Synchrophasor Measurement Using Substation Intelligent Electronic Devices: Algorithms and Test Methodology

This dissertation studies the performance of synchrophasor measurement obtained using substation Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs) and proposes new algorithms and test methodology to improve and verify their performance when used in power system applications. To improve the dynamic performance when exposed to sinusoidal waveform distortions, such as modulation, frequency drift, abrupt change in magnitude, etc, an adaptive approach for accurately estimating phasors while eliminating the effect of various transient disturbances on voltages and currents is proposed. The algorithm pre-analyzes the waveform spanning the window of observation to identify and localize the discontinuities which affect the accuracy of phasor computation. A quadratic polynomial signal model is used to improve the accuracy of phasor estimates during power oscillations. Extensive experimental results demonstrate the advantages. This algorithm can also be used as reference algorithm for testing the performance of the devices extracting synchronized phasor measurements. A novel approach for estimating the phasor parameters, namely frequency, magnitude and angle in real time based on a newly constructed recursive wavelet transform is developed. This algorithm is capable of estimating the phasor parameters in a quarter cycle of an input signal. It features fast response and achieves high accuracy over a wide range of frequency deviations. The signal sampling rate and data window size can be selected to meet desirable application requirements, such as fast response, high accuracy and low computational burden. In addition, an approach for eliminating a decaying DC component, which has significant impact on estimating phasors, is proposed using recursive wavelet transform. This dissertation develops test methodology and tools for evaluating the conformance to standard-define performance for synchrophasor measurements. An interleaving technique applied on output phasors can equivalently increase the reporting rate and can precisely depict the transient behavior of a synchrophasor unit under the step input. A reference phasor estimator is developed and implemented. Various types of Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) and PMU-enabled IEDs (Intelligent Electronic Devices) and time synchronization options have been tested against the standards using the proposed algorithm. Test results demonstrate the effectiveness and advantages

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

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

Detection and Mitigation of Cyber Attacks on Time Synchronization Protocols for the Smart Grid

The current electric grid is considered as one of the greatest engineering achievements of the twentieth century. It has been successful in delivering power to consumers for decades. Nevertheless, the electric grid has recently experienced several blackouts that raised several concerns related to its availability and reliability. The aspiration to provide reliable and efficient energy, and contribute to environment protection through the increasing utilization of renewable energies are driving the need to deploy the grid of the future, the smart grid. It is expected that this grid will be self-healing from power disturbance events, operating resiliently against physical and cyber attack, operating efficiently, and enabling new products and services. All these call for a grid with more Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). As such, power grids are increasingly absorbing ICT technologies to provide efficient, secure and reliable two-way communication to better manage, operate, maintain and control electric grid components. On the other hand, the successful deployment of the smart grid is predicated on the ability to secure its operations. Such a requirement is of paramount importance especially in the presence of recent cyber security incidents. Furthermore, those incidents are subject to an augment with the increasing integration of ICT technologies and the vulnerabilities they introduce to the grid. The exploitation of these vulnerabilities might lead to attacks that can, for instance, mask the system observability and initiate cascading failures resulting in undesirable and severe consequences. In this thesis, we explore the security aspects of a key enabling technology in the smart grid, accurate time synchronization. Time synchronization is an immense requirement across the domains of the grid, from generation to transmission, distribution, and consumer premises. We focus on the substation, a basic block of the smart grid system, along with its recommended time synchronization mechanism - the Precision Time Protocol (PTP) - in order to address threats associated with PTP, and propose practical and efficient detection, prevention, mitigation techniques and methodologies that will harden and enhance the security and usability of PTP in a substation. In this respect, we start this thesis with a security assessment of PTP that identifies PTP security concerns, and then address those concerns in the subsequent chapters. We tackle the following main threats associated with PTP: 1) PTP vulnerability to fake timestamp injection through a compromised component 2) PTP vulnerability to the delay attack and 3) The lack of a mechanism that secures the PTP network. Next, and as a direct consequence of the importance of time synchronization in the smart grid, we consider the wide area system to demonstrate the vulnerability of relative data alignment in Phasor Data Concentrators to time synchronization attacks. These problems will be extensively studied throughout this thesis, followed by discussions that highlight open research directions worth further investigations

Intelligent Economic Alarm Processor (IEAP)

The advent of electricity market deregulation has placed great emphasis on the availability of information, the analysis of this information, and the subsequent decision-making to optimize system operation in a competitive environment. This creates a need for better ways of correlating the market activity with the physical grid operating states in real time and sharing such information among market participants. Choices of command and control actions may result in different financial consequences for market participants and severely impact their profits. This work provides a solution, the Intelligent Economic Alarm Processor to be implemented in a control center to assist the grid operator in rapidly identifying the faulted sections and market operation management. The task of fault section estimation is difficult when multiple faults, failures of protection devices, and false data are involved. A Fuzzy Reasoning Petri-nets approach has been proposed to tackle the complexities. In this approach, the fuzzy reasoning starting from protection system status data and ending with estimation of faulted power system section is formulated by Petri-nets. The reasoning process is implemented by matrix operations. Next, in order to better feed the FRPN model with more accurate inputs, the failure rates of the protections devices are analyzed. A new approach to assess the circuit breaker’s life cycle or deterioration stages using its control circuit data is introduced. Unlike the traditional “mean time” criteria, the deterioration stages have been mathematically defined by setting up the limits of various performance indices. The model can be automatically updated as the new real-time condition-based data become available to assess the CB’s operation performance using probability distributions. The economic alarm processor module is discussed in the end. This processor firstly analyzes the fault severity based on the information retrieved from the fault section estimation module, and gives the changes in the LMPs, total generation cost, congestion revenue etc. with electricity market schedules and trends. Then some suggested restorative actions are given to optimize the overall system benefit. When market participants receive such information in advance, they make estimation about the system operator's restorative action and their competitors' reaction to it

Development and implementation of an open-box distribution-level phasor measurement unit

Phasor measurement units (PMUs) are considered one of the most important measuring devices in power systems. PMUs are most commonly installed in substations, monitoring three-phase power. They provide synchronized measurements from any location where devices are installed. This synchronization is due to the micro-second Global Positioning System (GPS) time accuracy and is necessary for data to have meaning when compared across different locations. Among other purposes, data is used for post-mortem event analysis and system model validation. This thesis aims to provide a deep understanding of the PMU’s inner workings. Academia must know the inner workings of these devices in order to advance synchrophasor research and ensure standard compliance, as some devices do not fully comply with the existing IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) synchrophasor standards. Furthermore, it is difficult, if not impossible, to understand the causes of bad synchrophasor data since the software implementation of these devices is a mystery; although produced synchrophasors are all the same, as dictated by standards, the way these are calculated is undefined and varies depending on the PMU’s manufacturer. The chapters of this thesis explore the steps, challenges, and reasoning involved in the development of an open-box, distribution-level phasor measurement unit as well as the results obtained by deploying a network of these devices across the Urbana-Champaign distribution system.

Communication Technologies for Smart Grid: A Comprehensive Survey

With the ongoing trends in the energy sector such as vehicular electrification and renewable energy, smart grid is clearly playing a more and more important role in the electric power system industry. One essential feature of the smart grid is the information flow over the high-speed, reliable and secure data communication network in order to manage the complex power systems effectively and intelligently. Smart grids utilize bidirectional communication to function where traditional power grids mainly only use one-way communication. The communication requirements and suitable technique differ depending on the specific environment and scenario. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive and up-to-date survey on the communication technologies used in the smart grid, including the communication requirements, physical layer technologies, network architectures, and research challenges. This survey aims to help the readers identify the potential research problems in the continued research on the topic of smart grid communications