Design a Wide Area Monitoring System (WAMS) using Synchronized

Phasor Measurements Units (PMUs) for Power Systems

Project Description

On August 2003, a blackout occurred in the USA affecting more than 10 million
people. This tragedy has occurred due to the instability resulting from one part of
the power grid shifting out of phase. The operators of the power utility company
could not predict the problem due to the lack of synchronized real-time monitoring.
Back then, all monitoring systems relied on unsynchronized estimated
measurements. The flood of blackouts in the recent past made power utility
companies and researchers more aware of the need for a wide monitoring and
control of power systems. This awareness has led to what is called Wide Area
Monitoring System (WAMS) using phasor measurement units (PMUs). WAMS is a
system that provides monitoring, control, and protection to power systems
relying on PMUs that are installed at different locations in the power systems.
WAMS has emerged as a powerful tool to improve the performance, reliability and
security of power systems. In the last few years, several countries (USA, Japan, Italy,
Switzerland, Croatia, Greece, Mexico, etc.) started to install WAMS in their power
systems.
PMU as shown in Figs.1&2 is a device that measures electrical parameters in power
systems such as voltages, currents, and frequency. It uses Global Positioning
Satellite (GPS) to provide globally synchronized power system measurements. The
precise synchronization using GPS is the key to WAMS performance. In other words,
PMU precisely collect, coordinate, and synchronize measurements taken from the
power grid. These measurements effectively improve different aspects in power
systems including monitoring, protection, analysis, and control. The PMU can be
installed in new electrical installation or integrated to existing ones. The
applications of WAMS using PMU are very diverse. Nowadays, PMU applications are
considered a very hot topic in power systems improvement.
An increased number of PMU applications are frequently suggested by researchers
and its believed that PMUs will be a key component of utility systems.
The objective of the project is to design a WAMS using PMUs to improve real-time
monitoring & recording of power system dynamics. The following are considered in
the project:
Monitoring of phase angle of voltage & currents, frequency, change in frequency,
and power, etc. The phase angle differences allow abnormal power system
conditions to be detected at an early stage.
Monitoring of power system stability.
Monitoring of power system oscillation modes.