Electric Power Grid Monitoring with Synchronized Phasor Measurements: Deployment and Applications of Wide Area Measurement Systems

The phasor measurement unit (PMU) is considered to be one of the most important measuring devices in the future of power systems. The distinction comes from its unique ability to provide synchronized phasor measurements of voltages and currents from widely dispersed locations in an electric power grid. This book addresses two major challenges attendant to this technology: PMU device placement and applications. It teaches how to complement PMU data with decision trees to advance voltage security monitoring. Applications resulting from integrating phasor data with SCADA/EMS data are treated in detail; from enhancing the quality of existing estimators to revolutionizing it to phasor-based state estimation. Graph theoretic algorithms and the new concept of depth of unobservability are introduced for systematic placement of PMUs around the network. These techniques are extended to solve the problem of phased deployment of PMUs considering limitations in communication links. The topics should help shed some light in this exciting measurement technology, and should be useful to professionals and students alike who want to advance their understanding of synchronized phasor measurements.