Frequency dynamics is one of the most important signals of a power system, and it is an indicator of imbalance between generation and load in the system. The Internet-based real-time GPS-synchronized wide-area Frequency Monitoring Network (FNET) was proposed to provide imperative frequency dynamics information for a variety of system-wide monitoring, analysis and control applications. The implementation of FNET has for the first time made the synchronized observation of the entire U.S. power network possible with very little cost. The FNET is comprised of many Frequency Disturbance Recorders (FDR) geographically dispersed throughout the U.S. and an Information Management System (IMS), currently located at Virginia Tech. The FDR works as a sensor, which performs local measurements and transmits calculations of frequency, voltage magnitude and voltage angle to the remote servers via the Internet. Compared with its commercial counterpart Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU), FDR provides less expensive version for networked high-resolution real-time synchronized. The improved single phase algorithm in the FDRs made it possible to measure at 110V level which is much more challenging than PMUs due to the noise involved at this level. This research work presents the challenges and issues of both software and hardware design for the novel measurement device FDR, which is one of the devices with the highest dynamic precision for power system frequency measurement. The DFT-based Phasor Angle Analysis algorithm has been improved to make sure the high-resolution measuring FDRs are installed at residential voltage outlets, instead of substation high-voltage inputs. An embedded 12-channel timing GPS receiver has been integrated to provide an accurate timing synchronization signal, UTC time stamp, and unit location. This research work also addresses the harmonics, voltage swing and other noise components' impacts on the measurement results, and the optimized design of filters and a coherent sampling scheme to reduce or eliminate those impacts. The verification test results show that the frequency measurement accuracy of the FDR is within +/-0.0005Hz, and the time synchronization error is within +/-500ns with suitable GPS antenna installation. The preliminary research results show the measurement accuracy and real-time performance of the FDR are satisfactory for a variety of FNET applications, such as disturbance identification and event location triangulation. / Ph. D.

This study takes advantage of wide area measurements to propose a centralized nonlinear controller that acts on power system stabilizers, to cooperatively increase the damping of problematic small signal oscillations all over the system. The structure based on decision trees results in a simple, efficient, and dependable methodology that imposes much less computational burden than other nonlinear design approaches, making it a promising candidate for actual implementation by utilities and system operators. Details are given to utilize existing stabilizers while causing minimum changes to the equipment, and warranting improvement or at least no detriment of current system behavior. This enables power system stabilizers to overcome their inherent limitation to act only on the basis of local measurements to damp a single target frequency. This study demonstrates the implications of this new input on mathematical models, and the control functionality that is made available by its incorporation to conventional stabilizers. In preparation of the case of study, a heuristic dynamic reduction methodology is introduced that preserves a physical equivalent model, and that can be interpreted by any commercial software package. The steps of this method are general, versatile, and of easy adaptation to any particular power system model, with the aggregated value of producing a physical model as final result, that makes the approach appealing for industry. The accuracy of the resulting reduced network has been demonstrated with the model of the Central American System. / Ph. D.

Monitoring and protection of power systems is a task that has manifold objectives. Amongst others, it involves performing data mining, optimizing available resources, assessing system stresses, and doing data conditioning. The role of PMUs in fulfilling these four objectives forms the basis of this dissertation. Classification and regression tree (CART) built using phasor data has been extensively used in power systems. The splits in CART are based on a single attribute or a combination of variables chosen by CART itself rather than the user. But as PMU data consists of complex numbers, both the attributes, should be considered simultaneously for making critical decisions. An algorithm is proposed here that expresses high dimensional, multivariate data as a single attribute in order to successfully perform splits in CART. In order to reap maximum benefits from placement of PMUs in the power grid, their locations must be selected judiciously. A gradual PMU placement scheme is developed here that ensures observability as well as protects critical parts of the system. In order to circumvent the computational burden of the optimization, this scheme is combined with a topology-based system partitioning technique to make it applicable to virtually any sized system. A power system is a dynamic being, and its health needs to be monitored at all times. Two metrics are proposed here to monitor stress of a power system in real-time. Angle difference between buses located across the network and voltage sensitivity of buses lying in the middle are found to accurately reflect the static and dynamic stress of the system. The results indicate that by setting appropriate alerts/alarm limits based on these two metrics, a more secure power system operation can be realized. A PMU-only linear state estimator is intrinsically superior to its predecessors with respect to performance and reliability. However, ensuring quality of the data stream that leaves this estimator is crucial. A methodology for performing synchrophasor data conditioning and validation that fits neatly into the existing linear state estimation formulation is developed here. The results indicate that the proposed methodology provides a computationally simple, elegant solution to the synchrophasor data quality problem. / Ph. D.

In the early 1980s, relaying engineers conceived a technology allowing a huge step forward in the monitoring of power system behavior: the synchrophasor, i.e. the estimation of a phasor representation - amplitude and phase - of a sinusoidal waveform at a given point in time thanks to highly accurate time synchronization of a digital relay. By measuring synchrophasors across the power system several times per second, and centralizing the appropriate information in a hierarchical way through a telecommunication network link, it is now possible to continuously monitor the state of very large systems at a high refresh rate. <p><p>At the beginning, the phase angle information of synchrophasors was used to support or improve the performance of classic monitoring applications, such as state estimation and post-mortem analysis. Later, synchrophasors were found to be valuable for the detection and analysis of phenomena that were not monitored previously, such as system islanding and angular stability. This allows a better understanding of system behavior and the design of remedial actions in cases where system security appears to be endangered. Early detection and even prediction of instabilities, as well as validation and improvement of the dynamic models used for studies, have thus become possible.<p><p>However, a power system is rarely stationary and the assumptions behind the definition of “phasor” are not completely fulfilled because the waveforms' frequency and amplitude are not constant over a signal cycle at fundamental frequency. Therefore, accuracy of synchrophasor measurements during dynamic events is an important performance criterion. Furthermore, when discontinuities (phase jumps and high magnitude variations) and harmonics disturb the measured analog signals as a consequence of switching actions or external disturbances, measurements provided to the “user” (the operator or the algorithms that will take decisions such as triggering alarms and remedial actions) require a certain robustness. <p><p>The efforts underpinning this thesis have lead to the development of a method that ensures the robustness of the measurement. This scheme is described and tested in various conditions. In order to achieve a closer alignment between required and actual measurement performance, it is recommended to add an online indicator of phasor accuracy to the phasor data. <p><p>Fast automated corrective actions and closed-loop control schemes relying on synchrophasors are increasingly deployed in power systems. The delay introduced in the measurement and the telecommunication can have a negative impact on the efficiency of these schemes. Therefore, measurement latency is also a major performance indicator of the synchrophasor measurement. <p><p>This thesis illustrates the full measurement chain, from the measurement of analog voltages and currents in the power system to the use of these measurements for various purposes, with an emphasis on real-time applications: visualization, triggering of alarms in the control room or remedial actions, and integration in closed-loop controls. It highlights the various elements along this chain, which influence the availability, accuracy and delay of the data. <p><p>The main focus is on the algorithm to estimate synchrophasors and on the tradeoff between accuracy and latency that arises in applications for which measurements are taken during dynamic events and the data must be processed within a very limited timeframe. <p><p>If both fast phasors and slower, more accurate phasors are made available, the user would be able to select the set of phasors that are the most suitable for each application, by giving priority to either accuracy or a short delay.<p><p>This thesis also tentatively identifies gaps between requirements and typical measurements in order to identify current barriers and challenges to the use of wide area measurement systems. <p><p>A specific application, the continuous monitoring of oscillatory stability, was selected in order to illustrate the benefits of synchrophasors for the monitoring, analysis and control of power system behavior. This application requires a good phasor accuracy but can allow for some measurement delay, unless phasor data are used in an oscillation damping controller. In addition, it also relies on modal estimators, i.e. techniques for the online identification of the characteristics of oscillatory modes from measurements. This field of ongoing research is also introduced in this thesis. / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The electric power supply industry has evolved into one of the largest industries. Even though secure and reliable operation of the electric power system is fundamental to economy, social security and quality of modern life, the complicated power grid is now facing severe challenges to meet the high-level secure and reliable operation requirements. New technologies will play a major role in helping today's electric power industry to meet the above challenges. This dissertation has focused on some key technologies among them, including the emerging technologies of energy storage, controlled power electronics and wide area measurement technologies. Those technologies offer an opportunity to develop the appropriate objectives for power system control. The use of power electronics based devices with energy storage system integrated into them, such as FACTS/ESS, can provide valuable added benefits to improve stability, power quality, and reliability of power systems. The study in this dissertation has provided several guidelines for the implementation of FACTS/ESS in bulk power systems. The interest of this study lies in a wide range of FACTS/ESS technology applications in bulk power system to solve some special problems that were not solved well without the application of FACTS/ESS. The special problems we select to solve by using FACTS/ESS technology in this study include power quality problem solution by active power compensation, electrical arc furnace (EAF) induced problems solution, inter-area mode low frequency oscillation suppression, coordination of under frequency load shedding (UFLS) and under frequency governor control (UFGC), wide area voltage control. From this study, the author of this dissertation reveals the unique role that FACTS/ESS technology can play in the bulk power system stability control and power quality enhancement in power system. In this dissertation, almost all the studies are based on the real system problems, which means that the study results are special valuable to certain utilities that have those problems. The study in this dissertation can assist power industry choose the right FACTS/ESS technology for their intended functions, which will improve the survivability, minimize blackouts, and reduce interruption costs through the use of energy storage systems. / Ph. D.

Wide Area Measurements (WAMs) have been widely used in the energy management system (EMS) of power system for monitoring, operation and control. In recent years, the advent of synchronized Phasor Measurements Unit (PMU) has added another dimension to the field of wide-area measurement. However, the high cost of the PMU, which includes the manufacture and deployment fee, is a hurdle to the wide use of the PMU in power systems. Unlike traditional PMUs, the frequency monitoring network (FNET) developed by the Virginia Tech Power IT lab is an Internet—based, GPS—synchronized, wide-area frequency monitoring network deployed at the distribution level, providing a low-cost and easily deployable WAMs solution. In this dissertation, the research work can be categorized into two parts: FNET Design and Situation Awareness Algorithm Development. / Ph. D.