Relay Event Analysis Tool For Automated Review and Assessment of Power System Events

Modern electric utilities continuously generate protective relay event files, but manual review is time-consuming and typically limited to critical bulk system events. The Relay Event Analysis Tool (REAT) provides automated pass/fail assessment of relay events using independent flagging criteria, enabling utilities to systematically review all events while prioritizing manual attention only where needed. Developed in collaboration with AES Indiana, REAT currently processes SEL-651R recloser event files through a three-layer architecture that parses event metadata, computes fault characteristics and timing metrics, evaluates relay-breaker alignment, and flags anomalies for engineering review. Verification on fifty representative distribution system events demonstrated 94% accuracy in fault type classification, 0.007% average error in maximum RMS current measurement, 0.0025 cycles average error in clearing time computation, and 0.223% average error in prefault positive-sequence current extraction. By automating initial event screening and standardizing analysis, REAT enables large-scale protection analytics and data-driven maintenance planning previously infeasible with manual review alone.