<p>Vattenfall and Svenska Kraftnät perform start-up tests, where hydropower generators are used to power up the electrical grid in case of a blackout. To monitor the electrical grid, Phasor Measurement Units (PMU) are used. Each PMU is individually equipped with a GPS-receiver to precisely timestamp the data relative to the official time UTC. During the test, it is also of interest to timestamp the measurement signals from individual hydropower generators to later compare with PMU-data, and thus study the power grids impact on the generator.</p><p> </p><p>The aim is to work out an appropriate method to make these measurements and to build a data acquisition system, capable of timestamp data relative to UTC, from a generator in one of Vattenfalls hydroelectric power stations. The problem is that the generator is located in an underground station which hampers the reception of GPS-signals and wiring should be avoided if possible.</p><p> </p><p>Time synchronization has been solved by using Vattenfalls network, which is synchronized by the network protocol NTP. The network includes the concerned hydropower stations and thus can wiring from the surface be avoided. The maximum error for the server in the specific hydroelectric power station is bounded within [-4.62, 3.18] ms relative to UTC. The conclusion is that Vattenfalls NTP-network meets the requirements to distribute time. A platform from National Instruments, programmed with the graphical language LabVIEW, has been used for data acquisition. The platform is programmed to synchronize its internal clock to a NTP-server, timestamp the input signals and save the data on the internal hard drive.</p>

Vattenfall and Svenska Kraftnät perform start-up tests, where hydropower generators are used to power up the electrical grid in case of a blackout. To monitor the electrical grid, Phasor Measurement Units (PMU) are used. Each PMU is individually equipped with a GPS-receiver to precisely timestamp the data relative to the official time UTC. During the test, it is also of interest to timestamp the measurement signals from individual hydropower generators to later compare with PMU-data, and thus study the power grids impact on the generator.   The aim is to work out an appropriate method to make these measurements and to build a data acquisition system, capable of timestamp data relative to UTC, from a generator in one of Vattenfalls hydroelectric power stations. The problem is that the generator is located in an underground station which hampers the reception of GPS-signals and wiring should be avoided if possible.   Time synchronization has been solved by using Vattenfalls network, which is synchronized by the network protocol NTP. The network includes the concerned hydropower stations and thus can wiring from the surface be avoided. The maximum error for the server in the specific hydroelectric power station is bounded within [-4.62, 3.18] ms relative to UTC. The conclusion is that Vattenfalls NTP-network meets the requirements to distribute time. A platform from National Instruments, programmed with the graphical language LabVIEW, has been used for data acquisition. The platform is programmed to synchronize its internal clock to a NTP-server, timestamp the input signals and save the data on the internal hard drive.