid

Islanded
Distribution Network

Load Shed
Controller
Module

Distributed
Generation
Frequency
Calculator
Module

G1

G2

Fig. 1. Concept of proposed load shedding scheme for an islanded network.

the rate of change of frequency (df/dt) in the system. Various

approaches/techniques and considered criteria have been incorporated to produce an efcient UFLS scheme. In [6,8] an adaptive
scheme was proposed in accordance with the developed estimation of the magnitude of the disturbance procedure which required
input from the online measurement of the frequency and df/dt of
multiple numbers of generators in the system. In [11,12], two
centralized adaptive algorithms which were considered for the
response-based and the combination of response-based and
event-based have been proposed. There are other papers in the literature reporting on the adaptive scheme which has considered
the voltage variation in order to identify and shed the sensitive
load busses [13], a combination of frequency, df/dt and voltage
changes [14,15] and the initial slope of df/dt for setting the under-frequency relays [16]. The schemes were likely to be fully successful with the assumption that the high speed communication
technology exists in the grid.
Different aspects of intelligent load shedding scheme have been
reported in the literature [9,10,17,18]. The intelligent scheme
utilized a power system automation, two-way high speed communication system, fast and accurate measurement units and other modern facilities to acquire knowledge and information regarding the
network for intelligently and optimally shedding the load [1921].
There are other load-shedding schemes which take into account
the interruptible part of loads [22], the frequency second derivatives
[23] and the cost of event based customers interruption [24].
Unlike the interconnected grid system, the frequency response
for an isolated and islanded system could be more severe when
subjected to a transient disturbance. The severity greatly varies
with the size of the isolated system or in other words the total system inertia. The smaller system inertia tends to cause a quick frequency drop. It also has a limited spinning reserve to cover for the
shortfall of the generation. Thus, these characteristics have justied the requirement of particular approaches in designing the

adaptive load shedding scheme in the isolated system [2528].

For the islanded distribution system, not much work has been conducted. The developed load shedding schemes so far have focused
on the approaches for obtaining the optimal load shedding in the
islanded system. Among the strategies are the scheme based on
the frequency and df/dt information, customers willingness to
pay and load histories [29] and the best time to shed the loads [30].
This paper proposes a new conceptual strategy of a load shedding scheme which will provide a solution for two scenarios in
an islanded distribution system i.e. the moment the island is disconnected from the grid and during islanded system. The strategy
utilizes a combination of adaptive and intelligent UFLS scheme
adopting the event-based and response-based method proposed
in [11,12] to tackle these scenarios respectively. It would be able
to intelligently and optimally shed the load in accordance to the
load priority. The proposed scheme is implemented to an intentional islanding operation considering Malaysias existing distribution network that consists of two small units of hydro generation
connected in parallel to the grid. The islanding operation study is
simulated using the PSCAD/EMTDC simulation tool.
This paper is organized as follows: Section 2 elaborates on the
proposed strategy. In Section 3, test system and case studies will
be described. The proposed load shedding scheme is simulated
with peak and light load values and the results are presented in
Section 4. The conclusion of this paper is drawn in Section 5.

2. Under-frequency Load Shedding for islanded distribution

network
2.1. Overview of proposed load shedding
The proposed load shedding scheme introduces a new approach
of UFLS Scheme for an islanded system. In general, the scheme uses

M. Karimi et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 42 (2012) 127138

Start

f 1 & f2

f1 : frequency of generator1
f2 : frequency of generator2
f: system frequency

129

In order for the islanded system to have a seamless operation

and a successful load shedding implementation, the distribution
grid is assumed to be facilitated with the smart grid technologies,
reliable monitoring devices and a fast communication system to
transmit data. In addition, the protection device shall be set in dual
setting mode: grid connected and an islanded system.
2.2. Frequency calculator module

Generator number 1 is
disconnected from the
system ?

Yes
f = f2

No

Generator number 2 is
disconnected from the
system ?

Yes
f = f1

No

f = System frequency

< setting value

2.3. Load Shedding Controller Module

No

Send the frequency

to the LSCM

Yes

The operation of FCM is as presented in Fig. 2. The FCM starts with

measurement of the frequency at every half cycle. Suppose that the
distribution network consists of two generators (as a case of network shown in Fig. 1) with frequency f1 and f2 respectively. The
FCM will rst check whether any of the generators is disconnected
from the network. If this happens, the frequency of the network will
follow the frequency of the generator that is still in operation. Otherwise if both generators are still in operation, the frequency of the
center of inertia (COI) is taken. During system disturbances, the generators are disturbed by inter generator oscillations and their deceleration or acceleration rates are not the same. Therefore, for the
power imbalance calculation, the frequency of the COI is considered
[3133]. This frequency is then compared to the frequency protection setting of each generator. If the frequency lies outside this
setting, both generators will be tripped off by an under or over frequency relay, which in practice is available to protect the generator.
Otherwise, the frequency will be transmitted to LSCM. The setting
depends on the system frequency, the network and generation type.
The allowable frequency and time periods can be set according to the
utility practice. In Malaysia, according to the Technical Guidebook
for the Connection of Generation to the Distribution Network, the
settings of frequency is 47.5 Hz.

Trip the generators

End
Fig. 2. Algorithm of the frequency calculator module.

rate of change of frequency (ROCOF) to determine the amount of

load to be shed. The load shedding is performed according to the load
priority. The loads are classied into three categories; vital, semi-vital and non-vital. The non-vital load will be the rst priority to be
shed, followed by the semi-vital and lastly the vital load. Fig. 1 illustrates the overall concept of load shedding scheme for an islanded
distribution network connected with mini hydro power plants.
The scheme consists of two main modules; (a) frequency calculator (FCM) and (b) Load Shed Controller (LSCM). The FCM will continuously monitor the frequency of the DG and send the real-time
frequency value to the LSCM via the communication link. Real-time
measurement unit and the Remote Circuit Breaker (RCB) are facilitated at each of the load feeder. The system state variable measurement (i.e. active power, frequency and voltage) and the breaker
status are monitored by the LSCM. The system information is required by the LSCM to determine or estimate the amount of power
imbalance that will be used to identify the right amount of load to
be shed. Consequently, the LSCM will initiate a load shedding
instruction to the RCB to disconnect the corresponding load feeder.

The algorithm of LSCM is shown in Fig. 3. The algorithms will

continuously check whether the distribution network has been
islanded. This is done by checking the status of the incoming grid
substation breaker, which is connected to the grid and distribution
network. In the LSCM, there are two strategies; (1) event based and
(2) response based to determine the amount of loads that are
needed to be shed. A certain delay time which comprises communication, calculation and circuit breaker opening time is being considered in this algorithm. The algorithm will have to decide the
right strategies based on the ROCOF and breaker status at the grid
and generators. The descriptions of these strategies are as follows:
2.3.1. Event based
This paper applied event based strategy in two different cases;
(i) when the distribution network is disconnected from the grid
and (ii) when one of the generators is tripped during the islanded
mode. Event (i) may happen since there is a possibility that when
the distribution network experiences islanding, the power generated by generators is insufcient to supply the total load demand
in the islanded distribution network. Event (ii) may cause insufcient power in the islanded system. The proposed strategy will
intelligently make a decision to improve the system frequency
response and also prevent the blackout in the system.
If the event based occurs, the algorithm will estimate the total
power imbalance between the generation and total load demand.
The imbalance value is used to shed the correct amount of load
according to the load priority. The equation is expressed in

DP PGrid PDG  PLoad 

where DP is the imbalance power; PGrid is the grid power generation; PDG is the DG power generation and PLoad is the total load
consumption.

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M. Karimi et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 42 (2012) 127138

Start
Frequency from
FCM
& ROCOF

No

Is distribution network
islanded ?
Yes
Frequency from
FCM
&
ROCOF

Response based

Event based
Define the UFLS method

Capture the absolute

value of ROCOF
Calculate total power
generation loss
No

ROCOF > ROCOFmax

Yes
Apply delay for circuit breaker
operation + communication +
calculation time

Estimate the magnitude

of the disturbance with
swing equation

Yes

Disturbance magnitude
+DG generation at this moment >
DG rated value

Estimate the over load

No

No

Shedding the loads,intelligently

(according to the look up table
and demand load)

Frequency<= f set
Yes

Apply delay for circuit breaker

operation + communication +
calculation time

Shedding over loads,

intelligently
(according to the lookup table
and over load)

Estimate the over load

with swing equation
Apply delay for circuit breaker
operation + communication +
calculation time
Shedding over loads,
intelligently
(according to the lookup table
and over load)

End
Fig. 3. Flowchart of the proposed load shedding controller module.

The non-vital load such as houses will be shed rst, followed by

the semi-vital such as supermarkets and lastly vital load such as
hospitals. The load rank priority is dened in a look-up table.
2.3.2. Response based
Response based strategy is to address the changes of frequency
due to sudden increment of load in an islanded system. In this
strategy, the amount of load to be shed depends on the disturbance
magnitude. It is estimated based on the amount of power
imbalance following frequency deviation in the system. The

amount of power imbalance is estimated by using the swing equation which is expressed in

2  H dfc

Pm  Pe
fn
dt

where H is the generator inertia constant in seconds; fc is the

frequency, Hertz; fn is the rated value of frequency, Hertz; Pm is
mechanical power in per-unit and Pe is electrical power in per-unit.
The ith generators swing equation of the system with N
machines derived from the swing equation is expressed in

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M. Karimi et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 42 (2012) 127138

Connect
to Grid

1047

Load 5

Vital Load

Incoming Grid
Substation Breaker

1079

1056

1058

1046
Load 7
1075
Load 12

1057

1039

1018

Load 6

Load 9
1019

1154

1010

1013

Load 13

Load 1

Vital Load

Load 8

1020

1050

1012
Load 3

Load 4
1004

1141

1064

1151

1029

NOP

Load 11
1000
Synchronous
Generator1

Load 2

Load 10

Vital Load

Load 14

Load 15

Synchronous
Generator2

Fig. 4. Test system.

Table 1
Excitation parameters.

Table 3
Hydraulic turbine parameters.

Parameter

Value

Parameter

Value

Parameter

Value

Parameter

Value

TC
TB
KA
TA
VAMAX
VAMIN
VRMAX
SE (VE1)
VE1

0
0
400
0.02
14.5
14.5
6.03
0.1
4.18

KF
TF
TE
KE
KC
KD
VRMIN
SE (VE2)
VE2

0.03
1
0.8
1
0.2
0.38
5.43
0.03
3.14

TW
fP
D

1.2
0.02
0.5

Initial output power

Initial operating head
Rated output power

0.7
1.0
1.0

Table 2
Governor parameters.
Parameter

Value

Parameter

Value

KP
KI
KD
TA
RP
Max gate position

2
0.35
0.9
0.05
0.04
1.0

TC
TD
Max gate opening
Max gate closing
Dead band value
Min gate position

0.2
0.2
0.16
0.16
0
0

DP

2

PN

i1 H i

fn

dfc
dt

where N is the number of generators; DP is the imbalance power,

per-unit.

In (3), the magnitude of ROCOF (dfc/dt) is utilized to estimate

the power imbalance. To remove any small disturbances in the system, the magnitude of ROCOF is compared with ROCOFmax (absolute value set in the LSCM) as illustrated in Fig. 3. In order to
avoid load shedding due to small disturbances, a threshold call
ROCOFmax is introduced. This threshold is determined by using
Eq. (3) based on smallest load on the test system which is 50 kW.
If ROCOF is greater than ROCOFmax then the decision is made to
shed some of the loads. In this proposed method, LSCM will try to
exploit the maximum capacity of the DGs. If the total load plus
estimation of disturbance magnitude are more than the DGs rated
capacity, then LSCM will shed the overload which is more than the
DGs capacities. There is also a situation when the DGs can supply
the total loads and disturbance magnitude. It should be noted that
the frequency transient response is closely dependent to the
magnitude of disturbance. Thus, for a large disturbance, the system
frequency might exceed the frequency threshold value of the protection setting. Taking this as a consideration, the LSCM will execute a different procedure when the frequency intends to drop to
less than 48 Hz (more explanation in Section 4.3). A portion of

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M. Karimi et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 42 (2012) 127138

the disturbance magnitude is required to be shed to prevent further drops in the frequency. In this case, the LSCM will estimate
the amount of load needed to be shed by using the swing equation.

Table 5
Case studies.
Case studies Descriptions
Case
Case
Case
Case

3. Validation of the proposed load shedding controller

I
II
III
IV

Distribution network islanded for base and peak load

Loss of synchronous generator number 2 for base and peak load
Overload in the system at bus 1058
Overload in the system at bus 1029

3.1. Test system

The test system shown in Fig. 4 was modelled using PSCAD/
EMTDC software. The system consists of 27 buses, 20 lumped loads
with 2 mini hydro generators. Both mini hydro generators rated at
2 MVA (maximum power dispatch is 1.8 MW) are operated at
3.3 kV voltage level. Two parallel units of 2 MVA generator transformer were connected to the DGs to step up the voltage level to
11 kV. The distribution network is connected to the transmission
grid via two parallel step up transformers (11 kV/132 kV) rated
30 MVA. As indicated in Fig. 4, a Normal Off Point (NOP) for
11 kV network is located at the intersection of two load feeders
1029 and 1050. Each node is connected with RCB that can be remotely controlled for load shedding purposes.
The standard model for exciter and governor provided in PSCAD/
EMTDC library are used in this study. The IEEE type AC1A excitation
standard model is chosen in this work [34]. The governor consists of
PID controller and including pilot and servo dynamics models. Both
model parameters are shown in Tables 1 and 2, respectively.
Non-Elastic Water Column without Surge Tank model is applied
as a hydraulic turbine model. The control model parameters of
hydraulic turbines are shown in Table 3.
The power consumption for each load and its category is presented in Table 4. Loads are ranked based on their priority to be
shed and load look-up table is created according to the prioritization. Loads are classied into three categories; vital, semi-vital and
non-vital. Load values for the base load and peak load are considered for the test. The load categories will be applied in the load
shedding priority. The proposed load shedding technique will be
disconnected according to the order of priority. In this simulation,
the delay time to consider communication, calculation and circuit
breaker opening time is chosen as 100 ms as in [29,33].
3.2. Load model
Stability of the system depends on the ability of the electrical
output of generating units to supply the electrical load. However,

load characteristics have an important effect on the stability of

the system. In order to consider such an effect, a static type load
model is used in the simulation to verify the proposed load shedding scheme.
The active and reactive power components are considered separately under the static load model. This model of load is an algebraic function of voltage and frequency, but the real and reactive
power is considered separately. The following equations expressed
in (4) and (5) are the static model of active and reactive power
[34]:


P P0 

Q Q0 

V
V0

a

V
V0

 1 K PF  df
b

 1 K QF  df

The exponent a and b are equal to the slope of dP/dV and dQ/dV at
V = V0, respectively. The range of a is typically between 0.5 to 1.8
and the exponent b is between 1.5 and 6.
Also, KPF ranges from 0 to 3, and KQF is between 2 and 0 [34]. In
this study, the exponent value for a and b is set to 1.0 and 2.0
respectively. Meanwhile, KPF and KQF are set to 1.0 and 1.0 respectively. Thus, by choosing these values, the load is a voltage and frequency dependent type.
3.3. Case studies
In order to test the proposed scheme, an intentional islanding is
performed to the test system. Prior to islanding, a total power of
3.06 MW is dispatched by the generators. Since it is grid connected,
the excess or deciency of power in the distribution system is
accommodated by the grid system. Islanding detection of islanding
operation is simulated with the opening of incoming grid substation breaker at time t = 10 seconds (s).

Table 4
Load ranking table.
Load ranked

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Total

Bus number

1013
1141
1012
1050
10471079
1057
1058
10101039
1018
1004
1020
1046
1154
1064
1029
1019
1151
1056

Peak load

Base load

Load category

P (MW)

Q (MVAR)

P (MW)

Q (MVAR)

0.0684
0.0796
0.0796
0.1095
0.1794
0.189
0.198
0.234
0.1742
0.2122
0.2767
0.2551
0.2097
0.1398
0.3469
0.1601
0.1608
0.5139

0.0423
0.0495
0.0495
0.0576
0.0792
0.1152
0.1229
0.1101
0.108
0.1314
0.1716
0.1579
0.1274
0.0867
0.2147
0.0991
0.0996
0.3281

0.0491
0.0581
0.0464
0.0568
0.1175
0.0558
0.1089
0.1607
0.1005
0.0705
0.1621
0.2548
0.1215
0.1389
0.2042
0.0967
0.0964
0.446

0.0253
0.0297
0.0297
0.0346
0.0739
0.0346
0.0738
0.0999
0.0648
0.0491
0.1029
0.1579
0.0765
0.0867
0.129
0.145
0.0598
0.2641

3.5869

2.1508

2.3449

1.5373

Non-vital
Non-vital
Non-vital
Non-vital
Non-vital
Non-vital
Non-vital
Non-vital
Semi-vital
Semi-vital
Semi-vital
Semi-vital
Semi-vital
Semi-vital
Semi-vital
Vital
Vital
Vital

M. Karimi et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 42 (2012) 127138

Fig. 5. System frequency response in base load.

Fig. 6. System frequency and load shedding for peak load.

Fig. 7. Grid and DG power generation.

133

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M. Karimi et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 42 (2012) 127138

Fig. 8. System frequency in base load for case II.

Fig. 9. System frequency in peak load for case II.

Fig. 10. System voltages of some buses in peak load for case II.

M. Karimi et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 42 (2012) 127138

Table 6
Optimal load shedding by LSCM.
Load case

Power imbalance (MW)

Load shed (MW)

Base load
Peak load

1.23
1.80

0.824
1.828

Various events are simulated to justify the effectiveness of the

proposed load shedding scheme. The scheme should be able to
cope with the different range of power imbalances between load
and generation following the events. The events will consider
two different loadings, which are peak and base load. The tested
events are summarized in Table 5.
4. Simulation results
4.1. Case I
In this case, the distribution network is disconnected from grid
to operate in an islanding mode. Two scenarios are considered,
base and peak load. The total load demand for base and peak load
is 2.46 MW and 3.797 MW respectively. It is noted that the total
system losses are considered in the load shedding calculation.
4.1.1. Base load scenario
Following islanding, the system frequency raises to50.34 Hz
and then slowly recovers to 50 Hz. The rise as shown in Fig. 5 is

135

due to imbalance power resulting from the islanding. The DGs have
to change their operation by reducing the dispatched power to
match with the loads in the islanded system (i.e. 2.46 MW). In this
case, load shedding is not required and thus the LSCM is not
initiated.
4.1.2. Peak load scenario
Following islanding, the system frequency begins to decline in
response to the islanded system that has an excess of loads. It
should be noted that both generators have a provision of spinning
reserved (i.e. 0.6 MW), thus it is adopted to supply power to the
loads in the island. The LSCM will only be initiated when the total
loads in the island surpass a value of 3.6 MW. In this case, the total
load is 3.797 MW. Consequently, the LSCM automatically initiates
its event based strategy to prevent further decline in frequency.
The power imbalance is determined. Accordingly, the load at bus
1013, 1141 and 1012 are intelligently shed based on the look-up
table as in Table 4. The load shedding is accomplished in one step.
The frequency response with and without load shedding is as
shown in Fig. 6. It can be seen that without load shedding, the
frequency fails to restore. With the load shedding scheme, system
frequency drops to 47.76 Hz and then gradually recovers to
its nominal value. Note that even though the loads have been shed
after some delay, the frequency keeps on dropping until 47.76 Hz.
This is due to the slow response of the hydro generator following
the sudden changes in the output power resulting from the load
shedding. The smooth response without any overshoot will justify

Fig. 11. System frequency of the peak load when the load ranked 12 is not considered to be shed.

Fig. 12. System frequency in peak load for case III.

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M. Karimi et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 42 (2012) 127138

Fig. 13. Frequency of the system in based load for case III.

that the loads are optimally shed. Fig. 7 shows the change of active
power dispatched before and after load shedding. It can be observed that following islanding, the power generations of DGs are
increased.
4.2. Case II
In this case, loss of one generator is simulated at simulation
time, t = 75 s following system islanded in case I. Frequency responses for base and peak load scenarios are shown in Figs. 8
and 9 respectively.
Since the loads in the islanded system are supplied by the two
small hydro DG, loss of one DG will give a great impact to the island.
As a result of losing half of the island generation (1.8 MW in peak
load case), the voltages across the system and the system frequency
has dropped. System voltages of some buses are shown in Fig. 10. In
response to the event and to stabilize the islanded system, the LSCM
would immediately trip signicant numbers of load feeders. The
LSCM categorizes the event under event-based strategy.
Optimum load shedding value is as presented in Table 6. The total loads shedding for both scenarios are observed. For base load
scenario, following the event, the LSCM disconnect load ranked 1
until 10. This is based on the determined disturbance magnitude
where the lowest ranked load is rstly shed followed by the next
lower ranked. As shown in Fig. 8, system frequency drop to
47.74 Hz and then slowly restores to its nominal value.
For peak load, the LSCM intelligently disconnects load starts
from ranked 4 until 12. Note that load ranked 1 and 3 have been previously disconnected in case I. As previously described in the algorithm, the load shedding is performed after some delay. As
depicted in Fig. 9, the delay corresponds to the instant the system
frequency starts to rapidly increase to 50.71 Hz from the initial response of sudden loss of generation. The rise of frequency explains
that more loads than required have been shed. To investigate this issue, load ranked 12 is omitted from being shed. The response is as
illustrated in Fig. 11. It can be seen that the frequency does not recover to its nominal value. This proves that even though the load
shedding has caused the overshoot of the system frequency, the
LSCM has actually shed the optimum numbers of feeder loads and
eventually has brought the frequency to its nominal value.
4.3. Case III
In this case, an overload scenario in the islanded system for
peak and base load is simulated. To create the overloads, a new

load feeder rated 0.54 MW is suddenly connected to the bus number 1058 at simulation time, t = 75 s. Figs. 12 and 13 present the
system frequency response for overloads scenario in peak and base
load system respectively.
Prior overload, the total loads in the islanded system was
2.46 MW and 3.58 MW for base and peak load respectively.
Following overload, the total loads increased to 3 MW and
4.12 MW. The ROCOF measurement detects |ROCOF| is greater than
ROCOFmax which then triggers the LSCM to initiate its response
based strategy. As highlighted in Fig. 3, there are two considerations for the response based strategy. The rst consideration is
initiated if the total load (including the additional load) is more
than the maximum power output of the generators (3.60 MW)
while the second consideration is initiated if the total load is less
than the generator maximum power output but more than the current generation. Thus, in this case, the LSCM evaluates the peak and
base load scenario under the rst and second consideration
respectively.
For peak load scenario, the amount of load to be shed is determined with regards to the estimated disturbance magnitude (refer
to Table 7). It is observed that load ranked 4 until 6 are shed. The
fast operation of LSCM is depicted in the frequency response of
Fig. 12. It proves that the LSCM has optimally shed the load.
For the base load scenario, a different consideration is required.
The generators still have unused capacity. Thus, priority is given to
the generator secondary controller to activate its spinning reserve
to maintain the system frequency stability. The LSCM will only
perform load shedding if the estimated value of disturbance magnitude exceeds the unused capacity of generators. Subsequently, if
the frequency keeps dropping until 48 Hz, then a certain amount of
load needs to be shed. The certain amount of load is determined by
using the swing equation. At this point, the frequency might further decline and reach the under-frequency threshold limit
(47.5 Hz), thus a precaution is required. As can be seen in Fig. 13,
the frequency has passed through 48 Hz which then activates the
LSCM to quickly shed some load. Considering the spinning reserve,
only load ranked 1 and 2 with a total amount of 0.107 MW (as
recorded in Table 7) is chosen to be shed. As a result, the frequency
Table 7
Optimal load shedding by LSCM.
Load case

Overload (MW)

Load shed (MW)

Base load
Peak load

0.54
0.54

0.107
0.478

M. Karimi et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 42 (2012) 127138

137

Fig. 14. Active power generation of the system for based load.

Fig. 15. Frequency response and load shedding for case IV.

Fig. 16. Frequency response and load shedding for case IV.

goes down to 47.903 Hz and successfully restores to its nominal

value after some time. Fig. 14 presents the active power generated

for both DGs. It is obvious that following the overload, the generator still has unused capacity to dispatch more power.

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M. Karimi et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 42 (2012) 127138

4.4. Case IV
In this case, an overload scenario in the islanded system, similar
to case III is simulated. In contrast to case III, the overload is simulated at different bus feeder e. bus 1029. The response of LSCM to
the changes of overload location is investigated. It is observed that
the LSCM has assessed this case similar to case III. As a result, the
system frequency response as shown in Figs. 15 and 16 correspond
to that in case III.
From the simulation results (cases III and IV), it is very obvious
that the proposed load shedding scheme can shed the optimum
load according to the disturbance magnitude regardless of the
location of the disturbance. It also demonstrates the feasibility of
the scheme to improve the system stability when the islanded system is subjected to a large disturbance.
5. Conclusion
In this paper, a new approach of UFLS scheme to solve the stability and under-frequency issue for an islanded system in a distribution network is presented. The approach has adopted the
adaptive and intelligent schemes. Two strategies based on, the
response based and event based have been proposed. The disturbance magnitude for the event based is determined, based on the
power imbalance whilst for the response based; it is estimated
using the swing equation based on the frequency and ROCOF measurement. The effectiveness and robustness of the scheme have
been investigated based on two scenarios. The rst scenario is
immediately after a distribution system is islanded. The second
scenario is when it is subjected to different disturbances and loading conditions in the islanded system. It is observed that the developed scheme manages to immediately perform the load shedding
in one step and intelligently distinguish between the event and response based condition. Simulation results show that optimal
amounts of load can be shed according to the well-determined load
prioritization. Thus in this scheme, less important loads are the
rst to be shed. Of signicance is that the scheme has proved to
be an essential tool for a successful islanding operation. The power
quality of the island can be sustained thus allowing the island to
persist.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Malaysian Government and
University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur under HIR/MOHE research
Grant (Grant Code: D000004-16001).
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