Distributed generation is an issue intensively studied in recent years. It concerns, among others protection systems of distributed generation units connected to electric power grids. The main goal of this paper is to present the issue of functional reliability of selected passive loss of mains (LoM) protection systems, i.e. methods of detecting island operation in distribution power grids, which are implemented in PV inverters installed in sample MV and LV grids, typical for Polish conditions. First, different methods of detecting island operation have been distinguished and shortly characterized. Some problems concerning their action have also been presented. Then commonly used passive methods of island grid operation detection have been described. Next sample distribution grid has been presented and chosen disturbances modelled in the grid to test mentioned passive methods have been defined. For each of the determined type of disturbance the dynamic simulation has been carried out, as well as voltage and frequency plots for two selected RES nodes have been recorded and observed. All considered passive methods of island grid operation detection have been implemented in a Matlab/Simulink environment. Models of RoCoF, U/OVP and U/ OFP algorithms have been presented in diagrams. Then, results of carried out extensive studies have been shown in tables and discussed. The results are a consequence of a realized research project concerning electric grids in rural areas. Summary, final conclusions, and future research possibilities constitute the last part of the paper. The conclusions are mainly concentrated on evaluation of action of passive methods of island operation detection as well as possibility of using the methods in Polish conditions, particularly in rural distribution grids.

The paper raises the issue of optimizing the control of the rural low voltage microgrids. Microgrids can operate in a synchronous mode with grids of distribution system operators and in an island mode. We can distinguish two control strategies in microgrids: one approach based on centralized control logic, which is usually used, and another on decentralized control logic. In this paper we decided to present the approach based on the distributed control, combining the efforts of the distributed cooperative control and modified Monte Carlo optimization method. Special attention has been paid to the impact of the order of processing particular devices’ groups on results of optimization calculations. Moreover, different scenarios of behavior of the microgrid control system with respect to the communication loss have been also presented. The influence of the issue of continuity of communication between particular devices’ groups on the possibility of carrying out the optimization process has been investigated. Additionally, characteristics of power loads and generation of electricity from small renewable energy sources appearing in rural areas have been described and the sensitivity of the optimization algorithm to the changes of demanded power values and changes of values of power generated by renewable energy sources has been studied. We analyzed different objective functions which can be used as an optimization goal both in synchronous and island operation modes of microgrid. We decided to intensively test our approach on a sample rural LV microgrid, which is typical in the countryside. The observed results of the tests have been presented and analyzed in detail. Generally, results achieved with the use of proposed distributed control are the same as with the use of centralized control. We think that the approach based on distributed control is promising for practical applications, because of its advantages.