As the latest generation of FACTS device, unified power flow controller (UPFC) can control the system voltage and power flow rapidly, precisely and continuously, which provides an effective means to break the restrictions on urban power grid development. The protection configuration of UPFC project is studied in this paper. Firstly, the 2 out of 3 principle of UPFC self-protection is introduced, and then based on protection system configuration and action strategy, the restart strategy and coordination strategy of UPFC self-protection with AC line protection, transformer protection and other protections is proposed. At last, combining with southern Suzhou 500 kV power grid UPFC project RTDS simulation and system commissioning, the function and effects of the actual protection coordination strategy are given, the results show that UPFC can be effectively protected with the coordination strategy.