Australia suffers some of the worst bushfires in the world, and Victoria has the highest rates of catastrophic fires, especially in the hottest month of January and February. The Black Saturday bushfires in 2009 were the most catastrophic and it was found that an ageing distribution network was to blame for the majority of the bushfires.

In response to these events, the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission called for the installation of Rapid Earth Fault Current Limiters (REFCLs) across the Victorian distribution network.

My project involved modelling a REFCL using Simulink, with the aim of mimicking the functionality of the actual devices installed across Victoria. As part of the project I build a Frankston South feeder and applied my model to test the functionality. The REFCL model is able to rapidly reduce the voltage on a faulted phase to zero volts, whilst simultaneously boosting the voltage on the healthy phases to compensate for the loss of a line.