Abstract: A system and method is provided for detecting an island condition using active detection. The active detection involves biasing the voltage, frequency, current or phase of a distributed resource connected to a utility network. Biasing the distributed resource involves inducing a change of voltage, frequency, current or phases above or below the normal operating values. The impact of this biasing on the system operating parameters can then be measure to determine if an island condition exists. Once an island condition has been detected, the system can initiate an anti-islanding procedure to remove the distributed resource from the utility network such as opening a breaker connecting the distributed resource to the network. Additionally, the system and method can include a passive element for detecting frequency and voltage (or other parameters) shifts above certain points.