Robust distance protection for cross-country faults in power grids with high penetration of inverter- based resources

•Distance protection may have false trips or no trips in systems with high penetration of inverter- based resources. In addition, may have a jeopardy behaviour during cross-country faults.•The use of the Recursive Discrete Stockwell Transform is developed to be used in power system protection.•A robust distance relay model is proposed, designed to ensure correct relay performance, and is combined with a directional and an impedance trajectory module.•The proposed method is rigorously tested by applying real-time simulations for6480 different cross-country faults in a parallel line.•Simulation results confirm the method's ability to detect different fault types, even during low fault currents, different grid codes, and to ensure high accuracy in phase selection. Cross-country faults can adversely affect the operation of protection devices. Relays whose pickup is based on overcurrent or impedance elements are more likely to fail during cross-country faults. The failure can be expressed as an unnecessary trip of all phases during a single-phase fault or even blocked relay functions. Relays may also fail to operate due to low fault currents, which is the case when power grids make use of many inverter-based resources (IBR) or when two simultaneous faults occur in the same phase and in different locations. This paper proposes a Recursive Discrete Stockwell Transform (RDST) method for addressing the mentioned challenges. The energy content computed by the RDST is used for fault detection and faulty phase selection. A robust distance relay model is proposed to ensure correct relay performance and is combined with a directional and an impedance trajectory module. The proposed method performance is thoroughly evaluated by applying real-time simulations for 6480 different cross-country faults, including three repetitions, four different generators (Synchronous generators, Wind turbine type-III, Wind turbine type-IV), two rating powers, three different fault distances, five different types of faults, and six grid codes. Ninety cases are also tested with real devices in hardware in the loop. Simulation results confirm the method's ability to detect different fault types, even during low fault currents, and to ensure high accuracy in phase selection.