Method of operation a differential protection scheme

1. A method of operating a reconfigurable differential protection scheme for carrying out differential protection of an electrical power network, the electrical power network comprising a plurality of terminals, each of the plurality of terminals configured to be in communication with each other of the plurality of terminals within a communications network, the method comprising:

controlling the differential protection scheme to deactivate the differential protection;

selecting a terminal of the plurality of terminals to be configured out of or into the differential protection scheme;

communicating reconfiguration information among the plurality of terminals via the communications network, the reconfiguration information including the selection of the terminal to be configured out of or into the differential protection scheme, wherein the communications network is any one of: a daisy-chain communications network; a ring communications network; a meshed communications network; a star communications network; a bus communications network; a tree communications network; or a hybrid thereof;

after communicating the reconfiguration information among the plurality of terminals, modifying a respective differential protection algorithm at each of the non-selected terminals so as to configure the selected terminal out of or into the differential protection scheme; and

controlling the differential protection scheme to reactivate the differential protection.

2. The method according to claim 1 , when the terminal is selected to be configured out of the differential protection scheme, the method further including enabling an interlock on the selected terminal, wherein the interlock when disabled inhibits the configuration of the selected terminal out of the differential protection scheme, and the interlock when enabled permits the configuration of the selected terminal out of the differential protection scheme.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further including confirming that the status of the communication of each of the plurality of terminals with each other of the plurality of terminals is healthy prior to the step of communicating reconfiguration information among the plurality of terminals via the communications network.

4. The method according to claim 1 , when the terminal of the plurality of terminals is selected to be configured into the differential protection scheme, the method further including the step of confirming that the selected terminal is configured out of the differential protection scheme prior to the step of communicating reconfiguration information among the plurality of terminals via the communications network.

5. The method according to claim 1 further including the step of confirming that the reconfiguration information has been communicated among the plurality of terminals within a preset time prior to modifying a respective differential protection algorithm at each of the non-selected terminals so as to configure the selected terminal out of or into the differential protection scheme.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further including confirming that the reconfigured differential protection scheme has stabilised subsequent to modifying a respective differential protection algorithm at each of the non-selected terminals of the plurality of terminals so as to configure the selected terminal out of or into the differential protection scheme.

7. The method according to claim 1 , when the terminal of the plurality of terminals is selected to be configured out of the differential protection scheme, the method further including deactivating the selected terminal and/or inhibiting communication to the selected terminal subsequent to the modification of the respective differential protection algorithm so as to configure the selected terminal out of the differential protection scheme.

8. The method according to claim 1 , when a terminal is selected to be configured into the differential protection scheme, the method further including modifying a differential protection algorithm at the selected terminal so as to configure the selected terminal into the differential protection scheme.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein one of the plurality of terminals has failed, the method further including:

replacing the failed terminal with a substitute terminal;

configuring each of the remaining terminals to be in communication with the substitute terminal within the communications network;

communicating the reconfiguration information to the substitute terminal via the communications network; and

after communicating the reconfiguration information to the substitute terminal, modifying the differential protection algorithm at the substitute terminal so as to configure the selected terminal out of or into the differential protection scheme.

10. An electrical power network comprising a plurality of terminals, each of the plurality of terminals configured to be in communication with each other of the plurality of terminals within a communications network, the electrical power network further including a reconfigurable differential protection scheme for carrying out differential protection of the electrical power network, the differential protection scheme configured to:

control the differential protection scheme to deactivate the differential protection;

select a terminal of the plurality of terminals to be configured out of or into the differential protection scheme;

communicate reconfiguration information among the plurality of terminals via the communications network, the reconfiguration information including the selection of the terminal to be configured out of or into the differential protection scheme, wherein the communications network is any one of: a daisy-chain communications network; a ring communications network; a meshed communications network; a star communications network; a bus communications network; a tree communications network; or a hybrid thereof;

after communicating the reconfiguration information among the plurality of terminals, modify a respective differential protection algorithm at each of the non-selected terminals so as to configure the selected terminal out of or into the differential protection scheme; and

control the differential protection scheme to reactivate the differential protection.