Potential economic impact of fault currents contributed by distributed generation

This paper presents the consequences and operating limitations of installing distributed generation (DG) in electric power systems. The proliferation of new generators creates new operating conditions, some not seen before, that are limited by fault interruption capability. Increased system fault currents resulting from DG installation and the effects of increased fault currents on operating economics is discussed. A technique used to evaluate the unit commitment (UC) with fault level constraint after installing DGs is analyzed, and an example is given.