Application of Advanced Early Warning Systems with Adaptive Protection

This project developed and field-tested two methods of Adaptive Protection systems utilizing synchrophasor data. One method detects conditions of system stress that can lead to unintended relay operation, and initiates a supervisory signal to modify relay response in real time to avoid false trips. The second method detects the possibility of false trips of impedance relays as stable system swings “encroach” on the relays’ impedance zones, and produces an early warning so that relay engineers can re-evaluate relay settings. In addition, real-time synchrophasor data produced by this project was used to develop advanced visualization techniques for display of synchrophasor data to utility operators and engineers

Methodology and Tools for Field Testing of Synchrophasor Systems

The electrical power grid, as one of today’s most critical infrastructures, requires constant monitoring by operators to be aware of and react to any threats to the system’s condition. With control centers typically located far away from substations and other physical grid equipment, field measurement data forms the basis for a vast majority of control decisions in power system operation. For that reason, it is imperative to ensure the highest level of data integrity as erroneous data may lead to inappropriate control actions with potentially devastating consequences. Performance of one of the most advanced monitoring systems, the synchrophasor system, is the focus of this thesis. This research will look at testing techniques used for performance assessment of synchrophasor system performance in the field. Existing methods will be reviewed and evaluated for deficiencies in capturing system performance regarding data quality. The focus of this work will be on improving synchrophasor data quality, by introducing new testing methodology that utilizes a nested testing approach for end-to-end testing in the field using a portable test set and associated software tools. The capability of such methods and these tools to fully characterize and evaluate the performance of synchrophasor systems in the field will be validated through implementation in a large-scale testbed. The purpose of this research is to specify, develop and implement a methodology and associated tools for field-testing of synchrophasor systems. To this day, there is no dedicated standard for field-testing of synchrophasor systems. This resulted in an inability to define widely accepted procedures to detect deterioration of system performance due to poor data quality and caused communication failures, unacceptable device and subsystem accuracy, or loss of calibration. This work will demonstrate how the new approach addresses the mentioned performance assessment gap. The feasibility of implementation of the proposed test procedures will be demonstrated using different test system configurations available in a large-scale testbed. The proposed method is fully leveraging the benefits of a portable device specifically developed for field-testing, which may be used for improvement of commissioning, maintenance and troubleshooting tests for existing installations. Use Cases resulting from this work will illustrate the practical benefits of the proposed methodology and associated tools

Synchrophasors: Multilevel Assessment and Data Quality Improvement for Enhanced System Reliability

. This study presents a comprehensive framework for testing and evaluation of Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) and synchrophasor systems under normal power system operating conditions, as well as during disturbances such as faults and transients. The proposed framework suggests a performance assessment to be conducted in three steps: (a) type testing: conducted in the synchrophasor calibration laboratory according to accepted industrial standards; (b) application testing: conducted to evaluate the performance of the PMUs under faults, transients, and other disturbances in power systems; (c) end-to-end system testing: conducted to assess the risk and quantify the impact of measurement errors on the applications of interest. The suggested calibration toolset (type testing) enables performance characterization of different design alternatives in a standalone PMU (e.g., length of phasor estimation windows, filtering windows, reporting rates, etc.). In conjunction with the standard performance requirements, this work defines new metrics for PMU performance evaluations under any static and dynamic conditions that may unfold in the grid. The new metrics offer a more realistic understanding of the overall PMU performance and help users choose the appropriate device/settings for the target applications. Furthermore, the proposed probabilistic techniques quantify the PMU accuracy to various test performance thresholds specified by corresponding IEEE standards, rather than having only the pass/fail test outcome, as well as the probability of specific failures to meet the standard requirements defined in terms of the phasor, frequency, and rate of change of frequency accuracy. Application testing analysis encompasses PMU performance evaluation under faults and other prevailing conditions, and offers a realistic assessment of the PMU measurement errors in real-world field scenarios and reveals additional performance characteristics that are crucial for the overall application evaluation. End-to-end system tests quantify the impact of synchrophasor estimation errors and their propagation from the PMU towards the end-use applications and evaluate the associated risk. In this work, extensive experimental results demonstrate the advantages of the proposed framework and its applicability is verified through two synchrophasor applications, namely: Fault Location and Modal Analysis. Finally, a data-driven technique (Principal Component Pursuit) is proposed for the correction and completion of the synchrophasor data blocks, and its application and effectiveness is validated in modal analyzes

Phasor Estimation for Grid Power Monitoring: Least Square vs. Linear Kalman Filter

International audienc

Algorithms for the synchrophasor measurement in steady-state and dynamic conditions

Phasor measurement units (PMUs) are becoming one of the key issues of power network monitoring. They have to be able to perform accurate estimations of current and voltage signals either under steady-state or dynamic conditions. The first part of this PhD thesis analyses the impact of the phasor models on the estimation accuracy, focuses on algorithms proposed in the literature for the estimation of phasors and studies their performance under several different conditions. On the basis of the results of this analysis, in the second part of this thesis an innovative approach to improve the performance of synchrophasor estimation is presented. The method proposes a modified version of the synchrophasor estimation algorithm which uses the non-orthogonal transform defined as Taylor-Fourier Transform (TFT) and which is based on a Weighted Least Squares (WLS) estimation of the parameters of a second order Taylor model of the phasor. The aim of the proposed enhancements is to improve the performance of the algorithm in presence of fast transient events and to achieve a Phasor Measurement Unit that is simultaneously compliant with both M and P compliance classes, suggested by the synchrophasor standard IEEE C37.118.1. In particular, while the TFT based adaptive algorithm is used for synchrophasor estimation, frequency and Rate of Change of Frequency (ROCOF) are estimated using the higher derivatives outputs of the adaptive TFT. Frequency estimation feedback is used to tune the algorithm and achieve better performance in off-nominal conditions. The proposed approaches are validated by means of simulations in all the static and dynamic conditions defined in the standard. In the last chapter, the algorithm proposed above is used in a novel architecture, compliant to IEC 61850, for a distributed IED-based PMU, to be used in electrical substations. In particular, a measurement architecture based on process bus and sampled values synchronized with IEEE 1588-2008 is proposed, so that voltage and current signals are acquired by a Merging Unit device, while the PMU signal processing is performed on a IED (Intelligent Electronic Device), in compliance with IEEE C37.118.1-2011

Algorithms for the synchrophasor measurement in steady-state and dynamic conditions

Phasor measurement units (PMUs) are becoming one of the key issues of power network monitoring. They have to be able to perform accurate estimations of current and voltage signals either under steady-state or dynamic conditions. The first part of this PhD thesis analyses the impact of the phasor models on the estimation accuracy, focuses on algorithms proposed in the literature for the estimation of phasors and studies their performance under several different conditions. On the basis of the results of this analysis, in the second part of this thesis an innovative approach to improve the performance of synchrophasor estimation is presented. The method proposes a modified version of the synchrophasor estimation algorithm which uses the non-orthogonal transform defined as Taylor-Fourier Transform (TFT) and which is based on a Weighted Least Squares (WLS) estimation of the parameters of a second order Taylor model of the phasor. The aim of the proposed enhancements is to improve the performance of the algorithm in presence of fast transient events and to achieve a Phasor Measurement Unit that is simultaneously compliant with both M and P compliance classes, suggested by the synchrophasor standard IEEE C37.118.1. In particular, while the TFT based adaptive algorithm is used for synchrophasor estimation, frequency and Rate of Change of Frequency (ROCOF) are estimated using the higher derivatives outputs of the adaptive TFT. Frequency estimation feedback is used to tune the algorithm and achieve better performance in off-nominal conditions. The proposed approaches are validated by means of simulations in all the static and dynamic conditions defined in the standard. In the last chapter, the algorithm proposed above is used in a novel architecture, compliant to IEC 61850, for a distributed IED-based PMU, to be used in electrical substations. In particular, a measurement architecture based on process bus and sampled values synchronized with IEEE 1588-2008 is proposed, so that voltage and current signals are acquired by a Merging Unit device, while the PMU signal processing is performed on a IED (Intelligent Electronic Device), in compliance with IEEE C37.118.1-2011

Performance Improvement of Wide-Area-Monitoring-System (WAMS) and Applications Development

Wide area monitoring system (WAMS), as an application of situation awareness, provides essential information for power system monitoring, planning, operation, and control. To fully utilize WAMS in smart grid, it is important to investigate and improve its performance, and develop advanced applications based on the data from WAMS. In this dissertation, the work on improving the WAMS performance and developing advanced applications are introduced.To improve the performance of WAMS, the work includes investigation of the impacts of measurement error and the requirements of system based on WAMS, and the solutions. PMU is one of the main sensors for WAMS. The phasor and frequency estimation algorithms implemented highly influence the performance of PMUs, and therefore the WAMS. The algorithms of PMUs are reviewed in Chapter 2. To understand how the errors impact WAMS application, different applications are investigated in Chapter 3, and their requirements of accuracy are given. In chapter 4, the error model of PMUs are developed, regarding different parameters of input signals and PMU operation conditions. The factors influence of accuracy of PMUs are analyzed in Chapter 5, including both internal and external error sources. Specifically, the impacts of increase renewables are analyzed. Based on the analysis above, a novel PMU is developed in Chapter 6, including algorithm and realization. This PMU is able to provide high accurate and fast responding measurements during both steady and dynamic state. It is potential to improve the performance of WAMS. To improve the interoperability, the C37.118.2 based data communication protocol is curtailed and realized for single-phase distribution-level PMUs, which are presented in Chapter 7.WAMS-based applications are developed and introduced in Chapter 8-10. The first application is to use the spatial and temporal characterization of power system frequency for data authentication, location estimation and the detection of cyber-attack. The second application is to detect the GPS attack on the synchronized time interval. The third application is to detect the geomagnetically induced currents (GIC) resulted from GMD and EMP-E3. These applications, benefited from the novel PMU proposed in Chapter 6, can be used to enhance the security and robust of power system

Advanced laboratory testing methods using real-time simulation and hardware-in-the-loop techniques : a survey of smart grid international research facility network activities

The integration of smart grid technologies in interconnected power system networks presents multiple challenges for the power industry and the scientific community. To address these challenges, researchers are creating new methods for the validation of: control, interoperability, reliability of Internet of Things systems, distributed energy resources, modern power equipment for applications covering power system stability, operation, control, and cybersecurity. Novel methods for laboratory testing of electrical power systems incorporate novel simulation techniques spanning real-time simulation, Power Hardware-in-the-Loop, Controller Hardware-in-the-Loop, Power System-in-the-Loop, and co-simulation technologies. These methods directly support the acceleration of electrical systems and power electronics component research by validating technological solutions in high-fidelity environments. In this paper, members of the Survey of Smart Grid International Research Facility Network task on Advanced Laboratory Testing Methods present a review of methods, test procedures, studies, and experiences employing advanced laboratory techniques for validation of range of research and development prototypes and novel power system solutions

Tracking power system events with accuracy-based PMU adaptive reporting rate

Fast dynamics and transient events are becoming more and more frequent in power systems, due to the high penetration of renewable energy sources and the consequent lack of inertia. In this scenario, Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) are expected to track the monitored quantities. Such functionality is related not only to the PMU accuracy (as per the IEC/IEEE 60255-118-1 standard) but also to the PMU reporting rate (RR). High RRs allow tracking fast dynamics, but produce many redundant measurement data in normal conditions. In view of an effective tradeoff, the present paper proposes an adaptive RR mechanism based on a real-time selection of the measurements, with the target of preserving the information content while reducing the data rate. The proposed method has been tested considering real-world datasets and applied to four different PMU algorithms. The results prove the method effectiveness in reducing the average data throughput as well as its scalability at PMU concentrator or storage level