Provided are a ground fault protection method and apparatus for a photovoltaic station output transmission line. A circuit breaker on a photovoltaic side is controlled by a control element. Whether measured zero sequence impedance on the photovoltaic side of a segment line has a large variation before and after an action of power grid side distance protection is determined, the variation of the measured zero sequence impedance is inputted into the control element, in condition that the variation of the measured zero sequence impedance is less than a setting value, a tripping signal is outputted to the circuit breaker on the photovoltaic side to isolate the fault; and in condition that the variation of the measured zero sequence impedance is greater than the setting value, photovoltaic side distance protection is not started.