In modern power systems, the Rate-of-Change-of-Frequency (ROCOF) may be
largely employed in Wide Area Monitoring, Protection and Control (WAMPAC)
applications. However, a standard approach towards ROCOF measurements is still
missing. In this paper, we investigate the feasibility of Phasor Measurement
Units (PMUs) deployment in ROCOF-based applications, with a specific focus on
Under-Frequency Load-Shedding (UFLS). For this analysis, we select three
state-of-the-art window-based synchrophasor estimation algorithms and compare
different signal models, ROCOF estimation techniques and window lengths in
datasets inspired by real-world acquisitions. In this sense, we are able to
carry out a sensitivity analysis of the behavior of a PMU-based UFLS control
scheme. Based on the proposed results, PMUs prove to be accurate ROCOF meters,
as long as the harmonic and inter-harmonic distortion within the measurement
pass-bandwidth is scarce. In the presence of transient events, the
synchrophasor model looses its appropriateness as the signal energy spreads
over the entire spectrum and cannot be approximated as a sequence of
narrow-band components. Finally, we validate the actual feasibility of
PMU-based UFLS in a real-time simulated scenario where we compare two different
ROCOF estimation techniques with a frequency-based control scheme and we show
their impact on the successful grid restoration.Comment: Manuscript IM-18-20133R. Accepted for publication on IEEE
Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement (acceptance date: 9 March
2019