Impact of load frequency dependence on the NDZ and performance of the SFS islanding detection method

Sandia frequency shift (SFS) falls under the active islanding detection methods that rely on frequency drift to detect an islanding condition for inverter-based distributed generation. Active islanding detection methods are commonly tested on constant RLC loads where the load's active power is directly proportional to the square of voltage and is independent on the system frequency. Since the SFS method relies primarily on frequency to detect islanding, the load's active power frequency dependence could have an impact on its performance and the nondetection zone (NDZ). In this paper, the impact of the load's active power frequency dependence on the performance of the SFS method, during an islanding condition, is analyzed. A NDZ model that takes into account the load's frequency dependence parameter is derived mathematically and validated through digital simulation. The results show that the load's frequency dependence has a significant impact on the NDZ of the SFS method and thus is an important factor to consider when designing and testing this method.