A novel approach for high impedance fault detection in resonant grounding systems based on statistical characteristics

High impedance faults (HIF) in the resonant grounding system of distribution networks pose significant challenges for traditional protection devices, which often fail to detect and eliminate these faults promptly. The difficulty in setting an appropriate threshold and ensuring reliable detection at low signal-to-noise ratios further complicates the issue. To overcome these limitations, this paper presents a novel approach that analyzes the kurtosis and skewness characteristics of the single-phase high-impedance grounding zero-sequence current waveform, using the Emanuel model as a basis. The proposed method detects HIF based on a kurtosis threshold and pinpoints the faulted line using the skewness coefficient, introducing a more reliable and precise detection technique. Simulation and field tests validate the robustness of this approach, demonstrating strong resistance to noise interference and enhanced fault detection capabilities.